Director, Donor Stewardship & Engagement
Position Overview
Organization: Humber Polytechnic
Title: Director, Stewardship and Donor Engagement
Reports to: Chief Advancement Officer
Team: Senior Advancement Officer, Stewardship & Donor Engagement; Coordinator, Stewardship and Major Gifts; Senior Advancement Officer, Impact Writer
Location: 3x a week in the office: 205 Humber College Blvd
Is this you?
Are you inspired and passionate about education and the critical role philanthropy plays in advancing this sector? Are you a best-in-class stewardship professional? Are you team oriented, an exceptional project manager and a strong communicator both written and verbal? Would your peers describe you as professional, polished, and donor-centric?
You would consider yourself to be an expert at the practice of stewardship and donor relations. A lifelong learner, you embrace new ways of approaching your work and are always seeking to improve. You are very comfortable working with a myriad of folks – from internal peers and colleagues within your department to other departments within the organization you represent, and of course, the wider donor community. You are independent, curious, intelligent and have high emotional intelligence. You love making stewardship programs the best they can be. You are an idea generator, an executor, and an able team leader. You are respected by those who work with you because you have high integrity, you care about the success of your team and the organization you represent.
You have high capacity for work and are comfortable managing a number of priorities either through delegation to your capable team or by rolling up your sleeves and diving into the work – or both! Working with a well respected advancement leader who has a special interest in stewardship would excite you. You are at a point in your career where you are ready to be in a leadership position and member of a well-functioning highly collegial senior leadership team who are committed to building a best-in-class advancement environment for one of Canada’s most beloved polytechnics.
If the above sounds like you, please read on as you will be interested in pursuing this exciting opportunity to become a key member of a strong and successful advancement and alumni team for one of Canada’s largest polytechnics, focused on building and strengthening its relationships with its community of existing and prospective supporters.
The Organization
Established in 1967, Humber Polytechnic is one of Canada’s leading postsecondary institutions. Committed to student success through excellence in teaching and learning, Humber serves over 86,000 learners and 9,300 international students. It also attracts over 135,500 full-time program applications annually and with over 14,000 graduates each year. As Canada’s largest polytechnic and with an internationally recognized reputation for quality learning, Humber has six academic faculties offering a wide-range of career-focused opportunities for students to personalize their educational path, including more than 200 full-time programs in more than 17 areas of interest, 200 part-time and 400 online programs or courses. Humber is also proud to have the highest graduate employment rate of 84% and the highest employer satisfaction rate at 97% of the GTA colleges based on Colleges Ontario’s key performance indicators for college graduates in 2022-2023.
Advancement and Alumni is a dedicated team of 29 professionals raising financial resources and engaging alumni to help advance Humber College’s mission, vision, and priorities. With over 3000,000 graduates contributing to a vibrant and meaningful alumni community, as well as individuals, corporations and foundations investing in the College, the department works to inspire and cultivate meaningful engagement and philanthropic support to ensure that Humber students will be well-positioned for success having the resources they need to achieve their academic, career and personal goals.
The Advancement and Alumni team offers a comprehensive and integrated advancement program to its donors and alumni fostering a seamless connection between these two significant areas of focus. Together, the team works collaboratively with Humber stakeholders to centrally support fundraising and the engagement of alumni, while also adhering to the administrative practices and processes set out by the broader college.
Today, Humber is working toward the completion of Unlimited, Humber’s first fundraising Campaign with priorities focused on developing career-ready citizens; providing accessible education; and fostering a healthy an inclusive campus and community. To date over $98 million has been raised towards the campaign goal of $100 million.
The PositionReporting to the Chief Advancement Officer, the Director, Donor Stewardship and Engagement is responsible for leading an institution-wide comprehensive donor relations and stewardship program that relays impact, inspires, and fosters lasting relationships, and promotes interaction with and recognition of donors at all levels.
The candidate will play a key role in continuing to elevate Humber’s fundraising achievement and will lead the effort to ensure that donors experience high-quality interactions with the organization leading to long-term engagement, loyalty, and investment. The Director will play a strategic role in setting the stage for future support by providing a tangible way of stewarding and recognizing donors by delivering on major responsibilities in the areas of, but not limited to gift accountability and management, acknowledgement, donor recognition, and impact reporting.
