Associate Director of Advancement Services and Operations

Full-time, exempt position based on the Longmeadow Campus. Schedule: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, 37.5 hours per week.

About the role

Reporting to the Vice President of Institutional Advancement, the Associate Director of Advancement Services and Operations oversees daily gift processing and acknowledgements; updates the donor database; provides regular financial and accounting reports and reconciliations; and supports the development of donor fund reports. In collaboration with the Data Coordinator, the Associate Director manages the prospect-management system, including prospect screening, reports, and moves management, ensuring prospect records accurately reflect ratings and activities. This role provides crucial support for the development staff’s efforts to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major-gift prospects and annual-fund donors, and assists in designing reports to meet departmental needs. The successful candidate will handle high-level, often confidential information under strict standards and tight deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the administrator of the Institutional Advancement CRM, Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, including Raiser’s Edge Online Express, Blackbaud NetCommunity (BBNC), ResearchPoint-Target Analytics, and affiliated modules.
• Supervise the Prospect Research and Data Coordinator.
• Perform giving-trend analysis.
• Administer key advancement operations: student-worker payroll, purchasing/invoicing, and divisional budget reconciliation.
• Assist the Vice President of Advancement with the Board of Trustees Institutional Advancement Committee.
• Facilitate the development of an annual honor roll of donors.
• Assist with the creation of new donor funds and gift-criteria descriptions.
• Facilitate the creation of new pledges and administrative paperwork.
• Partner with key University functional areas (Finance, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs).
• Ensure accurate gift entry, batch preparation for the business office, and gift-acknowledgment production and oversight, recording gifts, grants, and pledges in compliance with IRS tax laws, accounting best practices, and CASE standards.
• Independently produce, reconcile, organize, and maintain reports from the University constituent-relations management system (Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT) and various other lists, including regular gift reports, donor-fund reports, alumni lists, mailing lists, prospect-management reports, monthly gift reports for the business office, monthly LYBUNT lists, annual pledge reviews, and other reports as requested.
• Provide donor/prospect screening and research, and donor reports for Advancement staff for potential visits and events, alerting staff of changes in constituent vital information, including gifts, news, or activities.
• Design and revise reports to be pulled from the University database in support of department goals and activities.
• Supervise the revision and production of timely and appropriate acknowledgment and other assigned letters.
• Accurately maintain the University database and active knowledge of university gift-acceptance policies and procedures.
• Manage and maintain Virtual Engagement Officers (VEO) portfolios by updating records, importing VEO actions into Raiser’s Edge, and ensuring accurate and timely data entry.
• Manage and monitor the departmental budget and purchasing activities.
• Work with Financial Aid to secure student-work funds; manage the recruitment process by posting positions and interviewing candidates; and supervise and oversee student workers.
• Assist the immediate supervisor in cross-training Advancement staff and support new Institutional Advancement employee orientation.
• Participate in department meetings, university committees, and professional-development programs as required.
• Attend required trainings.
• Perform any other duties or tasks as assigned by the University.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Prospect Research and Data Coordinator
• Student workers

Qualifications

• Minimum of Associate’s degree required; Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Experience in a fundraising environment or related advancement experience, preferably for a nonprofit or higher-education institution.
• Experience with gift processing and donor-database usage desired (e.g., Jenzabar, Raiser’s Edge).
• Excellent Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel (knowledge of Pivot Tables a plus) and mail merge with Word.
• Bookkeeping or accounting experience is desirable.
• Able to utilize the Internet (including social media) and provided resources to conduct constituent research.
• Proven excellent organizational skills and demonstrated ability to prioritize workload, manage changing priorities, work with frequent interruptions, and meet deadlines.
• Able to work both independently and collaboratively to manage multiple responsibilities.
• Initiative, problem-solving skills, and high attention to detail and accuracy.
• Excellent writing skills and good judgment, confidentiality, and discretion in communicating with colleagues and constituents.
• Strong communication and customer-service skills.
• Ability to adhere to University policies and procedures.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills, with the ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with students, faculty, and staff.
• Ability to work independently and within a team.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with all members of the University community, including students, faculty, staff, and administrators.
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion and within FERPA and HIPAA guidelines.
• All new employees must complete FERPA, Anti-Harassment, and any other required online trainings within 15 days of employment.
• General knowledge of the University’s mission, purpose, and goals, and the role this position plays in achieving them.