Associate Director Of Annual Giving & Alumni Engagement

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ANNUAL GIVING & ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Located at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, Waterford School, with an enrollment of 1,100 is Utah’s premier liberal arts, college preparatory independent school for students in Preschool through High School. Waterford School’s liberal arts program provides a strong academic foundation, and the campus culture prepares students to pursue lives of meaning and purpose. Since its founding, the School has instilled habits of independent thought, critical thinking, responsibility, passionate learning, and service to others.

Waterford delivers a world-class education distinguished by a rich curriculum, an outstanding faculty, a deep commitment to student growth, and a learning environment that is caring, nurturing, and inspiring.

Reporting to the Director of Development, the Associate Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Engagement will be responsible for the strategy and implementation of Waterford’s annual giving program. We are looking for someone who is passionate about philanthropy and who enthusiastically appreciates the crucial role of annual giving and alumni engagement. The person who fills this role should have a strong foundation in annual giving and/or alumni engagement, but also seek to iterate upon current best practices.

Working closely with members of the Development & Events team, Institutional Advancement team, and volunteers, this position is an essential element to our comprehensive fundraising program. The position will primarily interact with parents and alumni, but it will also interact with parents of alumni, faculty members and staff, and students, as well as senior administration, including the Head of School.

• Manage a mid-level portfolio of approximately 100 donors for the purpose of qualifying and elevating into Waterford’s Giving Circles ($1,981+).
• Cultivate, solicit, and steward donors as a frontline fundraiser with focus on relationship building and growing the philanthropic support for Waterford.

• Develop a comprehensive annual giving plan from campaign awareness to post-gift stewardship in order to achieve annual goals.
• Utilize direct response communication and fundraising tools (direct mail, email, website, social media) to inform, engage, connect, and solicit current, lapsed, and prospective donors.
• Assist with the identification and recruitment of Annual Fund chairs and committee members and manage their engagement and contributions to the school.
• In collaboration with the Director of Development and Waterford’s Communication team, develop, write, and produce donor materials that support the Annual Fund campaign.
• Develop and maintain reports that communicate fundraising progress.
• Evaluate results, refine plans, and implement new strategies based on ongoing analysis and best practices.
• Recruit for and lead the Waterford Fund Council, consisting of parent volunteers.
• Recruit and lead the faculty and staff reps for the faculty and staff campaign.
• Prepare for Waterford Fund Council and faculty and staff rep meetings, organize agendas, create materials, and coordinate meeting follow-up.
• Partner with the Assistant Director of Development Operations to utilize volunteer management tools to provide volunteers with lists for outreach and timely updates on giving metrics.
• Draft and share compelling solicitation and stewardship templates (email, text) for volunteers to utilize.

• Responsible for the execution of an alumni engagement strategy that maintains strong and mutually beneficial relationships with graduates and fosters their ongoing connection to Waterford, through a broader, inclusive Alumni Association model.
• Interact with alumni to assess their interests so that they will joyfully support Waterford through volunteerism, networking/connection building, financial support, and potential alumni family enrollment.
• Solicit gifts from alumni at an annual fund level ($1,980 or less) and leadership annual giving level ($1,981 – $4,999). Identify alumni to be solicited at major giving level ($5,000+). Communicate on progress with the Director of…