Advancement Communications Manager
Temporary, full-time position
Guelph, ON
Are you a strategic communicator with a passion for digital marketing and philanthropy? Do you excel at crafting compelling messages that engage diverse audiences and inspire action?
The Advancement Communications Manager plays a vital role within the Alumni Affairs & Development (AA&D) department at the University of Guelph, supporting annual fundraising efforts that engage over 100,000 alumni and donors. In this role, you will lead the development of fundraising communications, manage multi-channel engagement strategies, and collaborate with internal teams to craft impactful appeals, acknowledgments, and stewardship messages.
As a key member of the Annual Giving unit, you will help drive fundraising success by optimizing email marketing, donor outreach, and campaign messaging. Your expertise in writing, editing, project management, and digital communication tools will ensure the effectiveness of our philanthropic initiatives.
If you’re a creative storyteller with experience in marketing, fundraising, or communications—and are eager to make a meaningful impact—we’d love to hear from you!
Your key responsibilities will include:
General duties of the Advancement Communications Manager are:
• Plan, write, edit, and design appeals, acknowledgments, stewardship messages, and related content.
• Act as the internal liaison for Annual Giving deliverables, managing the communication calendar and collaborating with internal teams.
• Lead the department’s email communications strategy and oversee the digital engagement calendar, ensuring best practices in digital communications and fundraising appeals.
• Analyze data to assess the effectiveness of digital communications and fundraising efforts, making recommendations for improvement.
• Ensure all communications adhere to university and department brand standards, maintaining consistency across all channels.
• Work closely with internal teams to develop and execute digital campaigns, leveraging expertise in various digital tools and platforms.
Requirements
• Undergraduate degree. Preference given to communications, journalism, business, marketing.
• 3-6 years of relevant experience.
• Superior writing and editing abilities are critical. The successful candidate will have demonstrated, through a portfolio of samples, professional-level writing ability for strategy, style, organization, and structure
• Expertise in crafting messages for diverse audiences.
• Excellent proofreading skills.
• Exemplary project management skills.
• High level of skill with InDesign, other Adobe, and MS software, and the ability to work within branded templates.
• The ability to contribute to the development of strategic and compelling campaign marketing collateral consistent with university and department brand standards.
• Experience with email marketing platforms such as Luminate Online and constituent management platforms such as Blackbaud CRM.
• Knowledge of fundraising principles, email marketing, and annual giving best practices, and a commitment to continuous learning.
• Demonstrated ability for creative problem-solving and innovative thinking.
• The ability to think and act quickly under pressure, exercising tact, diplomacy, discretion, and good judgement.
• The ability to be data savvy and to extract meaningful insights and make recommendations throughout the year.
• Experience working in a Drupal platform and publishing website content is considered an asset.
• The ability to build rapport and credibility with a range of internal and external partners through excellent interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated professionalism, integrity, and cross-functional collaboration in all aspects of work
The University has adopted a policy relative to flexible work arrangements. This appointment is required to be fulfilled both remotely and on campus (Guelph Campus).
The University of Guelph (www.uoguelph.ca) is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive comprehensive institutions, with a record of outstanding scholarship in the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences, physical and engineering sciences, agriculture, and veterinary sciences. This is your chance to join us in our endeavor to improve life.
To view a detailed posting for the role of Advancement Communications Manager, please go to our website at https://careers.uoguelph.ca/.
At the University of Guelph, fostering a culture of inclusion is an institutional imperative. The University invites and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in employment, who may contribute to further diversification of our Institution.