Director of Principal Gifts Donor Experience

The University Of Connecticut Foundation Inc; Storrs (CT); On-site; USD 85,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision plans

403(b) retirement plan

Thirteen paid holidays

Five weeks paid time off per year

Tuition reimbursement after one year

Job summary

The UConn Foundation seeks a Director of Principal Gift Donor Experience to craft personalized stewardship and engagement plans for our principal gift donors and families. This role is a strategic partner, coordinating with development officers to ensure seamless donor experiences across campus visits, events, and communications.

This position benchmarks against peers and evolves stewardship standards and templates.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5+ years in donor relations or a relevant field.
• Strong written and verbal communications and relationship-building skills.

Responsibilities

• Create and manage personalized stewardship and engagement plans for principal gift donors and families.
• Partner with development officers to integrate stewardship across each stage of the donor relationship.
• Coordinate donor engagements with university leaders, faculty, coaches, students, researchers, clinicians, and other campus partners.
• Prepare leadership briefings and donor profiles to aid conversations with leadership.
• Track donor interests, milestones, and next-generation engagement opportunities.

Skills

Donor relations

Fundraising

Communications

CRM

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Blackbaud CRM

Job description

Job Location: STORRS, CT 06269

Position Type: Full Time

The University of Connecticut is a top-ranked national university and health system with its flagship campus located in idyllic Storrs. Designated a Carnegie Research 1 institution, UConn is the state land- and sea-grant university focused on education, research, and service to the state of Connecticut and beyond. The University serves over 33,000 students — 8,550 of them first in family — across seven campuses, with a legacy of national championships. UConn Health is a top-ranked health provider that delivers groundbreaking medical education, research, and hospital and clinical services to over one million patients each year. In addition, UConn has nearly 300 scientists who are in the top 2 percent of researchers globally advancing discoveries in fields ranging from cancer to AI. UConn continues its meteoric rise as a top public university with a record number of applications, continued investment in student success, health, and wellness, recruitment of top faculty, innovation in research, and top-tier athletic programs focused on the holistic success of student-athletes. UConn is proud to have 26 national championships across all sports. This includes the men’s and women’s basketball teams, which have brought home three consecutive NCAA National Championship trophies in the last three years.

Guided by the public launch of our most ambitious campaign in history, Because of UConn: The Campaign for UConn Nation, we are moving boldly into the future. The $1.5B comprehensive campaign spans all schools, colleges, campuses, and UConn Health, focusing on four pillars designed to make education more affordable and elevate UConn among its national peers:

• Students First: making transformative investments in financial aid, student health, career readiness, and life skills to improve time-to-degree and career outcomes.
• Academic & Innovation Excellence: driving investment in top faculty and graduate fellows and building the innovation ecosystem of the state and beyond.
• Health & Wellness of People & Planet: focusing on patient care, medical research, and development of life-changing technologies that improve healthcare outcomes.
• Husky Pride: investing in athletic excellence and supporting a thriving UConn Nation that includes more than 290,000 alumni worldwide.

The campaign will have a profound impact on the University, doubling the number of named scholarships, funding scientific breakthroughs and advanced lifesaving therapies, and engaging UConn Nation in the life and mission of the University like never before.

We seek the top talent in the country to join The UConn Foundation and help us drive our mission to connect people to the University of Connecticut, growing philanthropy, engaging a thriving alumni and donor community, and building a robust endowment to strategically advance UConn and UConn Health’s educational, research, and service missions.

We’re looking for dedicated professionals to drive success and excellence and exemplify our values of Purpose, Excellence, Culture, Communication, and Integrity.

The UConn Foundation is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. We celebrate different perspectives and are committed to a welcoming environment that values your unique experiences and identity. As an organization, we strive for continued growth each and every day.

Position Summary

The Director of Principal Gift Donor Experience advances the Foundation’s principal gift program by creating personalized stewardship and engagement experiences for its most significant donors and families, including custom donor journeys, family briefings, campus experiences, next-generation engagement opportunities, and other tailored touchpoints.

