Director, Donor Relations & Stewardship

Job Summary

The Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship leads the strategic development and implementation of a comprehensive donor relations program that fosters meaningful engagement, ensures accountability, and strengthens long-term philanthropic support for the university. This role is responsible for overseeing donor recognition, stewardship reporting, endowment compliance, and impact communications to demonstrate the value and outcomes of donor investments. The Director partners closely with advancement leadership, development officers, academic units, and the university foundation to enhance donor experiences and ensure alignment with institutional priorities.

Job Description

Typical duties may include but are not limited to:

• Leads the development and implementation of a comprehensive donor relations, stewardship, and cultivation strategy aligned with institutional fundraising goals and advancement best practices.
• Oversees donor engagement strategy and portfolio activity across all assigned prospects in coordination with the major gift and planned giving team, with the ability to directly engage donors and prospects in cultivation as needed.
• Develops donor relations and stewardship strategies, goals, and department priorities in partnership with advancement leadership, including individual prospect strategy, pipeline development, and opportunity alignment.
• Serves as a key advisor to advancement leadership on donor engagement, naming opportunities and recognition strategies.
• Supports cultivation and solicitation efforts through preparation and review of donor-facing materials including proposals, solicitation letters, gift agreements, and customized engagement content.
• Oversees coordination of donor cultivation and engagement strategies for university fundraising campaigns in collaboration with advancement leadership and campus partners.
• Support all fundraising events and recognition events in development in coordination with university events and advancement leadership.
• Directs stewardship strategy and execution for gifts at all levels, annual, leadership, major, principal, and endowed gifts, including stewardship planning, donor reporting, and implementation of the Stewardship Matrix.
• Oversees development of high-quality donor impact reports, annual reports, and storytelling content demonstrating philanthropic outcomes and institutional impact.
• Ensures compliance and accountability for endowed and restricted funds, including donor intent adherence, audit readiness, and accurate fund tracking in collaboration with foundation finance and advancement services.
• Develops and maintains donor engagement and stewardship policies, procedures, and recognition standards across advancement, ensuring a consistency and alignment across colleges and administrative units.
• Directs donor recognition programs, including naming opportunities, recognition societies, and campus recognition displays, and evaluates effectiveness against best practices.
• Leads stewardship communications strategy in partnership with marketing and communications, ensuring alignment with institutional branding and philanthropic storytelling.
• Utilizes CRM systems and analytics to track donor engagement, stewardship activities, and reporting requirements; develops dashboards to assess effectiveness, compliance, and donor retention outcomes.
• Oversees and supervises donor relations staff, providing leadership and professional development.
• Provides training and guidance to advancement and campus partners to ensure consistent stewardship and fundraising support practices.

Required Qualifications

• This position requires either ten years of directly related full-time experience or, as an alternative, a Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in an appropriate area of specialization and six years of full-time experience directly related to the job functions.
• Experience in higher education, university foundation, or similar organizations.
• Experience managing or supervising staff.
• Experience and proficiency with Raiser's Edge or similar fundraising applications.
• Experience operating a personal computer and proficient with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher and Outlook).

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree from an accredited university.
• Experience in campaign environments, including planning and executing comprehensive fundraising campaigns.
• Experience with donor analytics, segmentation, and stewardship metrics.
• Experience in writing, communications or storytelling, tailored for donor audience.