Donor Relations Liaison in School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford, California, United States en Stanford University

This position has been deemed critical by the School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Office and is exempt from the hiring freeze.

The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is the foundation of a liberal arts education at Stanford. The school encompasses 24 departments and 25 interdisciplinary programs. H&S is home to fundamental and applied research, where free, open, and critical inquiry is pursued across disciplines. As the university’s largest school, H&S serves as the foundation of a Stanford undergraduate education no matter which discipline students pursue as a major. Graduate students work alongside world-renowned faculty to pursue and shape foundational research that leads to breakthroughs and discoveries that shed new light on the past, influence the present, and shape the future. Together, faculty and students in H&S engage in inspirational teaching, learning, and research every day.

Department/Program Description:

Since its founding in 1980, the Stanford Humanities Center (The Center) has been sponsoring advanced research into the historical, philosophical, literary, artistic, and cultural dimensions of the human experience. It is an independent research center reporting to the Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences. The Center's annual fellows, international visitors, research workshops, and public events strengthen the intellectual and creative life of the university and foster innovative and interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching. The internationally renowned Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA), now part of the Humanities Center, embraces emerging digital methodologies and tools to complement existing traditional research methods of analysis and interpretation. Together, the Stanford Humanities Center and CESTA serve as the hub of an international network of fellows, visiting scholars, students, and alumni. 

Position Summary:

The Stanford Humanities Center is seeking to hire an experienced Donor Relations Liaison who will report to the Executive Director and who will work under the general supervision of the Faculty Director.

This position manages and implements a portfolio of annual reporting, gift acknowledgment, donor engagement activities, and projects for the Center & CESTA. It is responsible for managing the Center’s Director’s Council and Alumni Cabinet, as well as other areas of operation as assigned. It partners with the H&S Donor Relations team to support donor engagement, focusing on activities such as maintaining and cultivating relationships with existing donors, managing donor data, assisting with outreach and event planning, and providing support to the Faculty Director’s engagement with existing donors, the Director’s Council, and the Alumni Cabinet. In collaboration with the Donor Relations team in H&S, this position serves as the Center and CESTA’s main liaison for all development activities and interactions, coordinating with the H&S External Relations team and OOD fundraisers.

The Donor Relations Liaison must possess and demonstrate a positive outlook on continuous process improvement efforts while maintaining a team-based and customer-focused mindset. This position must exhibit the ability to practice sound judgment and decision-making, effective written & oral communication, strong attention to detail, and respectful relationship management. This position must also exhibit a strong desire to continuously learn new and unfamiliar business topics, policies, and procedures as they relate to Donor Relations – the ability to translate this information into operational successes will be critical.

This is a 100% FTE, regular, exempt position. This position will be based on the Stanford campus and will be considered for an option of telecommuting (hybrid of working on-site and off-site), subject to operational need.

If you believe that this opportunity is a match for your knowledge, skills, and abilities, we encourage you to apply. Thank you for considering employment opportunities with the School of Humanities and Sciences.

CORE DUTIES:

• Manage a portfolio of annual reporting and donor engagement activities on behalf of the university by establishing and executing project plans, timelines, tasks, and objectives.

• Develop and provide recommendations on best methodologies to engage individual donors by analyzing past trends, researching donor profiles, and collaborating with colleagues to identify and produce key donor relations deliverables, including donor correspondence, videos, or events.

• Execute fiduciary responsibility to ensure that gifts are awarded and utilized in accordance with donor expectations and university policies in a timely manner. Resolve discrepancies and escalate when needed.

• Responsible for the gift acknowledgment process including identifying gifts that qualify for acknowledgement. Ensure process is completed in a timely manner; work on solutions to avoid possible delays. May write original copy of acknowledgements on behalf of university leaders (e.g., the president, board chair, dean).

• Work with non-development colleagues in the process of executing stewardship activities and to ensure funds are spent in alignment with donors' wishes.

• Manage the process of requesting gift usage information from beneficiaries, (such as students, faculty). May draft, edit, rewrite, and exercise judgement to determine appropriateness of content. Create reports of fund awarded and ensure timely delivery to donors using appropriate messaging.

• May initiate the gift entry process by setting up donor relations information in system. Perform an annual audit of assigned portfolios against the development database to ensure that all related documents, fund, stewardee, and beneficiary information is accurate and complete. Identify and resolve any inaccuracies.

• Independently project manage donor recognition projects, including creating communications with donors, colleagues, and vendors which may include donor walls, signage and websites. Participate in special projects as assigned.

• May assist with creating and executing events; coordinate with donor relations community on cross functional events.

* Other duties may also be assigned.