Our Mission
We in Boston University Development & Alumni Relations (DAR) harness the power of philanthropy to make an excellent education accessible and welcoming to all, and to advance BU’s global leadership in research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice. To support our work, we have built—and are continuing to build—an outstanding team of dynamic, mission-driven advancement professionals who constantly strive to create an environment where everyone belongs. Where it’s not just about a job, but a career and a community.
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Now, our School-based development team is looking for a Development Associate who will assist the school-based development and alumni relations efforts while directly supporting the Assistant Vice President for School Development (AVP) in efforts to maximizing fundraising for a specific cohort of schools and colleges.
School Development at Boston University
Boston University’s 17 Schools and Colleges require a specialized and hands-on approach to advancement. Staffed by local teams that report to central Development and Alumni Relations while advancing the priorities of the individual school or college Dean, these individuals serve as the main points of contact for the work being done to advance a wide range of fundraising and alumni relations initiatives. These staff are highly collaborative on gifts and programmatic support, coordinating closely with leadership giving, alumni relations, planned giving and faculty.
Development Associate
The Development Associate will serve as a representative of the school development team and develop best practices for reporting and cross-school and department coordination. The Development Associate will also help advance the annual fund, prospect pipeline, and alumni engagement programming at the school level, particularly at Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, in support of the Assistant Dean’s development and alumni relations initiatives. The Development Associate must work cooperatively with a wide variety of colleagues and external constituents, including University leadership, faculty, staff, and alumni, to help execute strategies and work toward overall development goals.
Responsibilities:
School Development Reporting:
- Support AVP in high-level departmental reporting on constituent relationship management system. Support the initiatives of the Associate Vice President for School Development and create, manage, update and provide high-level accurate reports on fundraising metrics on an as-requested basis.
- Run monthly and annual reports for AVP and school/college deans that measures and assesses performance based fundraising metrics by school/college. Develop reports that can be used to assess team performance on key metrics (i.e. major gift pipeline).
School-Based Development Office Support:
- Manage all aspects for the team meetings as well as provide assistance for any school development trainings or retreats. Support AVP at DAR wide meetings including prospect reviews, fiscal year end reviews and other initiatives as assigned.
- Coordinate stewardship moves management and tracking for major gift donors, including collaboration with AVP internal fundraising teams, leadership/principal gift officers and Office of Stewardship for every phase of stewardship.
- Serve as part of the team building the pipeline of major gift prospects. Identify and provide preliminary prospect and philanthropy research to AVP, including using Internet and other tools.
- Work with DevCom to produce materials that support the schools’ strategic priorities
- Oversee gift acknowledgment for specific schools and colleges as assigned.
School-Based Annual Fund & Alumni Engagement Support:
- Represent School Development and Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at University donor-focused events and serve as a contributor to planning, supporting and staffing when appropriate.
- Assist with the development and implementation of a strategy to enhance the school-based annual fund and alumni engagement efforts, including specific activities that increase donor participation, alumni engagement and stewardship. Serve as the point person for University initiatives including Giving Day, Alumni Weekend and other marquee events.
- Assist with the development, compilation and maintenance of various reports that help to identify new annual fund leadership gift, major gift and principal gift prospects.
Administrative Support:
- Assist with the day-to-day operations for the AVP and Assistant Dean: Duties will include maintaining calendars and scheduling meetings, managing and tracking the department’s budget; screening and directing phone calls for the office; photocopying, filing, and faxing; ordering and organizing supplies; coordinating travel schedules and details as well as post-travel expense reports. Support school-based officers in daily office activities, including running reports and gift acknowledgements for assigned schools.
Required Skills
A cover letter is required for consideration.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree
- Three to five years of relative work experience, preferably in a research institution
- Some event coordination experience.
- Ability to collaborate and multitask, knowledge of constituent database applications.
- Must be able to handle confidential material responsibly and interact professionally with a wide spectrum of individuals.
- Must have advanced oral/written communications experience
But that’s not all we’re looking for; we want someone who embodies our values:
- Teamwork, transparency, and mutual respect, because we value every member’s contributions and know that leadership can come from anywhere.
- Diversity, equity, inclusion, and a commitment to ensuring that each of us knows we belong here.
- Integrity in how we work and how we treat one another.
- Strategic thinking and curiosity in the relentless pursuit of fresh approaches and measurable results.
- Continuous growth and improvement, both as individuals and as a team.
- Joy and shared appreciation for working hard toward goals that matter.
If this resonates with you and you want to help us in our ambitious next campaign—and maybe do some of your best work as an advancement professional— we encourage you to apply. If you are hesitant to apply because you have not previously performed every responsibility listed in the description, but you do possess transferable skills, our values, and the defined qualifications, we still want to hear from you and welcome your application as well.
To learn more about Development & Alumni Relations at Boston University, and other job opportunities, please stop by the DAR Talent website: https://www.bu.edu/dar-talent/.
Boston University is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to complete the employment application process, please contact the Equal Opportunity Office at 617-353-6474.
Required Experience
