"Director of Stewardship"

General Description

Reporting to the Associate Vice President for College Advancement, this position plans and implements a comprehensive donor relations program to strengthen constituents’ philanthropic ties with the College. The Director is responsible for leading and enhancing donor relations and stewardship efforts within the Advancement Office and developing key communications and specialized outreach initiatives to steward donors and nurture continuous giving. The Director’s work strategically integrates into the cultivation, solicitation and engagement activities of Advancement’s major gift efforts, the annual fund, alumni and parent relations, planned giving, and other fundraising areas. This position plays a critical role in fostering meaningful and lasting relationships with donors, ensuring they feel appreciated, informed, and connected to the mission and impact of their giving. The Director manages a portfolio of individual prospects and completes other special projects as assigned.

Essential Functions

The Director will develop a yearly work plan with measurable objectives that advance the following overarching stewardship, communication and recognition goals for Pitzer College donors:

Strategic Stewardship Program Development

• Design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive stewardship strategy that aligns with and advances Pitzer’s fundraising priorities and goals.
• Collaborate with advancement colleagues to ensure stewardship is integrated into all stages of the donor life cycle.
• Create a metrics system to benchmark success and provide periodic evaluation of the donor relations program.
• Manage, track, and report on an annual stewardship operating budget.

Gift Acknowledgement and Stewardship

• Implement and maintain an overall gift acknowledgement system conveying the College’s conviction that donors are key members of our institutional family. Focus on identifying donors needing more attention; develop strategies for when and how that attention should be directed.
• Facilitate donor outreach initiatives promoting trust in Advancement’s reliability, timeliness and integrity, demonstrating the College holds high standards for its performance and is prepared to receive and handle philanthropy in a first-class manner.
• Work collaboratively with the Advancement Services team to ensure accurate and timely acknowledgement letters, on behalf of various members of leadership as appropriate.
• Build productive internal partnerships to promote a culture of campus-wide stewardship, serving as the voice of our donors as well as of the College.
• Review published materials, major gift and grant proposals, and external communications distributed by Advancement and ensure they are of the highest caliber and in keeping with Pitzer’s editorial style.

Donor Recognition

• Develop a framework for philanthropic naming spaces across campus, managing installation procedures and tracking systems to ensure Advancement operates in accordance with the College’s goals, priorities and aesthetics.
• Coordinate recognition activities which elevate the status of Pitzer College donors, internally and externally.
• Serve as a resource for the development of gift agreements to ensure the College can execute donor intent, is in compliance with gift law and honors donor confidentiality requests and rights.
• Develop and execute personalized stewardship plans for select major, endowment, and planned-gift donors.
• Work collaboratively with the Annual Giving director to assist in the development of recognition vehicles for annual-giving-level donors and to help ensure a smooth handoff between Annual Giving and Major Giving, when appropriate.
• Manage a small portfolio of donors in the perpetual stewardship stage.

Reporting

• Partner with College partners to gather stories, data, and outcomes that demonstrate the impact of donor support.
• Work collaboratively with the Office of Financial Aid, the Finance Office and other College partners to have a clear understanding of scholarship, endowed, and other fund spending levels for Advancement reporting purposes.
• Create compelling donor communications, including stewardship and endowed fund reports. Ensure all donors with a named endowed or active annual fund receive yearly stewardship reports providing a financial update and details of the impact of their philanthropic investment.

Other Key Responsibilities

• Maintain paper files and electronic records critical for institutional memory, especially naming documentation.
• Work closely with Advancement Services team to ensure accurate donor records and tracking of stewardship activities.
• Work with the Special Event team to plan naming celebrations and specialized donor events, as appropriate.
• Keep informed about best practices in donor relations programs to evaluate and identify effective strategies to add value to Pitzer College, promoting recognition and interaction with donors at all levels of support. As appropriate, develop surveys and other methods to analyze the donor experience and opinion of the donor relations program.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications

A bachelor’s degree is required. Must have at least seven years of full-time work experience being directly responsible for donor relations, and/or development. Work experience must include at least two years of interacting with donors.

Preferred Qualifications

Preference will be given to those with work experience in higher education or other non-profit environment. An understanding of the liberal arts is desirable.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

The individual must possess knowledge, skills and ability to successfully perform the essential functions of the position, or be able to explain or demonstrate how the essential functions will be performed, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of skills and abilities.

• Proven ability to write in English with strength, speed, strategic intent, accuracy, and consistent messaging. Able to develop narratives to educate, inspire and present a clear and compelling case for support. Able to leverage AI resources effectively, ethically, and responsibly.
• Highly refined verbal communication skills in English and superior interpersonal skills with the ability to engage various, diverse constituents with ease.
• Demonstrated experience in developing relationships internally and externally that foster excitement and engagement in support of goals and strategies.
• High degree of original and independent thinking in inventing and developing new ideas relating to donor relations activities.
• Ability to comfortably and decisively make independent decisions and take actions of a complex nature.
• Familiarity with current practices in donor relations and willingness to explore new uses technologies to foster connection and affinity.
• Working knowledge of gift law and the restrictions, obligations and rights therein.
• Ability to effectively manage multiple priorities and a heavy workload while maintaining attention to detail.
• High energy and capacity to convey commitment and passion for Pitzer College.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, maturity and dependability.
• Ability to travel locally and, as needed, nationally. Ability to work evenings and weekends as needed, and drive to off-campus events or appointments.