This role is an on-campus, in-person position.

The Digital Engagement Officer for Annual Giving (DXO) will leverage digital communications tools to create tailored ongoing engagement strategies that cultivate relationships, inspire giving, and build sustained philanthropic support based on what truly matters to each donor. Detailed tracking, reporting, and ongoing analysis of results will drive goal-setting, growth, and performance evaluations for the program.

Under the supervision of the Director of Leadership Giving, the role will actively manage a portfolio of approximately 1K newly identified and lapsed annual giving prospects/donors with capacity ratings of up to $100K. The role will leverage digital technology such as the daily use of video, phone, and email, combined with multiple databases and virtual communication technology to make personalized solicitations aimed at retention, reactivation and upgrades of alumni, parent and friends to support SMU’s comprehensive campaign. 

Essential Functions:

• Actively manage a portfolio of approximately 1,000 identified annual giving prospects and lapsed donors with capacity ratings up to $99,999. Establish a regular cadence of communication touch points using a variety of digital and personal channels including social media platforms, email, text, phone, in-person meetings & video chat. Meet with alumni, parent and friend prospects to identify their level of philanthropic engagement & gauge their interest and potential to upgrade levels of support. Quickly navigate through the large portfolio, providing personalized yet systematic attention to each prospect as the role conducts a high-volume of weekly visits, contacts and solicitations (i.e., 400-500 touchpoints/mo.) Actively solicit donors for support of current-use priorities, capitalizing on marketing strategies of current Annual Giving initiatives and drives. Work cross-functionally with all development teams, & under the direction of the Director, communicate other appropriate fundraising priorities and opportunities for engagement for each prospect, inviting them to deepen their involvement. This requires maintaining current knowledge of University-wide priorities. Tactics include: attending a variety of events throughout the year to support the essential fundraising strategy and becoming an expert in the engagement and giving opportunities across Annual Giving and Alumni Relations to customize experiences and opportunities for individual prospects. Directly steward milestone gifts (i.e, first-time donors, leadership or recurring giving societies’ milestone status, etc. through thoughtful outreach with personalized content to illustrate the impact of the donor’s gift.)  Independently and creatively develop content to share with donors based off existing resources, visits to campus, participation in campus activities, and other easy-to-access resources that can help better connect donors to the areas they support in meaningful ways. 

• Establishing a sound working relationship with DEA staff to enhance collaboration and build/maintain best practices in giving and engagement. This includes working with school and unit based & major gift officers, planned giving officers, advancement services units, school and unit leadership. Make alumni referrals to alumni engagement officers and identify major gift prospects to be qualified and engaged by campus wide gift officers, as appropriate.

• Expertly document all fundraising progress through call and contact reports, cultivate strategy updates and other communication materials in a timely fashion. Regularly meet with Director to review progress, track metrics against goals and adjust strategy as needed. Proactively monitor personal engagement and fundraising results to identify trends and opportunities to optimize success.

• Other duties as assigned, including supporting AGAR initiatives and events.

• Position requires extensive computer usage, occasional evening and/or weekend work and occasional travel.

Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s degree is required.  A degree in communications, marketing, or journalism preferred.

A minimum of one year of work experience is required, preferably in higher education or non-profit fundraising. 

Professional work experience in social/digital marketing or journalism is preferred. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Candidate must demonstrate strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate broadly across the University and develop and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of constituencies. Must also demonstrate strong written communication skills.

Candidate must possess strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify and analyze problems, as well as devise solutions. Must also have strong organizational, planning and time management skills with the ability to prioritize. 

Candidate must have ability to manage a high volume of work across multiple cloud-based platforms in a fast-paced environment. 

Candidate must have experience with the following: Zoom, communications software (i.e. Microsoft Teams, Slack), email  (i.e. Outlook, Emma), and MS Office products. 

Experience with constituent database (i.e. Blackbaud CRM), project management software, Evertrue, GradAdvance and/or similar platforms preferred. 

Certifications in fundraising and non-profit management desired.