Position Summary

As Assistant Director of Annual Giving, you will be responsible for managing Villanova University’s Student Calling Program and contributing to the planning and execution of multi-channel Annual Giving strategies to effectively solicit and steward donors. Under the supervision of the Director of Annual Giving, you will create a comprehensive phone, email and text solicitation plan utilizing the Blackbaud Guided Fundraising platform, and collaborate with team members to integrate the calling strategy within the broader Annual Giving communication and solicitation plan.

In this role, you will work as a key contributor of the Annual Giving team responsible for creating and implementing a complete annual calendar of print and digital solicitation and stewardship campaigns to determine a complementary and integrated phone strategy targeting alumni, parents, students and friends with affiliations across the University’s six schools and colleges and various affinity groups and programs.

Villanova is a Catholic university sponsored by the Augustinian order. Diversity and inclusion have been and will continue to be an integral component of Villanova University’s mission. The University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and seeks candidates who understand, respect and can contribute to the University’s mission and values.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage the Student Calling Program: Recruit, interview, hire, train and supervise a staff of 3-5 student supervisors and 25+ student callers. With support from the Director of Annual Giving, create the job descriptions, training program, and manual for student supervisors and callers. Provide daily on-the-job training and quality control through monitoring, evaluating and coaching student callers. Attend calling shifts. Develop and implement creative employee recognition and incentive programs to retain and motivate callers, improve performance and increase productivity. Manage the student caller schedule and payroll process; approve and submit timesheets. Will build partnerships across campus to support recruitment and on-going training efforts (e.g. Office of Financial Assistance, Student Involvement, Office of the Provost).
• Develop and execute a comprehensive communication plan: In collaboration with the Director of Annual Giving and other team members, create a comprehensive solicitation and stewardship strategy through Blackbaud Guided Fundraising. This includes establishing a calling calendar; determining calling segments and pools; managing data requests, clean-up and loading, and developing calling scripts, follow-up emails, text messages, and fulfillment letters. Will also identify new and creative methods to steward donors through the calling program.
• Analysis and reporting: With support from the Executive Director of Annual Giving and Director of Annual Giving, will establish goals for the overall program each fiscal year. Generate daily and weekly reports to analyze the progress of the overall program as well as individual segments; make adjustments as needed in order to meet fundraising goals (i.e. overall dollars and undergraduate alumni participation). Track performance of individual segments to identify trends, successes, outcomes, and key performance indicators. Measure performance of individual callers to increase their productivity and meet overall program goals. React and adapt during shifts on real time data so that the program is operating efficiently to maximize results. Ensure that all pledges and gifts are booked correctly in the platform and subsequently, in Banner. Collaborate with the Gift and Pledge Processing Team and Advancement Services to ensure all reports are working properly and meeting the goals of the program.
• 1842 Day: Provide support throughout the planning and execution of 1842 Day, Villanova’s Day of Giving, with a specific focus on the phonathon and texting programs that support this effort.
• Support overall Annual Fund and University Advancement initiatives to meet annual and long-term goals, especially related to undergraduate alumni participation. This includes but is not limited to events such as Homecoming Weekend, Volunteer Symposium, Leadership Summit, and Reunion Weekend.
• Perform other duties and assist with projects as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Business/Marketing/Communications.
• Must understand fundraising, sales and/ or volunteer management.
• 1-3 years of experience in phonathon/fundraising/sales.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment required. Excellent communication, interpersonal and writing skills required. Must be well organized, able to think strategically and be detail-oriented. Proven analytical, decision making and creative problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of general office equipment, including personal computers, word processing, Excel, Office 365, and or other spreadsheet programs required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education and calling centers preferred.
• Knowledge of Banner, Salesforce, Cognos, and Blackbaud Guided Fundraising and Fundraiser Performance Management or other fundraising and reporting software preferred.