"Assistant Director of the Willamette Annual Fund, Telefund"

Position Summary

Willamette University is seeking an enthusiastic Assistant Director of the Willamette Annual Fund, Telefund to join our Advancement team. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys creating meaningful connections, mentoring students, and managing programs designed to inspire support for our vibrant campus community. If you're passionate about liberal arts and professional education, skilled in motivating teams, and dedicated to strengthening alumni relationships, we'd love to hear from you. We're especially eager to meet candidates enthusiastic about regularly working evenings and weekends, as this position primarily involves supervising and mentoring students during those times.

As Assistant Director of the Willamette Annual Fund, Telefund, you'll lead the planning, execution, and management of our successful paid student phoning program. Your work will directly impact alumni, friend, and donor engagement, acquisition, retention, and unrestricted fundraising efforts—supporting the dynamic education and experiential opportunities Willamette offers across all its schools and colleges. Reporting to the Director of the Annual Fund, you'll oversee hiring, training, and supervising student callers, guiding them in developing communication skills and fostering positive alumni connections. Collaborating closely with Advancement colleagues, you'll set strategic goals, track outcomes, and continually refine the program to ensure robust donor participation and philanthropic growth.

The ideal candidate will have excellent interpersonal and organizational skills, demonstrate enthusiasm and creativity, and thrive in a collaborative yet self-directed environment. You will be proactive in managing multiple priorities, effectively mentoring student staff, and passionately representing Willamette University's mission and values.

Join the Advancement team at Willamette University and help build lasting connections between alumni, parents, friends, and current students, fueling support for generations to come.

Willamette University is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. For more details, please see Willamette's Diversity and Inclusion Statement.

Essential Duties

Program Management and Oversight (30%)

• Create, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive segmentation calling plan to increase donors and dollars in support of the Willamette Annual Fund program as part of the strategy to meet annual goals and strengthen alumni and friend donor participation. Ensure that direct mail, e-solicitation, and paid phoning efforts are coordinated in such a way as to maximize participation. The plan will include audience segmentation, timing, messages, and goals.
• Establish segment-specific goals for each calling segment and regularly check actual results against these goals, as well as historic results, to ensure that the program is on target and all fiscal-year goals will be met.
• Analyze calling data and respond appropriately and creatively to develop, implement, and evaluate specific strategies to increase Willamette Annual Fund program donor retention, upgrades, and acquisition for increased participation rates.
• Manage the flow of data between the telefund software and Advancement database (the department's "database of record"). Work collaboratively with staff in Advancement Strategy and Operations and WITS to ensure that this data flow is accurate, timely, and efficient.
• Monitor progress toward annual and multiyear goals. Provide a rigorous, systematic review and analysis of all calling activities to find ways to find efficiencies. Develop appropriate elements and formats for regular, routine reporting on the Willamette Annual Fund program performance for a broad array of internal and external constituencies. Provide effective reporting and analysis to volunteers, supervisor, and colleagues for use in management decision making.
• Collect advice, insights, and ideas from colleagues in the industry.
• Develop and manage the Telefund student salary and program budget based on programmatic goals and objectives as reviewed and approved annually.
• Respond appropriately to queries and requests for information generated by student calling. Connect stakeholders with resources across campus according to their needs and requests.
• Manage pledge and pledge reminder process.
• Create and offer presentations about the Telefund program.

Supervising Student and Professional Staff (30%)

• Provides supervision of the Call Center during all calling shifts.
• Provide leadership, mentoring, and support to a staff of 28-32 student employees on Willamette's Salem campus.
• Hire and delegate responsibility for the Salem campus call center to a team of 4-6 student managers who in turn oversee the day-to-day operations of the calling room, including: supervising shifts of up to 12 callers at a time; recruiting, interviewing, and training 10-12 new callers at the start of each semester, supervising a staff of 4-6 student coaches who provide on-site training for the callers; conducting performance dialogues with each of the 25-30 student employees at the end of each semester, and designing and implementing effective motivation programs and events for the student staff.

Student Philanthropy (25%)

• Create a strategic plan for educating the student community in each of Willamette's schools and colleges on the Annual Fund's role in supporting their time at Willamette.
• Identify and manage 1-2 student volunteer ambassadors who engage the campus community, implementing the AD's plan.
• Create a positive association with the AF among the campus community in order to facilitate philanthropic support from alumni.
• Create a culture of philanthropy among the student body, soliciting gifts among students in support of the Annual Fund.

Technology Management and PCI Compliance (5%)

• Work directly with outside vendors as well as internal staff (database administrators, server administers, and desktop support staff) to ensure that the University is using up-to-date technology to maximize program efficiency and ensuring PCI compliance.
• Manage an inventory of headsets, amps, and dialers. Work collaboratively with outside vendors and internal staff to coordinate hardware/software maintenance, upgrades, and purchases.
• Troubleshoot complex technical problems that involve many component pieces (multiple pieces of hardware working in conjunction with multiple software applications) and consultation with multiple departments, units, and outside vendors.

Personal Solicitations (5%)

• Personally solicit annual fund prospects by phone as requested. Document information in the database to assure proper recording and tracking of results.

Duties as Assigned (5%)

• Performs various Advancement- and University-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Any combination of education, training, and experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
• Experience personally soliciting gifts
• Prior experience in fundraising, telefund management, alumni relations, sales, marketing, or similar outreach-oriented roles
• Experience managing or supervising teams, particularly student workers or volunteer groups
• Familiarity with CRM databases or fundraising software (e.g., Blackbaud/Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, Ellucian Advance, EverTrue, or similar)
• Demonstrated success in achieving fundraising goals or proven effectiveness in telephone-based outreach campaigns
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience training and mentoring student employees, building team morale, and enhancing caller engagement
• Knowledge of modern data management practices, including computerized information systems, data modeling, and analytical techniques that drive strategic decision-making, coupled with demonstrated technical skills, adaptability to quickly learn and communicate new technical concepts, and the capacity to analyze data strategically
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite
• Ability to work nights and weekends and have a flexible schedule

Preferred Qualifications

• One-to-two years of telephone fundraising, telefundraising or university development experience, ideally in higher education
• Two-to-three years in development, thorough knowledge and detailed understanding of annual fundraising programs, particularly telefund
• Strong Excel skills including formulas, pivot tables, and vlookups are required, familiarity with Raiser's Edge and Engaging Networks

Typical Work Schedule

Sunday - Thursday, 12 pm - 9 pm, with regular evening hours and flexibility required to accommodate donor schedules.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

Work is typically performed on campus in an office and call center environment, with regular evening and weekend hours to support phonathon shifts, student callers, and Advancement/University events.

Salary

$53,020