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Assistant Director of the Parents Program, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT

Employer
Duke University
Location
Individual Giving

Job Details

Occupational Summary:

As a member of the Duke Annual Fund staff in the Office of Duke Alumni Engagement and Development, the Assistant Director of the Duke Parents Program is primarily responsible for directing two class campaigns and will develop strategies for achieving class goals, help with creation of volunteer resource materials, and manage other aspects of the program. Widely regarded as the model Parents Program in higher education, the Assistant Director will assist with raising more than $7 million annually and developing relationships with a volunteer cadre of 715+ non-alumni parents. The assistant director will travel nationally to solicit donors; recruit and train volunteers; develop and manage relationships with university colleagues; and staff multiple events per year. This position will also direct the planning and execution of the Parents Program Webinar Series and a parent annual fund leadership giving initiative. The position reports to the Senior Assistant Director for the Parents Program.

Work Performed:

  • Recruit, train, and manage two classes of Parents Committee members with approximately 200 volunteers per class.
  • Establish ambitious fundraising goals—both dollars and class participation—and develop strategies to achieve these goals, working with class leadership, Director of Development, and other colleagues.
  • Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors to the Annual Fund, focusing on leadership Annual Fund gifts ($1,000+).
  • Maintain frequent contact with volunteers to provide support with recruitment, solicitations, and other tasks.
  • Serve as point of contact for Duke parent donors and volunteers.
  • Make volunteer assignments of leadership prospects and track progress of leadership gifts throughout fiscal year.
  • Work with the Parents Program staff and colleagues across campus to develop comprehensive solicitation strategies for top prospects. Refer prospects to colleagues as relevant.
  • Work with DAED Special Events to plan and implement 3-5 regional parent events annually; recruit hosts, provide Duke speakers, and prepare briefing materials. Attend event as primary staff person and oversee follow-up.

Qualify, cultivate, solicit and steward leadership Annual Fund prospects

  • Travel 6-8 times per year to identify, cultivate, solicit and steward a portfolio of leadership Annual Fund parent prospects. In addition, visit with alumni prospects as appropriate.
  • Work with Parents Program staff and the Annual Fund Leadership Giving team to draft and implement an initiative focused on increasing the number of Annual Fund parent donors who give at the $1K to $5K level each year. Work with Stewardship team on ways to steward this constituency.
  • Meet with and develop relationships with Duke prospects to personally qualify their financial capacity and inclination to make leadership Annual Fund gifts to Duke. Diplomatically ask qualifying questions to distinguish between prospects and suspects.
  • Solicit prospects for gifts to the Annual Fund with focus on securing $1K+ single year gifts from non-alumni parents.
  • Develop initial strategies for on-going involvement including appropriate referrals to fundraising colleagues in DAED and across Duke.
  • Provide timely post-visit follow-up including tracking moves and solicitations in DADD, sending personalized follow up to individual prospects, and making referrals to University Development and campus-wide gift officers as appropriate.

Assist with overall Parents Committee and Program management

  • Assist with the creation and maintenance of all volunteer resource materials, including an annual volunteer manual, monthly committee updates, timely solicitation samples, and additional resources as needed.
  • Help with substantive programming during Orientation, Family Weekend, Winter Co-Chair Retreat, spring Parents Committee weekend, and Graduation.
  • Participate in research of incoming class and report to Director of Development on leadership and committee member prospects.
  • Manage assignment process for Stewardship volunteers including pulling lists of donors, creating assignments and sending them out to the volunteers.

Oversee the Parents Program Virtual Series

  • Plan and execute at least 3 Zoom Calls with Duke Leadership for Parents Committee members. Calls are designed to be of particular interest to parents and provide an insider view into Duke. Recruit speakers, advertise, prepare briefings for speakers, and follow up for each call.
  • Coordinate an annual Webinar hosted by members of the Parents Committee for leadership Annual Fund prospects.

Assist with the general operation of the Parents Program.

