Founded in 1877, Thayer Academy is a co-educational independent day school for over 700 students in grades 5-12. Located on a 34-acre campus in Braintree, Massachusetts, just up the street from the MBTA’s final red line T stop, Thayer has been an enabling and ennobling environment where students are truly known, connected, and prepared for success at Thayer, college, and beyond.

The Alumni Giving and Engagement Officer, reporting directly to the Associate Director of Advancement and Engagement, will identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of individuals capable of making gifts of $1,877 and above to support the mission of Thayer Academy. This person will create strategies for engaging existing supporters, as well as new prospects working closely with the Alumni Board and Development team to move them along the continuum of giving to support the Annual Fund, endowment, and capital projects.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Develop strong relationships with alumni to help advance the mission of the school and foster engagement. Building a portfolio of prospects with a goal of carrying 150 prospects annually and closing $250,000+ in gifts for FY24.
• Cultivate, solicit, and steward prospects to increase alumni participation and encourage General’s Council level giving ($1,877+).
• Create a comprehensive annual engagement plan for alumni with a variety of event and educational offerings, communications, and other engagement activities. Managing budgets, logistics, and calendars and strategizing with faculty, senior leadership, the Alumni Board, and fellow development staff on effective engagement activities.
• Oversee the Thayer Academy Alumni Board. Responsibilities include organizing meetings, assisting the Alumni Board President with developing strategies for alumni engagement and acting as a liaison between the Alumni Board and the school’s administration.
• Manage an annual stewardship reporting process for all donors with named endowed funds, writing reports on an annual basis including updated financials as well as programmatic impact.
• Consistently perform research on alumni to learn new information about possible wealth indicators.
• Work closely with class agents to build Annual Fund participation and identify potential major donors.
• Steward donor relationships so that donors feel highly appreciated by Thayer Academy.
• Prioritize work to have a primary focus on face-to-face meetings and solicitations with current and prospective donors. Spending a minimum of 30% of working hours out of the office meeting with donors and prospects locally and out of state.
• Work directly with the 25^th, 30^th, 35^th, and 40th-year reunion classes to ensure a minimum of 30% attendance at Reunion and 40% participation in the annual giving campaign as well as identifying potential campaign donors.
• Responsible for data integrity in Raiser’s Edge donor files including updating all personal information, keeping actions and proposals up to date, and ensuring all notable information is recorded.
• Work with the gift processing team to ensure the integrity of donor files, records, tracking, pledge reminders, and communication.
• Attend and assist with all Advancement and Engagement office special events (occasionally on weekends or evenings).

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent professional experience required
• A minimum of 3 years of development experience with a proven track record in building meaningful donor relationships and closing gifts.
• Demonstrated ability to use good judgment to handle confidential information sensitively.
• Natural ability to establish rapport with a variety of donor and alumni personalities.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously, prioritize and meet deadlines.
• Working knowledge of Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft Office Suite, and Outlook, is preferred.

Skills/Abilities/Competencies Required: 

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent professional experience required
• A minimum of 3 years of development experience with a proven track record in building meaningful donor relationships and closing gifts.
• Demonstrated ability to use good judgment to handle confidential information sensitively.
• Natural ability to establish rapport with a variety of donor and alumni personalities.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously, prioritize and meet deadlines.
• Working knowledge of Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft Office Suite, and Outlook, is preferred.

Equal Opportunity Act: Thayer Academy is an equal opportunity employer. The Academy complies with and adheres to all state and federal anti-discrimination laws with respect to its employment practices. Thayer Academy does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin or ancestry, age, or disability, or any other category protected under state or federal law. This policy extends to recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, assignment, working conditions, promotions, transfers, termination, re-employment, education, tuition assistance, employee treatment, and all other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. All employment-related decisions are made on a nondiscriminatory basis so as to further the principle of equal employment opportunity.