Philanthropy Officer

**Salary**: £29,605 to £30,487 with progression to £32,982 per annum, pro rata

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

**Closing Date**: 29 August 2023

We are looking for an excellent communicator with great people skills to join the Advancement team as a Donor Relations Officer. This exciting and varied role will play an important part in developing our relationships with our supporters. Working with current and prospective donors, students and alumni volunteers, the Donor Relations Officer will support events for prospects, donors and high-profile alumni as well as donor visits to campus.

As part of a thriving team, the Donor Relations Officer will be responsible for producing inspiring communications, including plans, updates, and reports for supporters to the University, to demonstrate the impact of their giving. The role will also provide the opportunity to develop highly effective working relationships with teams across the University as well as our supporter community.

The Role

Newcastle University (NU) Advancement is the driving force behind fundraising and alumni and supporter engagement across the University.

Our work transforms lives, inspires ground-breaking research, and creates opportunities and communities that have a profound impact across the University, the city, the region and beyond. The guiding mission for all our fundraising activity is to create a spirit of philanthropy across the University and its community of 30,000 students, 6,000 staff and 250,000 alumni.

This role will play an important part in the development and delivery of our stewardship programme, ensuring we offer an excellent experience and strengthen relationships with current and prospective donors, and alumni volunteers.

Working closely with the philanthropy team, the post-holder will be responsible for producing compelling communications, including plans, updates, and reports for supporters to the University, to clearly demonstrate the impact of philanthropy to the University and the impact of their giving.

Key Accountabilities
Oversee and manage all donor funded scholarships, bursaries, and prizes, guaranteeing a consistent experience for all donors
Manage effective systems to track all philanthropically funded scholarships and ensure that students selected each year meet the award criteria. Work with Advancement colleagues to keep all donors informed of the progress of their scholarship
Work with Advancement colleagues to deliver stewardship strategies that strengthen long-term relationships with major donors, regular donors, legacy pledgers and other supporters
Develop and manage the acknowledgement and thanking process, including producing personalised acknowledgment and stewardship reports
Ensure that details of stewardship plans are compiled and communicated to all involved parties, and that the plan is documented, implemented, and updated on the CRM, Raiser’s Edge
Lead on stewardship events, acting as key liaison, overseeing logistics, event management, leadership briefings and acting as the University representative to external parties
Lead on donor visits to campus, organising a programme of activity which will inspire them to support the University and demonstrate the impact of philanthropy on campus
Lead on the preparation and delivery of the University’s giving circles programme of activity, including the delivery of annual impact reporting
Work with and support marketing and communications colleagues to ensure impact stories of benefactors and recipients are frequently featured on the University website and across social media
Identify best practices in the sector for stewardship planning and ensure adherence to the Fundraising Code of Practice

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience (Essential)
Excellent oral and written communications skills and experience of writing accurate, inspiring, and persuasive reports or proposals.
Experience of drawing together complex information and summarising it succinctly in accessible language for a non-specialist audience/readership
Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
The ability to plan and manage own workload, to prioritise effectively, and to manage multiple simultaneous projects with competing deadlines.
The ability to make difficult decisions and choices by assessing key objectives and priorities and using information to inform decision making.
Experience working in a customer-focused environment.
Proven ability to work with a range of internal and external stakeholders at all levels of seniority to achieve results.
Understanding of the importance and impact of universities and a desire to grow support for the sector.
Desirable
Experience of working in higher education
Experience working with a CRM system, alumni database or equivalent.