Program Manager, Donor Relations and Engagement

Program Manager, Donor Relations & Engagement

The Donor Relations and Engagement Program Manager is part of a team responsible for advancing the ASU Foundation’s relationships with benefactors to provide a positive experience, enhance donor retention, and facilitate future giving. This role is deeply donor-focused, centered on meaningful donor engagement, endowment stewardship and data accuracy. This position manages incoming donor inquiries with professionalism and attention to detail, ensuring thoughtful and timely responses that support positive donor experiences. The role also maintains and leverages endowment donor data to inform reporting and collaboration, and serves as a key liaison between Development, Finance, and Gift Administration & Data Management (GADM) to ensure the accuracy of gift information. This individual occasionally supports the planning and coordination of select high-impact donor visits.

What you’ll do

• Acts as lead Donor Relations team member for all donor inquiries, collaborating with internal teams to provide a timely response to donors

• Provides exceptional customer service and support to our donors ensuring needs are met effectively while maintaining a positive relationship between the donor and ASU and ASUF

• Conducts appropriate training, strategic advising, and mentoring to ASU and ASUF staff to optimize the effective implementation of donor relationships tools, systems, and processes

• Supports the production and delivery of annual Endowment Reports and Impact Summaries for donors with a focus on the projects’ data management needs

• Acts as lead for endowment donor data; maintaining accurate records in Salesforce and developing dashboards, reports, and queries to ensure the data is accessible and reliable

• Develops an in-depth understanding of all the endowed funds, how they are distributed, and the donors/stakeholders involved

• Serves as a liaison between ASUF Development and ASUEP Finance and Gift Administration & Data Management (GADM) to provide the necessary donor information required to complete processing for new gifts and commitments

• Builds strong and effective relationships with individuals and departments throughout the university that provide or benefit from information used in resolving gift efforts (e.g., Finance, GADM, Technology and Solutions, units, ASU Business operations, etc.)

• Develop an understanding of gift pledges, gift payments, gift opportunities/proposals, and gift accounting requirements and processes

• Support planning and logistics for high-profile donor visits, including scheduling, materials preparation, and day-of coordination

• Attend meetings, plan agendas, monitor and ensure project compliance with objectives set by leadership and perform associated administrative functions

• Cross-train in other Donor Relations processes and procedures to provide backup in key areas

• Other duties as assigned

What you'll need

• Understand and demonstrate an extremely high level of sensitivity to customer relations, embrace a donor-centric philosophy, etiquette protocol, and drive to deliver the best possible donor experience and meet expectations.

• Strong and collegial interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate effectively in person, writing, and by phone.

• Ability to effectively manage complex situations involving numerous and sometimes competing constituencies and priorities.

• Maintain a professional demeanor at all times.

• Display high analytical processing skills, being able to comprehend, analyze, maintain, and work with large amounts of data within spreadsheets and have or quickly gain proficiency in various software programs.

• High attention to detail, accuracy, and thoroughness in completing assigned duties

• Problem solver who can take initiative and set priorities while being flexible.

• Basic knowledge and understanding of donor database, contact management and tracking systems: Salesforce, Workday, other donor database system(s), Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint), and other donor relations-related technology tools.

• Proven excel skills, including the ability to create pivot tables, data tables and charts.

• Ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality and responsibility regarding information related to Foundation and University business and confidential constituent information.

• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

• Ability to represent the institution well.

• An advocate’s belief in the vision of ASU as the New American University.

• Highly organized and able to handle multiple projects.

• This position may require some early mornings and evenings to accommodate completing projects.

• Knowledge of standard office policies and procedures.

Relevant Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field

• Two (2) years of customer service, administrative, fundraising, advancement, and/or non-profit experience

• Or any equivalent combination of project management and/or administrative experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities

The ASU Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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