Staff Assistant

Harvard University • Cambridge, MA

11h • $58,232 - $70,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Staff Assistant on the Annual, Leadership, and Planned Giving team (ALPs), part of the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DevAR), at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), supports giving programs, as well as administrative duties for the Senior Director of Annual and Leadership Giving. The key functions include administrative, logistical, and database support, including solicitation, reporting, tracking, and stewardship of annual donors; as well as major gift fundraising support, including preparing briefings, maintaining follow-up, and tracking in the database. These activities are critical to the overall department’s fundraising, engagement, and stewardship efforts. The successful candidate will take on a variety of tasks with energy and enthusiasm, approach their work with curiosity, and be committed to supporting fundraising through annual, leadership, planned, and major giving efforts.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Annual and Leadership Giving, the person in this position works collaboratively and must be able to proactively help move projects and administrative tasks forward independently. This is a fast-paced work environment with multiple changing priorities; the Staff Assistant is expected to anticipate problems and help resolve them. The successful candidate will be proactive, creative, and pragmatic, interested in improving and expanding our fundraising efforts as well as contributing across the development team. The Staff Assistant must adhere to timelines and be adept in project management, data maintenance, and crucial administrative duties. This is an ideal position for an organized, detail-oriented individual who is service-minded and interested in growing on a mission-driven alumni relations and fundraising team.

Requirements

• HS Diploma or equivalent.
• Minimum of 2 years’ full-time work experience in a professional office or equivalent transferable experience.
• Microsoft Office and general computer literacy, including proficiency with standard office software (e.g., Microsoft Office or Google Workspace) and experience with at least one Development CRM (e.g., Advance, Salesforce, Raiser’s Edge, or similar).
• Strong attention to detail and ability to proofread well.
• Must be professional, enthusiastic, collaborative, focused, motivated to learn, reliable, able to adapt, and able to work effectively with people from different backgrounds and experiences.
• Must demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication and customer service skills.
• Embody a high degree of professionalism with the ability to handle sensitive and confidential materials with sound judgment and discretion; able to work independently and flexibly.
• Have a proven track record of providing exceptional customer service and able to develop and maintain good working relationships with staff at all levels of the School.
• Be creative and curious, attend GSD public lectures and events, and engage with colleagues outside of the DevAR team.
• Must be highly organized, detail-oriented, conscientious, and efficient, with the ability to work independently and handle multiple tasks accurately under deadline pressure.
• Accept challenging projects and be eager to develop new skills in a fast-paced and flexible environment.
• Contribute positively to a collaborative team culture that values openness, learning, and shared success across all DevAR functions. Participate actively in the GSD campus community and represent the GSD professionally in all settings.
• Ability to thoughtfully employ AI-assisted tools for written communications, data-driven tasks, and workflow efficiencies, while exercising strong professional judgment and ensuring outputs align with institutional standards.
• Possess a sense of humor, high-energy and productive mentality, and a solutions-oriented approach to the work.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Have an interest or background in higher education, museums, fundraising, or arts and design/the design professions.
• Experience with Advance CRM and QlikView reporting preferred.

Responsibilities

• Primary focus will be on annual giving program activities, including maintaining timelines for the annual appeal schedule for multi-channel engagement of solicitations, acknowledgments, and ongoing cultivation and stewardship.
• Assist with data pulls and data management. Maintain prospect and pipeline activity for the team.
• Run reports to track progress to goals. Maintain benchmarking data.
• Help coordinate logistics for solicitations, including data, mail house timelines, and processing expenses.
• Support the stewardship process and gift acknowledgments, working in collaboration with colleagues across DevAR.
• Maintain and enter all prospect updates in our CRM system.
• Support leadership giving and planned giving activities as needed.
• Prepare agendas, briefings, and meeting materials for the Senior Director of Annual and Leadership Giving officer, using templates.
• Enter contact reports, proposals, and other relevant information into the database.
• Help coordinate logistics for donor visits, small dinners, events, and activities.
• Assist in tracking prospects through pipeline to keep fundraiser focused on fundraising objectives.
• Manage calendars, coordinate regular team meetings, confirm appointments, make travel and accommodation plans, and reconcile officer expenses.
• Enter contact reports in the development database; help maintain records.
• Provide on-site support for local DevAR events, working closely with the Engagement team. There are approximately 10-12 events annually, including some nights and weekends.
• Provide office support, printing, copying, mailings, filing, etc.
• Prepare correspondence, reports, and other materials using MS Office and development database.
• Oversee external inquiries and requests received through the office’s email inboxes. Respond to inquiries in a timely and professional manner and route as appropriate.
• Perform general administrative duties, including: scheduling projects and meetings; preparing agendas; taking notes during meetings; arranging for faculty, speaker, and staff travel; organizing files; supporting DevAR meetings.
• Other duties and administrative tasks as assigned.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off including parental leave
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one
• Retirement plans with university contributions
• Wellbeing and mental health resources
• Support for families and caregivers
• Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement
• Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED