Donor Experience & Stewardship Leader

The Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia; Charlottesville (VA); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

The Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, seeks an Assistant Director of Donor Relations to design and manage donor recognition, stewardship, and engagement programs in a hybrid work setting. You will oversee communications, events, and data-driven strategies to enhance philanthropy and donor connections, partnering with UVA teams and external vendors.

Responsibilities include curating personalized donor experiences, coordinating large-scale events, and leveraging

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• At least one year of relevant experience.
• Excellent attention to detail and a strong commitment to accuracy and quality.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor communications for different audiences.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities independently, meet deadlines, and seek direction when appropriate.
• A customer service mindset and commitment to creating thoughtful, positive experiences for donors and other audiences.
• Ability and willingness to learn and effectively use new technologies, systems, and processes.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement donor recognition strategies in partnership with colleagues across the University.
• Monitor giving activity to identify eligible donors and manage recognition communications and stewardship touchpoints.
• Curate personalized stewardship and engagement opportunities for principal and leadership-level donors, ensuring a high-quality, donor-centered experience aligned with institutional priorities.
• Manage personalized and large-scale donor communications across multiple channels, including email, video, print, and digital engagement.
• Collaborate with vendors to source, produce, and deliver recognition items, ensuring quality, timely fulfillment, brand alignment, and accurate inventory management.
• Maintain accurate donor, communication, and project records in customer relationship management and project management systems.
• With support from the Director of Donor Relations, coordinate donor events and engagement experiences in partnership with Event Experiences and other University colleagues.
• Manage event plans, timelines, budgets, invitation lists, communications, and related deliverables.
• Coordinate data and information requests to support accurate invitation, registration, and attendance processes.
• Partner with designers, digital engagement colleagues, and other contributors to develop invitations, promotional materials, attendee communications, and event collateral.
• Support donor outreach, registration, staffing, volunteer coordination, and day-of-event execution.
• Independently manage assigned programs and projects from planning through implementation and evaluation.
• Coordinate timelines, deliverables, communications, and responsibilities across teams, vendors, and University partners.
• Use participation and engagement data, reports, dashboards, and project updates to evaluate effectiveness, inform decisions, and identify trends and opportunities.
• Recommend improvements to programs, processes, technology, workflows, and customer experiences, and assist with implementing approved enhancements.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships and contribute to a collaborative, service-oriented, and innovative team culture.
• Develop knowledge and expertise through collaboration with colleagues and subject-matter experts across the University.

Skills

Donor relations

Project management

Communications

Event planning

Customer service mindset

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

CRM systems

Tableau

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Monday.com

Job description

The Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, seeks an Assistant Director of Donor Relations to design and manage donor recognition, stewardship, and engagement programs in a hybrid work setting. You will oversee communications, events, and data-driven strategies to enhance philanthropy and donor connections, partnering with UVA teams and external vendors.

Responsibilities include curating personalized donor experiences, coordinating large-scale events, and leveraging