Director of Advancement Services (may be remote)

Position Summary:

The Director of Advancement Services at Fort Lewis College (FLC) is a strategic leader with the ability to envision, implement, and steward a thoughtful approach to information management, prospect development, gift administration, and process improvement in support of the FLC Foundation’s growth and future comprehensive fundraising campaign efforts. Reporting to the FLC Foundation Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO), the Director will build and maintain mutually respected relationships with the Office of Advancement staff and colleagues across FLC to understand priorities and policies, identify challenges and socialize new business practices, reports, and tools.

Job Description:

Key elements of this role will be staff supervision and overseeing all aspects Advancement Services Operations and the centralized donor database (Blackbaud CRM) and other tools to optimize gift administration, fund management, and prospect strategies.

Leadership & Strategic Operations (30%)

• Provide strategic leadership to enhance the effectiveness of the Advancement Services operations.
• Provide recommendations on tools, technologies, and systems that would improve the quality and efficiency of Advancement Services operations and fundraising and volunteer engagement coordination, while meeting compliance requirements.
• Lead data strategy and governance practices and policies for the Office of Advancement.
• Lead counts and statistics for external reporting, including to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Voluntary Support of Education (VSE).
• Provides analysis of data and reports to assist fellow leaders in understanding results and trends and to inform business decisions.
• Regularly update the FLC Office of Advancement manual, ensuring procedural operations for gift processing, data entry, and related functions are clearly defined ensuring data access and security protocols are continuously met.
• Supervise advancement services staff while providing education regarding industry specific best practices, mentoring and offering opportunities for professional development.
• Set clear expectations for performance and hold staff accountable for meeting their responsibilities, ensuring they understand and align with FLC’s overall fundraising and engagement goals.

CRM Management & Reporting (25%)

• Serve as the primary expert and administrator of the centralized donor database (Blackbaud CRM), and its partner software, ensuring its effective utilization across all Advancement Services functions, fundraising, alumni, gift processing, donor tracking, and volunteer engagement.
• Oversee the ongoing maintenance and management of the CRM ensuring that donor, prospects, and alumni records are accurate, complete, and up-to-date.
• Work collaboratively with Alumni Engagement, Outreach & Engagement, and Marketing & Communications (MarCom) to ensure a seamless data connection between additional software, plugins, websites, email, and registration tools.
• Develop proactive strategies to improve data integrity, address accuracy issues, and ensure interconnectivity with internal departments such as the Information Technology (IT), MarCom, Financial Aid, and other campus partners.
• Manage vendor relationships, contract details, trainings, integrations and assess all potential technology add-ons.

Gift Administration & Processing (20%)

• Provide vision and practical guidance to optimize productivity and effectiveness of gift administration and fund management business processes.
• Support CFOO with management for all aspects of gift acceptance and processing, ensuring compliance with FLC Foundation and FLC policies and procedures and ensuring successful audits through established reconciliation between systems. Maintain record keeping best practices, staying up to date on current privacy laws, and ensures gift records are maintained with the goal of long-term stewardship and engagement efforts, in alignment with CASE guidelines, FASB/GAAP, and IRS regulations.

Advancement Analytics (25%)

• Utilizing data analytics to understand trends, giving patterns, and optimize annual fundraising solicitations and donor prospect portfolios for Advancement team members, deans, select campus partners, senior leaders, and college president.
• Establish annual fundraising projections, goals and metrics in coordination with VP of Advancement.
• Support and track effectiveness of overall annual giving communications and engagement strategies analysis for continued improvements.
• Work with CFOO to oversee and monitor all related reporting including financials, prospecting, and stewardship, ensuring accuracy and timelines.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with minimum 3 years of related professional experience
• At least one year of supervision/people-management experience.
• Supervision of gift processing functions or comparable experience
• Ability to effectively manage a small team, meeting goals and deadlines
• Strong planning, problem solving and analytical skills to manage projects, assist users and recognize and troubleshoot technical problems
• Understanding of and commitment to the mission of an advancement office and its relation to an institutional mission

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in an academic setting
• Experience building systems and procedures within an advancement office
• Understanding of software programs used by the college and the ability to recommend their appropriate application to improve efficiency and effectiveness
• Specialized knowledge of how to fully utilize web-based resources within FLC's software systems