Director, Advancement Services
University of Victoria
Salary: $100,807 - $126,010
Location: Victoria, BC
UVic is one of Canada’s best universities, a gem located in the thriving city of Victoria, BC. The University is in an exciting period of change and growth bolstered by a strengthened Alumni and Development program, and is making plans for a comprehensive campaign. With world-leading programs in essential areas like climate change, Indigenous knowledge, fine arts and culture, and health and wellness, UVic is poised for excellence.
The Alumni and Development Office advances the vision of the university by securing and increasing philanthropic and private support for university priorities, as well as fostering lifelong relationships between the university and its alumni, friends, and community members.
The University’s ambitions can only be achieved with excellence in its service functions. The Advancement Services team therefore acts as crucial partners across all portfolio areas. Now, to support its ongoing growth and renewal, the University seeks a new Director, Advancement Services to lead its programs that support the engagement of alumni and donors: information systems, gift processing, donor relations, and prospect research and strategy. As the second largest unit of the Alumni and Development department, the Director leads a team of 21, including four direct reports.
The Director reports to the Associate Vice-President, Alumni and Development (AVP, A&D), and is a crucial member of their leadership team which develops, implements, and advances the mission and strategic initiatives of Alumni and Development and the Division of External Relations.
This is a compelling opportunity for an experienced professional to:
• Develop a future-focused strategic plan for the department, incorporating a review of the department’s client and constituent needs, and current offerings
• Bring a customer-service focus and best practices in end-user experiences to the portfolio
• Launch immediately into important initiatives to help fortify Advancement Services programs
• Help scale up the alumni and fundraising infrastructure for effective campaign fundraising
• Develop mutually beneficial relationships across External Relations and around campus that position Advancement Services as a best-in-class service unit
• Join a dynamic and ambitious Director group working to take UVic and its fundraising and alumni programs from one of Canada’s best kept secrets to a destination of choice for donors and staff alike.
While the longer-term needs of the role will evolve, in the short-term the Director will be tasked with the following priority needs:
• Oversee the Make Giving Easy initiative to upgrade the entire online experience, including giving, event registration, and other online interactions
• Ensure a solid CRM is in place, and help develop metrics and reporting for the campaign
• Establish a prospect management process
• Review and update fundraising policies and procedures
• Begin the process of a full Advancement Services review, working to identify strengths, gaps or challenges, future resourcing needs, team abilities, succession plans, and any potential blockages or structural challenges to the portfolio’s growth and success.
SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES
The Director’s responsibilities can be broadly summarized as follows:
• Oversees all Advancement Services programs: Gift Processing, Donor Relations, Prospect Research and Strategy, and Information Systems.
• Leads the staff team; oversees all personnel issues (i.e., hiring, performance plans, job descriptions).
• Provides strategic direction, oversees annual and strategic planning, and determines resource and staffing needs.
• Provides oversight and direction on resource allocation, budget optimization, performance metrics, and project execution.
• Evaluates and realigns all aspects of the department’s operations to facilitate and reinforce the effectiveness of strategic plans.
• Benchmarks peer advancement services programs to ensure that units are following best practices and developing quantitative metrics to determine success.
• Responsible for ensuring that all charitable tax receipts granted by UVic, and UVic foundations meet regulations and guidelines of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) thereby ensuring that the university’s charitable status is protected.
• Responsible for ensuring that donation recording and receipting passes internal and external audits.
• Advises major donors and senior administrators (e.g.: AVP, Deans, Chairs) and fundraising staff on the intricacies of the regulations and guidelines affecting charitable giving as well as the acceptability of gifts to the university.
• Oversees the development of complex gift agreements, ensuring appropriate internal consultation and approvals. Liaises with UVic’s legal counsel as needed.
• Directs the management of the gift processing area to ensure accuracy and integrity of data, and adherence to tax, privacy, and legal regulations concerning data storage and reporting.
• Oversees the development, implementation, and monitoring of the donor stewardship strategy and programs to ensure that donors feel informed about the university, involved in its plans for the future and confident that their gifts are being used and managed appropriately.
• Oversees the development, implementation and monitoring of prospective donor research that will contribute to the successes of the fundraising team via major prospect identification, prospect tracking, and comprehensive profile creation.
• Identifies, evaluates, recommends (i.e. prepares gap analysis, post implementation review, RFP) and oversees the management CRM database with the goal of providing a system that will contribute to the engagement of alumni and donors, as well as other external relations constituents.
• Continually evaluates and refines a portfolio of programs and identifies and develops new programs as necessary to support Alumni and Development.
For a detailed list of responsibilities by area, see below.
QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal Director will possess the following skills and background:
• Experience in the advancement services industry at a senior level with several years of successful leadership of a multi-faceted program – ideally including some combination of Gift Processing, Donor Relations, Prospect Research and Strategy, and Information Systems
• Exceptional team leadership skills
• Ability to balance multiple interests from diverse stakeholders
• Skilled in strategic planning and long-term visioning
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, and effective presentation skills that demonstrate tact and diplomacy to a variety of internal and external contacts
• Knowledge of project management best practices
• Fluent understanding of the research enterprise with a large academic institution is ideal
• Ability to effectively administer, organize, plan, and manage time
• Minimum of undergraduate degree in a business, finance or related field, master’s degree preferred, or equivalent experience and education in a related discipline
• Specific knowledge and experience are required in the following subject areas:
o donation taxation issues both in Canada and U.S. related to receipting and recording
o endowment management and reporting
o fundraising information systems and database management (from users’ perspective) for alumni, donor, and volunteer constituents
o CASE and CCAE reporting standards
o prospect research
o fundraising methodologies
o alumni engagement
Please visit the website to find out more: https://uvic.mua.hrdepartment.com/hr/ats/Posting/view/8145