Stewardship & Prospect Research Coordinator

Nichols School•Buffalo, NY

About The Position

In conjunction with the Nichols School Advancement Operational Plan, the Stewardship and Prospect Research Coordinator is responsible for the oversight and implementation of a comprehensive stewardship program. Additionally, this position is responsible for the coordination of the school’s prospect research program and assists with gift processing.

Requirements

Highly organized
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Proficient with Microsoft Suite and using databases
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
Knowledge of trends, issues on accepted practices relevant to the position

Responsibilities

Develop, coordinate, and implement a comprehensive stewardship program, including all forms of donor communication (phone calls, written and electronic correspondence) to ensure stewardship goals are met.
Support the Advancement Team with ongoing stewardship by managing the operations of the gift acknowledgement process, including drafting and mailing of donor acknowledgement letters, personal notes, donor reports, tribute packets, pledge reminders, and other periodic donor-centric reporting.
Process gifts coming to Nichols School.
Act as a donor relations representative for all donor inquiries.
Prepare and distribute all donor correspondence related to the Named Scholarship Program and other major initiatives.
Create and implement a strategic calendar of donor-centric events.
Coordinate all special gifts and awards.
Maintain appropriate displays of plaques, lobby walls, and naming opportunities campus-wide.
Track stewardship information and donor interests in donor database.
Provide detailed reports to leadership as directed.
Coordinate the Advancement Team’s Stewardship Plan on all gifts to the school.
Assist in expanding the prospect pool by proactively identifying donor prospects for individual research and prioritizing large-scale prospect pools through means such as data sorting, mining, and wealth screening.
Identify and qualify prospective individuals, corporations and foundations capable of significant financial support using proactive research methods.
Identify possible connections to new prospects through their known or likely relationships with the school.
Conduct biographical and financial research on prospects and donors utilizing in-house resources and a variety of online and print sources, including complex financial and legal disclosures, corporate reports, proxy statements, foundation tax reports, and county documents.
Produce confidential research profiles on prospects and donors for strategy planning, events and other meetings.
Respond in a time-sensitive manner to research requests.
Participate in continuing education to enhance and increase fundraising skills, maintain awareness of changes in philanthropy patterns.
Keep a finger on the pulse of philanthropy trends, particularly prospect research, analytics, wealth screening, and data mining.
Support Advancement team with all department events and initiatives.
Serve as point person for all donor stewardship efforts.
Collaborate with Marketing & Communications team.
Liaise and collaborate with school leadership, faculty and staff.
Liaise with parent and alumni volunteers.
Perform other duties as assigned.