Director of Advancement Operations

Dillard University; New Orleans (LA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Dillard University seeks a Director of Advancement Operations to serve as the operational backbone of the Office of Institutional Advancement. You will oversee workflows, policy development, and donor reporting, ensuring accuracy and accountability across the division.

You will partner with Finance and Raiser's Edge teams, supervise staff, and align operations with fundraising and alumni engagement goals, delivering timely and compliant stewardship and impact communications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; master's preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in advancement operations or related fields.
• Experience with systems management, workflow design, financial tracking, and process improvement.
• Knowledge of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge or equivalent fundraising CRM systems.
• Strong communication and leadership across cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead the daily operations of Institutional Advancement, ensuring clarity, alignment, and accountability across all workstreams.
• Develop and maintain division-wide workflow systems for gift processing, acknowledgment, stewardship, and fund administration.
• Coordinate scholarship balances, endowed funds, donor acknowledgments, and impact reporting.
• Partner with Finance to ensure reconciliation of gifts, pledges, and endowment accounts.
• Oversee Raiser's Edge workflows and technology integrations; create dashboards and reporting.

Skills

Systems management

Workflow design

Financial tracking

Process improvement

Leadership / communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge

Job description

Position Summary The Director of Advancement Operations serves as the operational backbone of Dillard University's Office of Institutional Advancement. This role ensures that every process, system, and workflow in the division is clear, consistent, accurate, and accountable. The director oversees the daily functioning of advancement operations, aligns the work of the team, and ensures that donors, partners, and internal stakeholders experience a high standard of professionalism and responsiveness. This position manages the internal infrastructure that allows fundraising and alumni engagement to flourish. The director is responsible for policy development, process improvement, scholarship and fund management coordination, stewardship logistics, reconciliation alignment, and cross-team operations. They serve as the primary point of coordination for requests related to scholarship balances, endowed and restricted accounts, new fund creation, donor acknowledgments, and impact reporting. This role partners closely with the Advancement Services Specialist and the Gift and Data Operations Specialist to ensure that the division’s data systems, gift processing, reconciliation, stewardship documentation, and reporting cycles operate as a coherent, reliable system. The director ensures that Institutional Advancement has the consistency and structure needed for the Vice President and fundraising staff to focus on donor cultivation, strategy, and institutional relationships.

Key Responsibilities

Division Operations & Infrastructure

• Lead the daily operations of Institutional Advancement, ensuring clarity, alignment, and accountability across all workstreams.
• Develop and maintain division-wide workflow systems for gift processing, acknowledgment, stewardship, donor communications, scholarship management, and fund administration.
• Serve as the central intake point for internal and external operational requests, including scholarship balance inquiries, account confirmations, and restricted fund setup.
• Create and manage the annual operations calendar for the division, aligning stewardship cycles, reporting deadlines, appeals, and reconciliation with university timelines.

Policy Development & Process Management

• Design and document all standard operating procedures for advancement operations, ensuring consistency across the team.
• Establish and enforce policies related to new fund creation, acknowledgment timelines, donor communications, scholarship awarding processes, and stewardship reporting.
• Work with the Vice President to formalize and maintain the division’s policy manual and ensure all staff adhere to procedures.

Financial Coordination & Fund Accountability

• Partner with Finance to ensure accurate and timely reconciliation of all gifts, pledges, restricted funds, and endowment accounts.
• Manage the workflow for scholarship and endowed fund activity, including awarding, spending, tracking, and reporting.
• Prepare internal briefings for donors and academic units regarding fund balances, usage, and compliance with donor intent.
• Ensure all financial and stewardship documentation is audit-ready and aligned with IRS, CASE, and university standards.

Collaboration with Advancement Services & Data Operations

• Supervise and coordinate the work of the Advancement Services Specialist and Gift and Data Operations Specialist.
• Ensure accurate systems management, data governance, gift processing, coding, documentation, and reporting.
• Oversee the creation of dashboards, reports, and donor impact communications to ensure timely and accurate execution.
• Support the development and refinement of Raiser's Edge workflows and technology integrations.

Team Leadership & Accountability

• Serve as the daily manager for operations staff, ensuring clear priorities, deadlines, and expectations.
• Lead weekly workflow meetings with the operations team to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and adjust priorities.
• Coach team members toward high performance and model a culture of accuracy, clarity, and responsiveness.
• Partner with the Director of Development to ensure seamless collaboration between fundraising and operations.

Stewardship & Donor Experience

• Ensure that acknowledgments, receipts, impact reports, and donor communications are produced in a timely, consistent, and compelling manner.
• Coordinate with program units and academic leadership to gather information needed for donor reporting.
• Maintain a stewardship system that aligns donors’ expectations with the university’s capacity to deliver.

Executive Support for Strategic Leadership

• Enable the Vice President to remain externally focused by managing internal operations.
• Prepare briefing materials, operational summaries, and fund documentation for VP-level donor meetings.
• Resolve operational issues before they escalated, ensuring that the VP’s time is spent on strategic priorities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; master's preferred.
• Five years of experience in advancement operations, nonprofit management, higher education administration, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience with systems management, workflow design, financial tracking, and process improvement.
• Knowledge of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge or equivalent fundraising CRM systems.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to lead teams and align cross-functional partners.
• Exceptional organizational ability, attention to detail, and a commitment to accountability and transparency.