Senior Stewardship Advisor

Davidson College; Davidson (NC); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Davidson College is seeking a Senior Stewardship Advisor to lead personalized engagement with principal-level donors and prospects, translating generosity into impact narratives and forging strategic connections with campus leadership.

Reporting to the Director of Donor Relations, you will manage the top donor portfolio, ensure fund compliance, and craft bespoke stewardship plans. A hybrid work arrangement is offered, with in-office days and remote work as guidelines evolve.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years of progressive experience in donor relations, stewardship, development, or executive communications, ideally within higher education or complex non-profit environments.
• Exceptional written communication skills, with a proven ability to translate complex financial or programmatic data into warm, compelling narrative reports.
• Demonstrated experience using CRM systems (e.g., Blackbaud Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, etc.) to track donor touchpoints, pull portfolio data, and manage workflows.
• Superior organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-stakes priorities simultaneously while maintaining meticulous attention to detail.
• Proven track record of diplomacy, discretion, and customer service when engaging with institutional leadership, principal-level donors, and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Portfolio and strategy management for a Top 200 priority list of principal-level donors and prospects.
• Monitor spending balances, distribution activities, and compliance for principal gift endowment and current-use funds.
• Collaborate with campus partners to gather stories and produce high-quality impact reports for major benefactors.
• Develop strategies to educate students and campus partners on the college's culture of philanthropy and connect with donors when needed.
• Maintain records for capital projects and facility renovations; build recognition plans for key contributors.
• Plan and execute bespoke donor events and experiences with leadership and campus events staff.
• Serve as the subject matter expert on high-end stewardship strategies for Principal and Major Gifts teams.
• Direct executive-level donor correspondence and campus-wide communications.
• Represent Donor Relations at campus events and build cross-departmental relationships to partner on stewardship.

Skills

Donor relations

Written communication

CRM experience

Project management

Relationship building

Tools

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge

Salesforce

Job description

The Senior Stewardship Advisor plays a critical role in strengthening ties between Davidson College and its most generous benefactors. Reporting to the Director of Donor Relations, this position leads the strategy, development, and execution of personalized, high-touch stewardship plans for principal-level donors and prospects.

Working closely with the Vice President for College Relations, frontline fundraisers, and campus partners, the Senior Stewardship Advisor translates donor generosity into compelling impact narratives, facilitates meaningful connections between donors and campus leadership, and creates bespoke engagement strategies that inspire ongoing philanthropic commitment.

Primary Responsibilities

Principal Gifts Stewardship (80%)

• Portfolio and Strategy Management: Curate and manage the strategy for a "Top 200" priority list of principal-level donors and prospects. Design tailored, highly personalized stewardship plans aligned with individual donor preferences and relationship histories.
• Fund Oversight and Compliance: Partner with the Associate Director of Donor Relations to monitor spending balances, distribution activities, and compliance for principal gift endowment and current-use funds, ensuring strict adherence to gift agreements.
• Impact Reporting and Storytelling: Collaborate with campus partners and the Assistant Director of Donor Relations to gather stories, compile data, and produce high-quality, innovative impact reports for major benefactors.
• Student and Campus Partner Engagement: Develop strategies to educate students and campus partners on the college's culture of philanthropy and facilitate connections with donors, when needed. Maintain data for scholar/fellow cohorts and oversee the collection of scholarship recipient gratitude notes for principal-level donors.
• Capital Project Stewardship: Maintain comprehensive records for capital projects and facility renovations; build individual recognition plans for key contributors and execute milestone anniversary touch points.
• High-Level Events and Experiences: Plan and execute bespoke "red carpet" stewardship opportunities-including donor lunches, site visits, dedications, and lectures-in collaboration with institutional leadership, major gift officers, and campus events staff.
• Advisory Role: Serve as the subject matter expert on high-end stewardship strategies for the Principal Gifts and Major Gifts teams.

Institutional Engagement & Special Initiatives (20%)

• Executive Correspondence: Direct the process for executive-level communications, including presidential donor acknowledgments, holiday notes, and targeted major donor correspondence assigned by the Director.
• Campus Representation: Act as an ambassador for Donor Relations at campus-wide events, building cross-departmental relationships to identify opportunities to partner on stewardship.

Qualifications & Competencies

• Experience: Minimum 5-7 years of progressive experience in donor relations, stewardship, development, or executive communications, ideally within higher education or complex non-profit environments.
• Writing and Communication: Exceptional written communication skills, with a proven ability to translate complex financial or programmatic data into warm, compelling narrative reports.
• Technical Proficiency: Demonstrated experience using CRM systems (e.g., Blackbaud Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, etc.) to track donor touchpoints, pull portfolio data, and manage workflows.
• Project Management: Superior organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-stakes priorities simultaneously while maintaining meticulous attention to detail.
• Relationship Building: Proven track record of diplomacy, discretion, and customer service when engaging with institutional leadership, principal-level donors, and cross-functional teams.

As a part of your application materials, a resume and cover letter are required. In addition, we ask all candidates to submit an original donor impact report (max. 300 words); real donor funds are not required, examples may be created for the purpose of the writing sample. With this writing sample, we aim to understand all applicants' report-writing abilities.

Work Setting and Hours

This position qualifies for a hybrid work arrangement with the option of working 1-2 days remotely from home/outside of the office in accordance with College Relations guidelines after a satisfactory introductory period of fully in-office work. The employee will need to be flexible with scheduling in-office days to meet the needs of the office and the division, including attending various in-person meetings and events.

About Us

Davidson is a highly selective, nationally ranked, residential, four-year liberal arts college located in Davidson, North Carolina, part of the greater Charlotte metropolitan area. Davidson is strongly committed to achieving excellence and cultural diversity. (https://www.davidson.edu/about/commitment-diversity-and-inclusion).

At Davidson College, we believe the college grows stronger by recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty and staff committed to building an inclusive community. In order to achieve and sustain educational excellence, we seek to hire talented faculty and staff across the intersections of diverse races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, socio-economic backgrounds, political perspectives, abilities, cultures, and national origins.