Assistant Director of Stewardship

The Lawrenceville School•Lawrenceville, NJ

22h•Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Stewardship is responsible for overseeing the gift acknowledgement process, assisting in major stewardship reporting, updating database stewardship records and requesting needed reporting, and managing visible donor recognition and related activities. The Assistant Director is responsible for creating and managing grant proposals and foundation updates. Additionally, they actively contribute to the management and planning of leadership donor events, activities for giving societies, and major stewardship publications (e.g. Report of Giving).

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
Minimum of 3-5 years’ related experience in stewardship, communications, alumni relations, fundraising, or a related field is highly preferred.
Excellent writing and organizational skills, along with clear and concise verbal communication skills, required.
A successful candidate will be comfortable communicating in a variety of mediums -- writing letters, compiling longer narratives, as well as writing for email, video, and social media.
A creative, entrepreneurial approach to assigned work is required.
Prior experience in stewardship, special events, or in managing donor/client relationships, is highly preferred.
Prior experience in fundraising preferred.
Prior experience in fundraising in an independent school setting is highly preferred.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Google Software is required.
Experience working with one or more donor databases preferred.
Must be highly motivated, self-directed and achievement-oriented, and show a fine attention to detail.
Must be able to successfully manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Must work well with donors, colleagues (including senior administrators), and other constituents; comfortable working alone and with others.
Must have availability to work some nights and weekends.
Occasional travel will be required.

Nice To Haves

Minimum of 3-5 years’ related experience in stewardship, communications, alumni relations, fundraising, or a related field is highly preferred.
Prior experience in stewardship, special events, or in managing donor/client relationships, is highly preferred.
Prior experience in fundraising preferred.
Prior experience in fundraising in an independent school setting is highly preferred.
Experience working with one or more donor databases preferred.

Responsibilities

Manage all aspects of the acknowledgement process end-to-end, collaborating with colleagues as needed, crafting messages, sending materials, documenting correspondence, overseeing others staff involved
Maintain documentation of the ack process to be shared as needed (SOP)
Ensure acknowledgements are being sent to donors in a timely manner
Meet regularly with CAO and/or others to review needed special outreach
Evaluate systems regularly for improvement, streamlining processes and use creativity and technology as able.
Manage special situation acknowledgement projects as needed (e.g. select tributes)
In partnership with team members, help prepare, produce, and deliver on signature stewardship reporting for endowment funds, faculty named chairs, and named scholarships:
Review and prep data for donor and fund information as needed based on the report
Pulling/requesting lists and data for mailing, content, etc.
Replicating templates and executing needed mail merges and individualization for report content
Outreach to campus partners for needed content and planning purposes
Helping coordinator organize mailing and creation of materials
Reviewing final reports for accuracy and checking on “matching data”
Ensuring RE records are properly updated with report sends
Assist in writing, submitting, and management of grant relationships in addition to stewardship of grant funders.
Manage and oversee the production, installation, placement, and all related activities for plaques (and related visible recognition); including working with frontline team for donor approvals on plaque language and location
Serve as team liaison for B&G on plaque-related installations on campus; and serve as team liaison for planning BOT-related ceremonies
Create and maintain records for the School on plaque placement, history, and mapping, to serve as a main reference guide for all plaques on campus
Assist in the planning and strategic development of various donor recognition activities for giving societies and other special occasions, including Weeden Lecture Dinner, groundbreakings, dedications, society gatherings, memorials, ribbon-cuttings, etc.
Keep RE (database) records and shred filing system organized updated with fund-donor relationships, donor recognition and fund names, and other needed stewardship information
Develop processes with Adv Services and other team members for getting needed update information on stewardship from update systems (e.g. new named fund agreements, obituaries)
Oversee and produce lists for annual/quarterly, and ad-hoc, donor and gift/fund reviews for with frontline team for donor approvals on plaque language and location
Manage giving society lists and top donor dashboards/lists and develop and manage distribution of needed lists to relevant team members
Participate in professional development activities; Keep apprised of industry best practices, and recommend how the School might improve or modify its stewardship program in accordance with those practices.
Participate in School and Team activities (e.g. smeetings, retreats, etc.)
Fulfill administrative functions for role and team
Perform other duties as requested