This role serves as a strategist, partner, project manager, storyteller, and concierge for principal gift donors and priority relationships, ensuring donors experience UConn as thoughtful, responsive, and coordinated to support continued philanthropic investment through creative, data-informed, and technology-enabled engagement approaches.

The Director is responsible for researching and benchmarking against peer institutions and industry trends, and advancing stewardship standards, templates, workflows, and service expectations.

Primary Responsibilities

Donor Experience

• Create and manage personalized stewardship and engagement plans for principal gift donors, prospects, and families that reflect their interests, preferences, and relationship goals.
• Partner with development officers to integrate stewardship into each stage of the donor relationship, from cultivation and solicitation through recognition, impact reporting, and renewal.
• Serve as the main coordination point for select donors and families, helping ensure campus visits, leadership meetings, events, announcements, board engagements, and stewardship experiences are seamless and meaningful.
• Coordinate personalized itineraries, briefings, follow‑up materials, family engagement opportunities, and expressions of gratitude for principal gift donors.
• Track donor interests, preferences, milestones, family updates, philanthropic anniversaries, and next‑generation engagement opportunities.
• Develop customized impact reports, briefings, letters, videos, presentations, and stewardship experiences that show donors the results of their giving.
• Turn complex academic, research, clinical, student success, athletics, or program outcomes into clear and compelling donor‑centered stories.
• Work with communications colleagues, gift officers, faculty, deans, and program leaders to gather impact information and create customized donor materials.
• Ensure stewardship materials express gratitude, highlight progress, and connect each donor’s generosity to meaningful outcomes.
• Perform administrative duties related to work including documenting activity with donors, inputting engagement plans in the foundations relationship management database, and adhering to Foundation policies.
• Model and articulate the Foundation’s organizational core values at all times.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Strategic Partnerships

• Work closely with development officers to understand donor strategy, gift intent, next steps, and opportunities to strengthen principal‑level donor relationships.
• Coordinate donor engagement with university leaders, faculty, coaches, students, researchers, clinicians, and other campus partners.
• Prepare leadership briefings and donor profiles that give University leaders the context they need for effective donor conversations.
• Identify opportunities to connect donors with people and programs that align with their interests and philanthropic goals.

Leadership

Provide visible leadership across the entire organization by engaging in organization‑wide activities such as development management meetings, all‑staff meetings, and staff events.

Key Competencies

• Champion for inclusive priorities both internally and externally.
• High level of motivation, as well as an ability to exercise independent judgment.
• Strong interpersonal skills, tact, and diplomacy.
• The ability to build productive, beneficial relationships with a broad range of constituencies.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills, including ability to effectively communicate University priorities to donors and prospects, and to positively represent the University and Foundation.
• Familiar with the use of computers and information management tools, such as CRMs (Blackbaud).
• Ability to handle multiple tasks, to assess and order priorities, and to track details in a fast‑paced environment.
• Ability to engender trust and confidence of donors and prospective donors and to maintain confidentiality of donor information; ability to represent the UConn Foundation to prospects, donors, faculty, administrators, and others.
• Ability to work to the demands of the position, which may exceed a 40‑hour work week.
• Attention to and concern for others.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5+ years of experience in donor relations/experience, or relevant field.

Salary

The expected salary for this position is $85,000 - $95,000. It will be commensurate with qualifications and experience, while also placing an emphasis on internal equity.

Benefits

• We offer medical, dental, and vision plans and will make an annual contribution to your health savings account if enrolled in one of the high‑deductible health plans offered by the Foundation.
• We offer a generous contribution to your 403(b) retirement plan to help you plan for retirement.
• We place an emphasis on work/life balance. In addition to a hybrid schedule, you will receive thirteen paid holidays, five weeks of paid time off per calendar year, and additional sick time.
• We invest in your professional development. Aside from opportunities to participate in various trainings, committees, and conferences throughout the year, you will also be eligible for tuition reimbursement after one year of employment.

Please contact an Employee Support & Experience team member if you need any assistance completing any forms or participating in any part of the application process due to a disability.