Summary
Description
Job Summary
The Office of Advancement at CU Boulder encourages applications for a Director of Donor and Alumni Relations! The Director plays a significant role in strategizing, leading and performing programmatic donor relations and alumni engagement efforts for the College of Arts & Sciences, Graduate School, and University Libraries. This position is critical to the engagement efforts and manages a team of 5 full-time staff responsible for donor relations, compliance, alumni engagement, events, and the Dean’s Advisory Board.
Reporting to the Assistant Dean of Advancement, this position and its team are tasked with stewarding donors, engaging alumni and other constituents, promoting the reputation of the College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School, and University Libraries, and increasing overall philanthropic support for CU Boulder. This position will successfully navigate the substantial complexity of working with various internal and external constituents and balancing the needs of separate entities while still fulfilling the strategic needs of the unit and the Office of Advancement.
The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to building a culturally diverse community of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to contributing to an inclusive campus environment. We are an Equal Opportunity employer, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.
Who We Are
CU Boulder Advancement is committed to a culture of joy, motivated by collaboration, passionate about excellence and driven by impact. These four values define the culture and drive engagement and fundraising success. At CU Boulder Advancement, we allocate time and resources to create and sustain an environment where everyone matters and all can thrive. This commitment aligns with our core values and mission to achieve impactful fundraising and engagement. Our team and staff are dedicated to learning, challenging, and transforming systems, policies, and practices that perpetuate oppressive ideologies (such as racism, sexism, ableism, heterosexism) within our community. We embrace our responsibility to lead by example in promoting a supportive culture for both internal and external constituents. We hold ourselves accountable to our values and mission through individual and divisional goals that continuously assess our progress, growth, and outcomes.
Responsibilities
What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be
Strategy and Execution
- Lead planning for programs that improve donor stewardship, engagement, and events, as well as alumni engagement and select events.
- Lead implementation of programmatic strategy to engage and cultivate donors and alumni in ways that support the unit’s vision and strategic direction.
- Supervise the development of team goals and metrics to:
- Increase and measure donor retention, satisfaction, and engagement; and alumni engagement.
- Supervise strategy development, process and measurement of fund usage and compliance on 1,800+ funds across three central college units including the College of Arts & Sciences, Graduate School, and University Libraries.
- Create strategy for 5-10 high-impact annual events for donor stewardship and alumni engagement. Oversee events to ensure they are consistently providing an excellent experience for our donors and alumni.
- Regularly collaborate with the leadership team to develop strategies and policies and procedures that produce measurable outcomes to achieve and exceed alumni engagement goals.
- Collaborate with Advancement MarCom and A&S Communications teams to develop communication plans and marketing collateral in support of fundraising and alumni engagement strategies and goals.
Team Management and Leadership
- Implement all aspects of managing and leading a team of employees responsible for alumni engagement, events, board engagement, compliance and donor relations. Examples include:
- Provide coaching and mentorship, especially to new team members.
- Carry out administrative personnel actions (performance management, hiring, training, onboarding, offboarding, etc.).
- Serve as a member of the Advancement Management Team. Attend scheduled meetings and collaborate with colleagues on a regular basis.
- Serve as a member of the Page Leadership Team (PLT).
- Set the overall direction for the team engagement activities annually. This includes defining success metrics, setting goals and developing processes for metrics reporting. Keys to success include leading the team to develop priorities and schedules in advance of the new fiscal year; clearly defining team member roles, responsibilities and expectations; setting overall timelines; and specifying processes and identifying resources necessary to support staff work.
- Develop a team culture which encourages exploration, experimentation, and implementation of innovative ideas that have the potential to grow alumni and donor engagement.
Other Engagement Duties As Assigned
- In collaboration with the Assistant Dean, partner with the College of Arts & Sciences’ Dean(s) and the College of Arts & Sciences’ Dean’s Advisory Board to engage, steward, and manage significant donors, volunteers, and friends of the College of Arts & Sciences.
- Attend and be a contributing member of the monthly meetings with alumni directors across campus to share information, discuss standard methodologies, and identify potential partnerships and joint initiatives.
- Work with CU system, CU Foundation and CU Boulder Advancement staff to assist with the effective identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of donors to the College of Arts & Sciences, Graduate School, and University Libraries.
- Meet annual contact metrics.
What You Should Know
- This position may require local, regional, and out-of-state travel to engage with university constituents.
- This position has the ability to work a hybrid schedule with some days on campus and some days remote.
- This position will occasionally be required to work evenings/weekends.
What We Can Offer
The salary range for this position is $107,814 – $130,000 annually. Relocation assistance may be available within Advancement guidelines.
Benefits
The University of Colorado offers excellent benefits , including medical, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefit and ECO Pass. The University of Colorado Boulder is one of the largest employers in Boulder County and offers an inspiring higher education environment. Learn more about the University of Colorado Boulder .
Be Statements
Be ambitious. Be innovative. Be Boulder.
What We Require
- Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience developing, planning and rolling out strategy.
- Program and event management experience.
- Experience: 4+ years of professional, job related experience including 1+ years of team lead or supervision experience.
What You Will Need
- Ability to strategize plans for employee retention and satisfaction.
- Ability to practice situational leadership and discover what motivates individual team members to achieve goals.
- Ability to establish and enhance interpersonal relationships, including ability to coordinate and manage volunteers.
- Solid knowledge of fundraising, donor relations, and alumni relations standard processes.
- Expert communication skills including the ability to participate in public events and represent Advancement and the university in a professional manner.
- Solid ability to analyze information/situations and solve problems.
- Ability to exercise a high degree of tact, discretion, and collaboration in working with a diverse range of constituents including employees, students, volunteers, alumni, donors, and campus colleagues.
- Solid ability to organize and manage multiple projects/tasks simultaneously; ability to work independently and collaboratively and adapt to changing priorities.
- Solid knowledge of current issues facing public universities and interests of assigned school, students, faculty, and alumni.
- Solid knowledge of annual giving standard processes. Strong attention to detail and to visual appeal of presentation materials. Growth mindset, resilience and perseverance.
- Ability to embrace the shared values of the Office of Advancement.
What We Would Like You To Have
- Software Used: Microsoft Office products, database management and data manipulation, Salesforce, Zoom, Teams, Academic Impressions, Trello, LinkedIn, Marketing Cloud, Marketplace, Google docs/sheets, Cvent.
- Previous participation in Donor Relations Guru Four Pillars Conference.
- Experience in a higher education environment.
- Experience in constituent relations/relationship management.
- Experience in donor relations and/or development/fundraising environment.
Special Instructions
To Apply, Please Submit The Following Materials
- A current resume.
- A cover letter that specifically tells us how your background and experience align with the requirements, qualifications, and responsibilities of the position.
We may request references at a later time.
Please apply by April 13, 2025 for consideration.
Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, please apply through CU Boulder Jobs .
In compliance with the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act, in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.
