Development Officer, Annual Fund & Stewardship
Join the Renewed Seneca, The Next Seneca.
Guided by The Next – A Strategic Plan for Seneca Polytechnic, we offer a working environment that is innovative, healthy, flexible and encourages risk-taking. Joining Seneca Polytechnic brings opportunities for professional development and career growth, with supports available for health and wellbeing in all its forms – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – to support the whole person.
Position Summary
Seneca’s Advancement and Alumni team is responsible for raising more than $5 million each year to support Seneca students as well as engaging and servicing more than 200,000 Seneca graduates around the world.
Reporting to the Manager, Annual Programs, the Development Officer, Annual Fund & Stewardship is responsible for expanding Seneca’s base of annual donors and increasing the level of support from targeted audiences such as employees, retirees, alumni and friends. The Development Officer directs and administers all aspects of annual appeals and works closely with the Advancement team to identify prospective donors for leadership, major and planned giving programs.
Seneca is laying the foundations for a significant leap forward in philanthropy, engagement and alumni programming in support of our new strategic vision. We are looking for a creative and innovative fundraiser with excellent communication and stakeholder management skills to join us in our mission.
Responsibilities
Alumni Giving
- Coordinates direct response appeals and campaigns, including developing written and creative materials, implementing strategies to acquire new donors, managing production, tracking responses, analyzing results, and generating reports.
- Works closely with senior development officers, administrators, faculty and other staff to identify prospects for major or leadership annual giving and to develop cases for support and other solicitation documents.
- Facilitates recurring appeal solicitations, renewals and upgrade of gifts.
- Increases the number of monthly giving donors.
Employee Giving
- Plans and executes Campaign for Students, Seneca’s annual employee giving campaign, and recruits & engages employee volunteers to join the Campaign Cabinet.
- Increases the number of donors who contribute via payroll deduction.
- Segments data into appropriate pools for Leadership solicitation.
- Manages the Campaign for Student Loyalty Circle & Payroll Champions recognition programs.
- Monitors progress, evaluates results, and makes recommendations to grow the program.
Tribute Giving
- Develops, promotes and manages the Tribute Giving program (i.e., in honour and in memory gifts), including our e-card platform.
- Acts as first point of contact for Tribute Giving enquirers and supporters and provides timely response.
- Acknowledges tribute gifts through personally crafted thank you cards, letters, emails or phone calls.
Other Appeals
- Plans and executes other annual appeals for various awards and/or projects.
- Renews and upgrades annual gifts.
Advancement Administration
- Creates annual program content for website pages, employee/student intranets, and digital donor wall.
- Manages the Luminate Online platform database, including email layout & deployment, custom uploads, donation page creation & maintenance, query creation, report generation, birthday & donor anniversary recurring email deployments, and other duties as assigned.
- Works with other Development Officers to ensure the entire annual giving program is implemented and achieves its goals.
- Collaborates with external vendors and internal stakeholders to develop appeals, collateral material, and mailings.
- Coordinates Raiser’s Edge reporting and data analysis of program results, and ensures data integrity and security.
External Relations
- Represents Seneca and/or Alumni at a variety of functions both internally and externally as required.
- Meets with peer groups within the college and university communities, as well as professional organizations, to develop best practices and stay up to date on industry trends.
- Acts as an ambassador for Seneca and the Advancement and Alumni Department.
- Maintains donor confidentiality and protects Advancement and Alumni operations by ensuring sensitive information is handled with the utmost care and discretion.
Qualifications
As part of our commitment to dismantling barriers to success and job opportunities for employees and candidates, Seneca may consider applicants with an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Education
- Minimum completed four (4) year degree in fundraising, marketing, communications, journalism, or a related field; post-graduate certificate in fundraising is an asset.
- CFRE designation is an asset.
Experience
- Minimum three (3) years’ experience cultivating, soliciting and stewarding for annual fundraising.
- Experience working with donor information management systems, including Luminate Online.
- Experience conducting prospect research.
Skills
- Exceptional public relations, networking, and communications skills, with the ability to build philanthropic relations with individuals, employees and organizations through individual and group meetings and activities.
- Understanding of and commitment to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion.
- Strong computer and word processing skills (Microsoft Office, Outlook, Raiser’s Edge, Luminate Online); digital marketing skills (e.g., ability to develop graphics) would be an asset.
- Excellent time management skills, with the ability to organize own work with limited supervision.
- Innovative mindset, with a focus on continuous process and operational improvement.
Notes:
- A skills assessment test will be administered during the recruitment process.
- A valid driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle is required in order to attend donor meetings and events both on and off campus.