Associate Director of Constituent Engagement, CEHD

Department: Col of Ed and Human Development

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The mission of the College of Education and Human Development's Office of Development and Alumni Relations is to raise private philanthropic funds in support of students, faculty, departments, programs, and centers within the College. We also explicitly support the efforts of the advancement offices of other colleges and the university. This is accomplished by building relationships with alumni, friends, parents and students and by soliciting donations, major gifts, planned gifts, and corporate and foundation support. Alumni relations are cultivated and maintained through outreach efforts.

In advancement and alumni relations, we build strong, lifelong relationships with George Mason University's constituents, match donors' interests with the university's needs and priorities, and secure the financial resources necessary for Mason to achieve excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship.

About the Position:

The Associate Director of Constituent Engagement plays a key role in supporting and achieving the annual and strategic philanthropic goals of the College. This position coordinates with the Dean’s Office, central Advancement Office, and external constituents to help achieve the fundraising goals and priorities of the College and University. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Development, this position is responsible for identifying and implementing strategies for success in securing significant philanthropic support for priorities.

The Associate Director of Constituent Engagement (ADOCE) is integral to effective prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship to support the work of the college. The Associate Director of Constituent Engagement is the chief persuasive writer and editor for all CEHD Development communication efforts, especially solicitations through direct mail, newsletters, and web-based appeals. The ADOCE works to build relationships with friends, parents, students, and particularly alumni through events and other various forms of outreach, collaborating with central Alumni Relations. This position serves as the liaison to Central Advancement for stewardship and annual giving, creating effective collaborations and innovative methods of outreach supporting the development life cycle.

Responsibilities:

• In collaboration with the CEHD Dean's office, integrates development communication with other communication efforts in the college, including but not limited to CEHD development's web and social media presence;
• Collects, integrates, and utilizes all college points of pride, i.e. stories of impact from the work of the college and the use of philanthropic gifts;
• Produces and utilizes alumni profiles and testimonials;
• Facilitates alumni participation in college marketing efforts;
• Produces college-level annual reports, bi-annual print newsletters, and monthly e-newsletter to alumni;
• Cultivates relationships of individuals and organizations with focus on retention, recapture, and growth;
• Researches, develops, and writes funding proposals, appeal letters, and reports as required;
• Builds trusting relationships with advancement colleagues as well as deans, directors, prospects, donors and volunteers; 
• Becomes immersed in the key strategies and initiatives of CEHD and George Mason University; 
• In collaboration with CEHD's gift officers, Mason's Office of Annual Giving, and individual units within CEHD, produces supplemental annual giving communications such as direct mail, print and e-newsletters, annual reports, case statements, brochures, Mason Giving Day marketing and appeals, and other pieces as needed in order to build relationships, particularly with alumni, and raise funds for the work of the college;
• Works collaboratively with Mason’s Office of Annual Giving to create targeted calling or mail campaigns that help build giving at CEHD;
• Creates and implements an innovative stewardship program that supplements receipts, events, and acknowledgments, provided by Central Advancement;
• Works with CEHD gift officers and leadership to identify unique and meaningful expressions of gratitude for all assigned donors and all faculty/staff that support CEHD;
• Creates an efficient but meaningful acknowledgement process to express gratitude to all donors;
• Organizes and implements special events for alumni engagement for CEHD and the schools and departments within the College including CEHD Giving Day and GMU Vision Day events;
• Coordinates with College faculty, centers, and programs on alumni engagement events and projects;
• Develops and maintains an event(s) timeline with goal targets, benchmarks, actual results, deadlines, and follow-up plans;
• Supports the qualification efforts of the Advancement team by performing discovery work through one-on-one visits with volunteers and donor prospects;
• Meets or exceeds metrics for events, meetings, and outreach as determined by the Senior Director of Advancement;
• Manages budget for events to accomplish event goals within the budget assigned by the Senior Director of Advancement;
• Develops strategies to support the cultivation of a portfolio of engaged alumni and prospects;
• Works with the College’s departments to include donors in department-level events such as public lectures and seminars;
• Utilizes data-driven reporting, engages and moves alumni through engagement opportunities, individual appeals, recognition events, and advisory board work;
• In collaboration with Mason's Alumni Relations Office, CEHD Schools and Divisions, creates and implements a robust alumni relations program with multiple points of engagement;
• Works closely with Advancement staff and CEHD leadership to create and support a formal alumni chapter;
• Creates an annual strategic plan for the chapter and defines roles and responsibilities;
• Leverages the newly created alumni chapter to help drive cultivation and stewardship of annual gifts; 
• Maintains accurate and timely records using University Development data management and reporting systems, follows Mason policies and procedures, maintains files, and provides annual projections;
• Gains proficiency in pulling reports and provides analyses that measure impacts of annual giving, alumni relations and stewardship programming; and
• Supports all three Colleges and multiple divisions by providing information and support that helps build alumni engagement and philanthropic giving. 

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field;
• Prior fundraising experience at the annual giving level;
• Demonstrated successful professional advancement/alumni relations and/or fundraising-related experience;
• Experience with a donor database;
• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously and meeting continuous deadlines;
• Excellent research, writing and interpersonal communication skills;
• Demonstrated skill in interacting with potential donors in person or on the telephone;
• Demonstrated understanding, and the ability to effectively articulate, the accomplishments and goals of a complex organization along with sound judgment skills necessary for interacting with alumni, donor prospects, trustees, faculty and staff;
• Entrepreneurial approach to fundraising.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated successful professional advancement/alumni relations and/or fundraising experience in higher education;
• Experience working with Anthology or similar; and
• Proficiency with Salesforce or similar CRM.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Associate Director of Constituent Engagement, CEHD at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide Resume and Cover letter for review.

Posting Open Date: July 16, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  August 9, 2024

Open Until Filled?:  Yes