Sr. Research Strategist

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The University of Washington's University Advancement department is seeking a Senior Research Strategist to enhance the effectiveness of frontline fundraising. This role involves partnering with campus leadership, fundraisers, and advancement services teams to develop and execute prospecting plans aimed at maximizing private gifts and grants. The Development team focuses on facilitating private resources to enhance the University's reputation and support community building, emphasizing a culture of belonging and valuing diverse experiences.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree AND 4 years of experience in administrative, advancement, development, project management, or related field.
Prospect research experience supporting frontline fundraisers, or related experience.
Experience working with CRM platforms to manage and analyze data, track activity, and support workflows.
Demonstrated experience analyzing data to support decision-making, performance tracking, and process improvement.
Ability to communicate effectively and build trusting relationships across a large, complex, and cross-functional organization.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel, for correspondence, reporting, data analysis, databases, forms, etc.

Responsibilities

Partner with assigned frontline fundraiser clients in large, complex, and/or high-volume units.
Consult and advise leadership on prospect information needs, fundraiser performance, prospecting plans, portfolio prioritization, and fundraising best practices.
Serve as a critical partner to Advancement services staff in implementing and designing workflows to support major gift fundraising.
Identify, profile, and prioritize potential major gift donors (individuals and organizations).
Strategize with fundraisers and leadership on prospect identification, and collaborate on cultivation and solicitation strategies.
Create and develop high-level analyses (narrative reports, spreadsheets, visualizations) on prospect groups, fundraising trends, and philanthropy intelligence, including recommendations.
Research, capture, and safeguard major gift prospects' biographical and financial information, relationships with the UW, and their movement through the donor continuum and portfolio pipeline.
Supervise workflows and delegate tasks to prospect research strategists, managing outcomes and deliverables.
Create and implement processes to manage a high volume of new prospect leads, including coordination with data vendors.
Create, monitor, and resolve audits for data integrity; complete ad hoc data cleaning projects.
Assist in defining and developing user documentation standards and maintaining the policy and procedure library.
Identify possible data issues when system changes are proposed.
Advise on developing end-user reports, analysis, and CRM improvements.
Carry out frontline fundraiser learning around prospect research concepts.
Support frontline fundraiser training in the CRM as it relates to prospect data.
Mentor prospect research strategists, interns, and student employees, delegating tasks as appropriate.
Maintain Prospect Research content on intranet pages.