Specialist, Advancement Services

POSITION SUMMARY

The Specialist, Advancement Services serves as the lead staff member responsible for processing all gifts, donor acknowledgements/tax receipts, matching gifts, demographic database updates, gift logs, and also assists donor relations related activities. This position has significant responsibilities in the area of data and gift entry to ensure that all gifts and pledges are accurately recorded in the Raiser’s Edge database and reconciled with the Finance Office. The position also provides administrative support and assistance to the Advancement division, assists in data entry and other duties as needed. This position will also have some responsibilities as a back-up for the Sr. Assistant Director of Advancement Information Services.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Job duties specific to this position:

• Handles all duties relative to processing, recording and acknowledging gifts in Raiser’s Edge.
• Coordinates and prioritizes day-to-day gift processing activities and ensures accurate processing and acknowledgement of gifts.
• Processes online gifts received through GiveCampus and other systems.
• Utilizes the College’s bank check scanner to make check deposits directly to the Advancement bank account.
• Processes monthly LMC employee payroll deduction donations.
• Tracks, confirms and processes matching gifts, including communicating with matching companies/foundations and providing documentation as requested.
• Reconciles gift batches and prepares batches for daily deposit.
• Maintains copies of all acknowledgments on the LMC shared drive for future reference/review or need.
• Maintains all gift documentation in hard copy batch files for audit purposes and other future needs.
• Produces and distributes accurate receipts, acknowledgement letters and tribute notifications (in honor and in memory of) for every gift within a 48-72 hour period and maintains appropriate documentation for College and its audit purposes.
• Processes all non-electronic gifts and produces and distributes receipts, acknowledgements and tribute notifications with a goal of this occurring within a 48-72 hour period.
• Assists Sr. Director and Sr. Asst. Director of Advancement Information Services with the Finance office’s monthly gift reconciliations, helping to identify errors and pull/provides back up documentation for Financial reviews/audits.
• Assists the Sr. Director of Alumni and Donor Relations with the annual Donor Relations reporting process, as requested.
• Coordinates with Sr. Director of Alumni and Donor Relations on maintaining the donor acknowledgement letter templates and updates, as needed at least annually.
• Communicates with the Sr. Director/Sr. Asst. Director of Advancement Information Services to ensure accurate processing of gifts and to ensure financial integrity and accuracy.
• Communicates with the Sr. Director/Sr. Asst. Director of Advancement Information Services, Bursar office and others in the Finance division to resolve technical problems and make adjustments to ensure efficient and effective gift processing and acknowledgement activities.
• Processes special handling of non-routine gifts (stock, real estate, planned gifts, etc.) and deposits.
• Verifies and updates biographical data in Raiser’s Edge as provided by Development Officers, constituent information received via gifts and/or correspondence to ensure accuracy of the database.
• With the Sr. Director/Sr. Asst. Director of Advancement Information Services maintains best practices to ensure the most accurate database possible.
• Handles highly sensitive information and maintains confidentiality on all materials handled adhering to and enhancing established College and departmental data integrity standards.
• Produces daily or weekly gift logs for distribution to Advancement staff on recently received donations.
• Reviews, revises and/or creates documentation related to operating procedures for tasks or system processes.
• Other Advancement & Innovation responsibilities, as assigned.

Additional tasks that position will be backup on

• Assists in maintaining constituent records, including the ability to add new records, update existing records, record clean ups and assisting with other coding projects, as assigned.
• Serves as back up for assisting the Finance office directly with monthly gift reconciliations, helps to identify errors and provides back up documentation for Financial reviews/audits.
• Learns basic query language to eventually assist with pulling simple clean up queries and other database related review queries.
• Serves as a back up for updating pledge reminder templates and/or coordinating the printing and mailing of the monthly pledge reminders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Business Administration, Finance or Accounting
• 2+ years of relevant professional experience
• Exceptional attention to detail and a customer service philosophy are required.
• Must be able to maintain confidentiality, be self-directed and be able to maintain multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
• Knowledge of accounting procedures and general ledger experience is a plus.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.
• Strong computer skills are required.
• Prior experience with database software necessary, preferably Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge. Experience with GiveCampus or other online giving platforms desired, but not required. Prior experience with Slate software is a plus.
• Proficiency with MS Office and Google products, especially MS Word, MS Excel and Word Mail Merge.
• Previous experience in a higher education setting is preferred, but not required.
• Experience with query and report writing is a plus, but not required.