Vassar College is midway through its ambitious and historic $500 million comprehensive campaign that will deepen our investment in financial aid and student life, expand research opportunities for our world-class faculty, and provide critical support for curricular innovation, racial justice and community engagement, environmental sustainability, admissions and career education.

The successful candidate will report to the Director of Annual Giving and work closely with our 1861 Loyalty Giving society that consists of donors who have given for three or more consecutive years to the Vassar Fund. The Assistant Director will work with a dynamic and ambitious team that is charged with growing Vassar’s participation and raising funds to support the College’s annual fund.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead advocate and focus on developing a robust annual marketing plan for the 1861 Loyalty Society at Vassar.
• Develop strategies to increase retention and acquisition rates in our young alum cohort and 1861 Loyalty Society,
• Evaluate data and provide recommendations regularly to the Director of Annual Giving on ways to improve solicitation efforts.
• Partner with the College’s phonathon program to solicit and steward loyalty prospects and members.
• Create a plan to significantly increase the number of sustained donors to the Vassar Fund.
• Manage a portfolio of our alum loyalty prospects to educate them on the 1861 Loyalty Society and solicit their support of the Vassar Fund.
• Partner with the Donor Relations team to uniquely steward our loyalty society and the College’s most loyal donors (40+ years of consecutive giving to the Vassar Fund).
• Collaborate with the Volunteer & Reunion team to incorporate the loyalty giving program within their work with reunion committees and class goals.

Qualifications

Required

• 1-3 years of professional experience in direct sales, fundraising, or marketing. Education and experience equivalencies will be considered.
• Adept at using social media, text, phone, and Zoom.
• Able to meet strict deadlines and goals as directed by supervisor.
• Strategic, analytical thinker who is able to work with a high degree of flexibility and use data to inform decision making.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, able to communicate the impact of donations through mass marketing and one-to-one messaging
• Strong collaboration and organizational skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, strong work ethic and readiness to engage alums in a personalized manner.
• Comfortable soliciting donors, articulating a strong and compelling case for support.
• Skilled at navigating and using databases, familiarity with CRM systems and entering contact reports.
• Follow high standards of ethical and honest relationships with donors and colleagues.
• Regular, predictable attendance is required; may require occasional weekend and evening work.

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Higher education fundraising experience.
• Knowledge of Vassar College programs, etc. very helpful in fulfilling the duties of this position.
• Experience working at a higher education institution.
• Experience creating a marketing strategy and plan.
• Sense of humor.

Special Instructions to Applicants

To complete your on-line application, you will be required to attach your resume, cover letter, and contact information for 3 professional references. All attachments must be in PDF format. Review of applications will begin immediately. If you have any questions, please contact Human Resources, 845-437-5820.