The Director will lead a team of three professionals and will be comfortable coaching and mentoring staff. The candidate will also be extremely collaborative by nature, a critical thinker, who is an excellent communicator and comfortable working with stakeholders of all kinds and possesses the experience to drive and promote a donor centric culture throughout the organization.
This position is an integral part of the Advancement and Alumni team and its efforts to connect the College with its donor community.
Key Responsibilities
- Manages a college-wide donor stewardship program to foster long-term relationships with donors at all levels through communications, events, acknowledgement, recognition, and reporting
- Enhances existing and develops new recognition programs and opportunities for current and potential donors ensuring consistent high-quality donor experiences
- Plans, coordinates, and executes activities that advance donor involvement such as: gift announcements; donor profiles; dedications; ribbon cuttings and unveilings; presentations; appreciation lunches; tours; annual recognition, scholarship, and society/circle events
- Builds upon programming related to donor giving societies including identifying and welcoming new members, offering benefits, and related activities
- Oversees in partnership with the CAO and select team members, personal stewardship plans for individual major gift donors and leads the preparation and delivery of stewardship impact and fund management reports
- Reviews gift agreements and proposals to ensure that obligations offered can be fulfilled; supports the gift agreement process ensuring consistency in gift agreement language and serves as department’s main contact for review and approval process; monitors gift agreement commitments ensuring fulfillment and compliance with donor intent.
- Liaises with donors about donor relations matters such as plaque naming, acknowledgements; reporting and funds; event details, and helps solve any issues pertaining to deliverables and recognition
- Manages donor naming opportunities including the maintenance of existing and future inventory; determines appropriate values for naming spaces; provides support for the creation of naming opportunity presentations and proposals; leads best practices in recognition and naming standards, processes, and procedures; secures and maintains inventory of donor gifts and premiums
- Develops and maintains donor signage in Gratitude Hall and across the campus, including the donor wall and digital assets consistent with campus styles and guidelines, and manages the Gratitude Medal Program, liaising with vendors for development, design and installations as needed
- Oversees the preparation of donor correspondence; manages the acknowledgement process including thank you letters, reminders, reports, newsletters, donor lists and other communications materials in print, digital and web-based applications ensuring appropriate, timely and highly professional responses in a manner consistent with the expectations of donors
- Ensures successful planning and delivery of impact and fund reporting for all eligible donors.
- Ensures the delivery of the department’s stewardship and donor recognition framework, and all associated policies and processes, while also contributing to the development and implementation of any new policies, standards, and processes within the stewardship portfolio.
- Prepares annual business and strategic plans; develops and tracks program budget; ensures an annual calendar of stewardship activities is maintained; creates key performance indicators and program goals; ensures that annual donor meetings take place and that donor funds have been expended and used appropriately; manages the stewardship infrastructure including matrix, policies, guidelines and standards, and processes that support quality, timely and efficient fulfilment of stewardship activities
- Leads and manages the Donor Stewardship team, providing direction, goal setting, coaching, and mentorship to ensure effective program delivery and to create a positive working environment
- Reviews team effectiveness to identify need for resources in the context of the larger stewardship team needs, and monitoring progress toward goals
- Ensures that the CAO is kept up to date on recommended plans and initiatives, receives regular status updates and is promptly informed of any emerging issues and recommended actions
- Works collaboratively with Humber’s leadership team and senior volunteers as appropriate to develop and implement stewardship initiatives that help foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and exceptional service while also contributing to the professionalism, business planning, management and strategic direction of the Advancement and Alumni department.
- Leads the coordination of the exchange of information; the standardization of stewardship expectations at various levels; provides external industry knowledge; monitors trends in the philanthropic environment; encourages the use of best practices, sharing of new ideas and a consistent and disciplined approach to continuous improvement; and is a source of ideas, innovation, and advice
- Provides external industry knowledge, monitors trends in the philanthropic environment and encourages the use of best practices, sharing of new ideas and a consistent and disciplined approach to continuous improvement
- Manages stewardship data infrastructures to ensure that donors and related information is properly stored, and tracked in the central database (Raiser’s Edge)
- Leads or supports strategic projects, as necessary.