  • Assist with reporting to analyze giving trends—provide analysis and make recommendations to ensure program is maximizing results.
  • Assist with drafting operating plans and updates for colleagues and volunteer leadership on progress.
  • Work with Parents Program staff to effectively steward volunteers and leadership donors.
  • Assist in coordination and review maintenance of parent records on database.

Serve as an active member of the Duke Annual Fund staff and the Parents Team.

  • Attend biweekly staff and team meetings.
  • Attend and participate in Annual Fund events and gift club receptions (i.e. Homecoming, Graduation, Annual Fund Advisory Board, and Student/Senior Gift Events).

Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified.

Preferences:

Skills:

  • Ability to travel regularly and to work on weekends and evenings is required.
  • Strong initiative, high energy level, creativity, and attention to detail.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills for working with volunteers.
  • Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, working both independently and as a team member.
  • Knowledge of Duke University preferred.

Behavioral Competencies:

  • Ability to Influence
  • Curiosity and Information Seeking
  • Dealing with ambiguity
  • Decisiveness and Judgement
  • Organizational Awareness
  • Collaborating with Others
  • Expressing Ideas Orally and in Writing
  • Flexibility
  • Self-Management
  • Listening

Minimum Qualifications

Education

Work requires communications, analytical and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a bachelor's degree program.

Experience

Work requires one year of experience in alumni affairs, public relations, fund raising, sales and promotions, marketing, student activities or a related field in order to acquire skills necessary to administer and coordinate annual fund solicitations and other special fund raising activities. A bachelor's degree from Duke University may be substituted for the required year of experience since the familiarity with the University and contacts with current students and recent graduates would be directly relevant to the job. OR AN EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

Organization

Read our Diversity Profile History

Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family that built a worldwide financial empire in the manufacture of tobacco products and developed electricity production in the Carolinas, long had been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities opened Union Institute. The school, then named Trinity College, moved to Durham in 1892, where Benjamin Newton Duke served as a primary benefactor and link with the Duke family until his death in 1929. In December 1924, the provisions of indenture by Benjamin’s brother, James B. Duke, created the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.Duke Campus

As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity underwent both physical and academic expansion. The original Durham campus became known as East Campus when it was rebuilt in stately Georgian architecture. West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring 210-foot tower of Duke Chapel, opened in 1930. East Campus served as home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged. Both men and women undergraduates now enroll in either the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. In 1995, East Campus became the home for all first-year students.

Duke maintains a historic affiliation with the United Methodist Church.

Home of the Blue Devils, Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.

Mission Statement

Duke Science"James B. Duke's founding Indenture of Duke University directed the members of the University to 'provide real leadership in the educational world' by choosing individuals of 'outstanding character, ability, and vision' to serve as its officers, trustees and faculty; by carefully selecting students of 'character, determination and application;' and by pursuing those areas of teaching and scholarship that would 'most help to develop our resources, increase our wisdom, and promote human happiness.'

“To these ends, the mission of Duke University is to provide a superior liberal education to undergraduate students, attending not only to their intellectual growth but also to their development as adults committed to high ethical standards and full participation as leaders in their communities; to prepare future members of the learned professions for lives of skilled and ethical service by providing excellent graduate and professional education; to advance the frontiers of knowledge and contribute boldly to the international community of scholarship; to promote an intellectual environment built on a commitment to free and open inquiry; to help those who suffer, cure disease, and promote health, through sophisticated medical research and thoughtful patient care; to provide wide ranging educational opportunities, on and beyond our campuses, for traditional students, active professionals and life-long learners using the power of information technologies; and to promote a deep appreciation for the range of human difference and potential, a sense of the obligations and rewards of citizenship, and a commitment to learning, freedom and truth.Duke Meeting

 “By pursuing these objectives with vision and integrity, Duke University seeks to engage the mind, elevate the spirit, and stimulate the best effort of all who are associated with the University; to contribute in diverse ways to the local community, the state, the nation and the world; and to attain and maintain a place of real leadership in all that we do.”

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