Location: Advancement
Hours: Full-Time, Salary

Job Summary:
The Philanthropy Officer builds long-lasting relationships with constituents to inspire engagement and generous giving to support the mission of Southern Adventist University. This position is responsible for establishing and strengthening relationships with alumni, donors, and other constituents for the purpose of soliciting gifts for the institution.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Manage a general portfolio of all mid-level donors and donor prospects and filter to a specific portfolio of 100 for close engagement. Make a minimum of $500,000 in individual and group asks to this portfolio annually.
Customize a systematic process to steward and grow mid-level ($1,000-$10,000) donors.
Create and implement relationship pipeline conversion for donors to increase giving over time.
Steward endowment donors; affirming impact and encouraging continued gifts to their affinity.
Travel to qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward gifts; up to 50% of time spent in local and national travel.
Liaise with university deans, chairs, professors, and administration to understand campus needs, initiatives, strategic planning goals, and alumni engagement opportunities; and be able to message those needs accurately and persuasively to donors verbally and in writing.
Be familiar with giving instruments including planned giving tools, endowment processes, DAF and stock gifts, and gift-in-kind opportunities and be able to articulate those tools and processes to donors as needed.
Collaborate with Planned Giving and Annual Giving on events and giving initiatives.
Partner with Alumni Relations activities as an active participant in events and trips and use these events to cultivate and grow philanthropic relationships.
Timely document actions and work solicitation plans in Raiser’s Edge NXT.
Participate in university events and serve on committees as needed/assigned.
Perform other business-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree required, one year or more of fundraising experience, B2C sales, or CFRE certification required. CRM software familiarity required, knowledge of Raiser’s Edge software and its applications is preferred, proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite required.

Must be enthusiastic in inviting others to invest in Southern and demonstrate experience in successful campaign gift solicitation. Need to be self-directed and motivated and willing to develop own initiatives to meet strategic goals. Experience in conducting successful personal fundraising solicitations is necessary. Needs to have a demonstrated competence in persuasive writing, public speaking, and delivering presentations to individuals and groups. Use discretion and adhere to confidentiality agreement in handling and communicating donor details and personal information. Must maintain excellent organizational and planning skills. Will need to manage multiple projects concurrently and maintain exceptional interpersonal skills.

Special Requirements: Must have an expressed commitment to Jesus Christ, the teachings and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an SDA church member in good and regular standing, and a desire to serve in a cooperative, spiritually redemptive, and soul-winning atmosphere. Must understand and view fundraising as a spiritual ministry and approach donors from that understanding.

Typical Physical Demands: Requires sitting, standing, bending and reaching. Must have enthusiasm for fundraising to benefit the students and programs of Southern. May require lifting up to 50 pounds. Requires manual dexterity sufficient to operate standard office machines such as computers, fax machines, calculators, the telephone and other office equipment. Requires normal range of hearing and vision.

Working Conditions: Working hour schedule is traditional with expected evening and weekend hours for donor meetings and special events. Up to 50% local and national travel.

Southern Adventist University

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Philanthropy Officer - Advancement