- Assists with other duties related to college-wide stewardship goals
Role Requirements
- A four-year university or college degree considered an asset
- Holds five to seven years experience in a stewardship/donor relations focused role
- Proven track record in a not-for-profit environment
- Experience in a stewardship, donor relations, donor communications, fundraising or related role, higher education or independent school sector experience will be considered an asset
- Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) designation considered an asset
- Proven track record as a skilled leader and manager with the ability to lead and motivate staff
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of fundraising activities, donor motivations, and donor stewardship best practices, donor accountability, familiarity of Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Code of Ethics and the Four Pillars of Donor Relations
- Familiarity with financial reporting specifically relevant to endowment fund reporting and gift impact reports
- Ability to work within a senior management team
- Ability to think strategically and work proactively, managing competing priorities along with strong analytical, organizational, strategic decision-making and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent donor relations skills, with a keen sense of diplomacy
- Collaborative mindset, strives to work effectively with cross-functional teams
- Strong interpersonal skills, a superior ability to build and foster solid relationships, collaborate and effectively manage complex protocols and expectations
- Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills
- Strong planning, organizational and project management skills with the ability to multi-task and effectively balance priorities and meet deadlines
- The ability to work effectively under pressure, to manage complex, evolving agendas and to adjust priorities in a dynamic environment
- Ability to exercise a high level of professionalism, independence, diplomacy, discretion and confidentiality and sound business judgement
- Competency in problem solving and navigating a complex working environment.
- Demonstrated ability to compile and interpret data from a variety of sources, select appropriate methods of analysis and monitor and communicate impact, emerging trends, and issues
- The ability to identify, assess, and mitigate risk, in all operational contexts as well as in the development and dissemination of sensitive information, communications, and relations with key stakeholders.
- Ability to rise to new challenges and find creative solutions – resourceful and tenacious
- Overall proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and experience with donor databases; and demonstrated ability to multi-task while maintaining accuracy and independently establishing priorities
- Flexibility is necessary, as this position will be required to work some weekends and evenings
Work Environment
- Office environment (in person 3 days a week, virtual 2 days a week)
- Regular travel for meetings, conferences, and events. Occasional travel outside of the GTA may be required.
What’s In it for you?
- An opportunity to have an impact with a post-secondary institution, poised to do great things
- Diverse, hard-working, committed team of people who care about each other – and a cohesive high performing senior leadership team
- Tools and technology that will allow you to succeed at your job
- Amazing perks
- Highly supportive work culture
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Humber Polytechnic is committed to a workforce that reflects the diversity of their students and city. We actively seek Indigenous Peoples and individuals from equity-deserving groups with demonstrated skills and knowledge to deal with all aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion in a post-secondary environment.
Accommodation
Humber Polytechnic is committed to accommodating applicants with disabilities throughout the hiring process, in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Our HR Generalists will work with applicants requesting accommodations at any stage of the hiring process. This document is available in alternate formats upon request.
Anti-Discrimination Statement
At Humber Polytechnic, all forms of discrimination and harassment are prohibited. Students and employees have the right to study, live and work in an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment. If you need assistance on concerns related to discrimination and harassment, please contact the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion http://hrs.humber.ca/human-rights-equity-diversity.html or the Office of Student Conduct at studentconduct@humber.ca
Compensation and Benefits
Hiring range is $125,000 – $145,000 and a pension plan, health and other benefits are part of the package.
Application Instructions
If you are looking for an outstanding challenge, then what are you waiting for? Apply now! Please include a cover letter and CV addressed to Lindsay Preston at lindsay@phcap.ca. The posting closes on November 1, 2024, at 5pm ET.
At Humber Polytechnic they don’t just accept difference — they celebrate it! Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and a progressive mindset goes a long way at Humber. If your experience is close to what we’re looking for, consider applying and tell us why you are a great candidate for this job. Find your Spot at Humber! We thank you for your interest in working with Humber Polytechnic. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted. Consideration for Support Staff and Academic positions will be given to internal employees in accordance with the respective Collective Agreements.
Please note only qualified respondents will be contacted. Thank you for your interest.