Manager of Donor Relations & Stewardship

Buffalo Fine Arts Academy; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 63,000 - 68,000; Full time

Job summary

Buffalo Fine Arts Academy in Buffalo, NY seeks a Manager of Donor Relations & Stewardship to lead donor engagement, stewardship, recognition, and membership experiences. This role builds a comprehensive donor relations program, strengthens retention, and fosters long-term philanthropic connections across giving levels.

The manager oversees donor communications, recognition, impact reporting, and partnerships with fundraising staff.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 4+ years of successful professional fundraising or 8+ years of comparable experience.
• Experience soliciting, securing, and stewarding corporate gifts/sponsorships preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including written, verbal, and listening abilities.
• Proven ability to work with diverse donors, boards, staff, and community leaders.
• Ability to work evenings/weekends and travel; must have a valid passport.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive donor relations and stewardship program to strengthen retention and engagement.
• Oversee donor recognition programs, impact reporting, and membership engagement.
• Lead fundraising event committees and serve as primary contact for committee members.
• Cultivate a modest pool of donors and manage annual revenue goals.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Advancement, Events, and other teams to ensure donor-centered communications.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Organizational skills

Time management

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Blackbaud

Job description

Job DetailsJob Location: Buffalo, NY 14222Salary Range: $63,000.00 - $68,000.00 Salary/yearPOSITION SUMMARY

The Manager of Donor Relations & Stewardship serves as the museum’s strategic leader for donor engagement, stewardship, recognition, and membership experience. This position is responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive donor relations program that strengthens donor retention, deepens engagement, and fosters long-term philanthropic relationships across all levels of giving.

Working closely with colleagues throughout Advancement and the museum, the Manager ensures that donors, members, committee volunteers, and supporters experience thoughtful, personalized, and mission-centered engagement throughout their relationship with the museum. The position oversees stewardship strategy, donor recognition programs, membership engagement, benefit fulfillment, impact reporting, and donor communications while helping create a seamless progression from membership to major philanthropy. This role will also be the lead point person on all fundraising event committees including constructing, facilitating, communicating with, and serving as the primary point of contact for committee members. Considering this portfolio of duties, the Manager of Donor Relations & Stewardship is also expected to cultivate and maintain a modest pool of donors and will have an annual revenue goal associated with that pool.

The Manager of Donor Relations & Stewardship supervises the Membership Engagement Coordinator and serves as a key partner to fundraising staff in developing meaningful stewardship and engagement opportunities.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Stewardship Strategy & Donor Experience

• Develop and lead a comprehensive donor relations and stewardship strategy that supports donor retention, engagement, and philanthropic growth.
• Establish stewardship standards, recognition policies, and engagement practices across all advancement programs.
• Cultivate, solicit, and maintain a pool of 30-50 donors.
• Create and maintain stewardship matrices for annual, major, planned, campaign, and endowment donors.
• Ensure consistent, personalized, and timely stewardship experiences across all donor constituencies.

Donor Recognition & Impact Reporting

• Oversee all donor recognition programs, including annual donor listings, recognition walls, naming opportunities, giving societies, and tribute recognition.
• Develop and implement donor impact reporting initiatives that communicate the outcomes and importance of philanthropic support.
• Coordinate stewardship reporting for major donors, endowment donors, planned giving donors, and campaign supporters.
• Partner with fundraising staff to create customized stewardship plans for leadership donors and prospects.

Membership & Donor Engagement

• Provide strategic oversight of the museum’s membership program and supervise the Membership Engagement Coordinator.
• Partner with the Manager of Leadership Annual Giving to establish clear pathways from membership to philanthropic giving.
• Oversee member and donor engagement programs, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities and fundraising objectives.
• Collaborate with Events staff to create meaningful donor, member, and volunteer committee experiences.

Giving Societies & Volunteer Engagement

• Oversee stewardship, communications, recognition, and benefit fulfillment for donor circles, giving societies, and volunteer support groups including fundraising event committees.
• Partner with Managers of Philanthropy on engagement strategies for National Council, Board Alumni Council, planned giving societies, and other donor communities.

Communications & Collaboration

• Collaborate with Marketing, Communications, Curatorial, Learning & Creativity, and Advancement colleagues to develop donor-centered communications and stewardship materials.
• Ensure donor communications reflect the museum’s mission, values, and commitment to exceptional hospitality.
• Promote a museum-wide culture of stewardship and donor appreciation.

Leadership & Administration

• Develop stewardship metrics and regularly assess donor engagement and retention outcomes.
• Manage budgets associated with stewardship, recognition, and membership engagement initiatives.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to Advancement leadership on donor experience and relationship-building initiatives.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications KNOWLEDGE SKILLS & ABILITIES

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree and minimum of four (4) years of successful professional fundraising OR 8+ years of comparable experience.

Minimum requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and minimum of four (4) years of successful professional fundraising or equivalent.
• Experience soliciting, securing, and stewarding corporate gifts/sponsorships preferred.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, and listening skills, including ability to make effective presentations to individuals and groups.
• Proven ability to work effectively with a diverse population of donors and prospects, board members, staff, and community leaders.
• Demonstrated success in working both independently and as a team member to create and implement fundraising strategies at the major gifts level.
• Strong sense of organization, planning, and time management.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products.
• Must be able to work some evenings and weekends.
• Travel required; must have a valid passport.

Additional requirements

• Proven ability to work effectively with a diverse population of donors and prospects, board members, staff, and community leaders.
• Knowledge of donor software programs, preferably Blackbaud products