Assistant Director of Advancement (Stewardship Officer)

Job Summary

The Assistant Director of Advancement plays a critical role in achieving IU Auditorium's fundraising and engagement goals by leading all aspects of annual giving, including donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and alumni engagement. In partnership with the Director of Development, this position strengthens the donor pipeline by identifying, cultivating, and advancing relationships with donors, alumni, patrons, and community partners.

Department Specific Responsibilities

• Collaborates with the Director of Development and Senior Director of Advancement & Administration to achieve goals and advance strategic priorities while partnering with the assistant director of finance to ensure proper donor fund management and with the communications team to maintain consistent messaging.
• Leads annual giving campaigns, targeted solicitations, and crowdfunding initiatives.
• Develops initiatives that strengthen connections among alumni, donors, and IU Auditorium.
• Serves as the primary contact for donor inquiries, including VIP ticketing and artist access, in collaboration with box office and audience engagement teams.
• Plans and executes donor events, including receptions, reunions, advisory board gatherings, and the annual season announcement; attends events to cultivate prospects and steward donors; partners with the Auditorium events team on logistics and execution.
• Tracks progress toward goals and presents updates to leadership to inform advancement strategy.
• Analyzes donor data and trends to produce forecasting and benchmarking reports and support budget planning.
• Cultivates donor relationships through targeted communications, impact reporting, and curated donor events.
• Manages donor and corporate partner recognition, including listings, invitations, announcements, and concierge ticketing.
• Maintains donor records in the Crimson database and completes list pulls and solicitation approvals in Workfront or AlumniQ.
• In partnership with the Director of Development, oversees scholarship distribution procedures and best practices to ensure compliance with donor intent and university policy.
• Ensures timely, accurate gift processing and acknowledgments.
• Serves as liaison to IU Foundation business operations, ensuring compliance, donor recognition, and gift-use reporting.
• Maintains records for all giving funds, including vendor payments, transfers, scholarships, and reimbursements.
• Serves as staff liaison for the IU Auditorium Alumni Association, overseeing programs, communications, events, and engagement tracking.
• Supports communications and engagement for the Auditorium Board of Advisors.
• Uses advancement data to guide planning and evaluate event effectiveness through follow-up and reporting.
• Research and compiles information to support donor engagement and prepares materials to address donor inquiries.
• Research donor and foundation prospects and presents findings to leadership to identify pipeline opportunities and guide engagement.
• Identifies potential campaign donors through donor communications and giving history reviews and refers prospects to the appropriate development staff.
• Consistently works with people of different backgrounds.

General Responsibilities

• Responsible for supporting the university's stewardship efforts to ensure adherence to donor intent of donated funds, proper donor acknowledgment/recognition, and reporting on how gifts are used.
• Individually follows up via phone or in-person with donors to provide updates on fund allocation and projects/initiatives pursued through funding and convey appreciation for the support of Indiana University.
• Through communications with donors and review of giving history reports, identifies potential donors to ongoing university campaigns and refers to the appropriate development staff for outreach.
• Generates and analyzes regular reports of donor activity; ensures that tracking and reporting of stewardship activities/data are timely, thorough, and transparent.
• Investigates and resolves claims of non-adherence to donor intent, escalating to manager as appropriate.
• Monitors Foundation accounts to ensure the integrity of funds against donor intent.
• Provides an excellent donor experience through customer service, active listening, inclusive language, and thoughtful and persuasive discussion.
• May take on special projects, such as developing suitable recognition plans tied to cultivation and solicitation strategies for market segments and designing targeted events for potential donors.
• May delegate administrative tasks to Stewardship Coordinators. May provide guidance to lower-level Stewardship Officers.