Assistant Director, Donor Engagement - Stewardship (6299U), Intercollegiate Athletics #87774

Assistant Director, Donor Engagement
- Stewardship (6299U), Intercollegiate Athletics #87774

At the University of California, Berkeley , we are dedicated to fostering a community where everyone feels welcome and can thrive. Our culture of openness, freedom, and belonging makes it a special place for students, faculty, and staff, who are among the most talented and accomplished anywhere, including Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and Mac Arthur Fellows. Since our founding in 1868, we have been an engine for innovation - driving intellectual, economic, and social progress that benefits California, the U.S., and beyond.

Together, we change the world.

At Berkeley, the best careers are built on a foundation of continuous learning and growth . We actively support professional development by providing all full-time staff employees with at least 80 hours of paid time per year and provide space for supportive colleague communities via numerous employee resource groups.

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics consists of more than 275 staff members and coaches and sponsors 30 varsity sports programs. These 30 programs include more than 850 student-athletes who participate in the various sports programs annually within the National Collegiate Athletics Association

The Assistant Director, Donor Engagement
- Stewardship reaches, serves and engages external constituencies through programs, events, products, and services not primarily related to fundraising. This position translates constituent needs and priorities into customized programs to create, enhance, and sustain relationships between the campus and its external constituencies. The Assistant Director, Donor Engagement
- Stewardship manages complex stewardship efforts and serves as a key member of the donor engagement and alumni relations team. This position oversees the gift acknowledgment process and ensures that development messaging is strategically timed, cleanly edited and consistently aligned with the mission of the department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Additionally, this role oversees the production of annual benefit fulfillment and stewardship publications, including the benefit guide and annual report, as well as other key stewardship initiatives such as capital recognition, written donor features, yearly impact reports, individual donor reports, scholarship recognition, and stewardship focused events.

This position also serves as the primary development office contact for donors and alumni who have questions about giving or engagement.

The First Review Date for this job is August 11, 2026. For full consideration, please apply on or before the first review date.

Donor Engagement & Stewardship - 50%

• Develops and implements comprehensive donor stewardship, recognition, and engagement strategies that enhance donor satisfaction, retention, and long-term philanthropic support.
• Oversees stewardship programs, donor recognition and signature engagement events.
• Guides the creation and execution of donor-facing communications across digital and print platforms, maintains a comprehensive stewardship and engagement calendar, and ensures consistent branding and messaging across all donor materials.
• Supports the execution of Cal Athletics Fund benefits, and scholarship and capital project recognition.
• Supports all development events both in planning and in day-of execution.

Communications - 20%

• Serves as the primary writer for the department - drafting donor features, press releases, proposals, collateral pieces, emails, acknowledgements, and annual/impact reports.

Infrastructure Development & Maintenance - 10%

• Responsible for maintaining data integrity for all sources of information (Paciolan, CADS, Salesforce).
• Continuously looks for ways to improve systems in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness of fundraising and engagement practices.
• Actively seeks new tools to support efforts of the athletics development office.
• Maintains key data lists and accuracy of donor/alumni information.

Inquiries and Point of Contact - 10%

• Responds to constituent inquiries and serves as a primary point of contact for addressing questions or concerns around Cal Athletics Fund benefits.
• Assists with giving/ticketing troubleshooting as needed.

Special Initiatives - 5%

• May take lead on special initiatives and campaigns.
• May mentor less experienced staff members.

• Thorough knowledge of basic concepts, principles, and procedures of building and maintaining effective relations with alumni, internal and key constituencies.
• Thorough knowledge of and/or ability to learn about the campus, its mission, goals, objectives, programs, achievements, infrastructure and issues of concern.
• Thorough written, verbal and interpersonal communications, tact and political acumen to effectively represent the campus.
• Thorough research, analytical and critical thinking skills, including sound judgment and decision-making skills and skill to…