Donor Relations Officer

Overview:
**Term: 15 months**

This position fosters positive and long-term donor relationships that are critical to philanthropic support. As part of the Donor Relations and Stewardship team, they help to build a culture of gratitude, inspiration and accountability by stewarding donors and by providing meaningful recognition programs, impactful reports/communications, and engaging donor experiences and events. The Donor Relations Officer develops and executes a range of integrated, consistent, and sustainable programs and processes that appropriately contribute to best in class donor experiences. The Donor Relations Officer also works in close collaboration with donors’ primary solicitors and/or project leads and teams in Central Advancement

**Responsibilities**:
Donor Relations and Relationship Management- Responsible for the creation, accuracy, timeliness and quality of a wide variety of donor relations and stewardship communications, including personal communications, event collateral, as well as custom and targeted impact reports that convey to donors the impact of their giving- Lead collaborative development of custom stewardship and engagement plans for major giving and top tier donors by working with central colleagues and Faculties to provide direct value-added service- As appropriate and agreed upon, the Donor Relations Officer may be designated as Stewardship Relationship Manager for constituents identified in permanent stewardship, as well as lead regular stewardship efforts for specifically identified UW wide pooled funds and/or donor funded awards- Accountable for the information gathering associated with donor stewardship and impact reporting process- Create new and/or enhanced impact reporting tools and suite of standardized templates with accompanying process documentation to ensure quality, accuracy and uniformity of reporting by multiple users. Explores digital stewardship solutions in collaboration with other teams- Coordinate and oversee processes, systems, and opportunities to ensure donors are thanked by beneficiaries- Routinely monitor and assess processes to improve procedures, reports, tools, and controls in accordance with established guidelines

Donor Recognition and Engagement- Identify and develop inspiring engagement opportunities for donors to strengthen donor engagement and prospecting- Ensure gift recognition and stewardship policies and procedures are followed to provide consistency and integrity- Lead review of lifetime giving Society (1957 Society) and oversee ongoing management and implementation of any related recommendations- Play a lead role in donor recognition and engagement for 1957 members to ensure this cohort of donors receives timely and personal thanks and appreciation, appropriate impact reporting, as well as opportunities to engage with University events and leadership- Collaborate with other Advancement teams to ensure 1957 Society and donor recognition program best practices align across other UWaterloo giving societies (i.e. Circle and Laurel)- Ensure donors are accurately recognized and coded for lifetime giving Society membership and properly recognized in any published list

Donor Events- Plan and execute flawless donor relations events, in consultation with Advancement teams, including volunteer recruitment and management, project management and post event evaluation. This may include organizing special visits, meetings with student award recipients, and other activities designed to deepen donor engagement- Provides counsel and guidance to Faculties and other teams for gift announcements, ground breakings, donor visits, receptions, special performances, etc. as appropriate- Work with other teams to leverage Advancement events, as appropriate, for additional donor engagement opportunities- Work alongside DRS team members and other teams (e.g. Advancement Communications, Alumni Relations,) to develop strategies for virtual donor focused events, as well as digital engagement opportunities. Participate in emerging community of practice for virtual events

Project Management and Other- Provide coordinated project management for special donor relations initiatives and projects- Ensure DRS procedure manuals and process documents are current, accurate and maintained-
- Support the timely resolution of donor relations and stewardship based inquiries through research, problem solving, and communication with relevant staff members and on campus partners- Maintain accurate, up-to-date Raiser’s Edge records of donor stewardship activity- Work collaboratively as part of DRS team in order to strategically support Advancement and University goals- In collaboration with the Associate Director, facilitate recruiting, training and supervision of co-op student(s)- Stay abreast of industry trends in stewardship and seek to identify new methods which can be implemented- Comply with fundraising policies, goals, and procedures
- Other duties as assigned

Qualifications