Visiting Advancement Coordinator – Leadership Annual Giving

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Based in Urbana-Champaign with hybrid opportunities

The Office of Advancement within the College of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA) invites applications and nominations for one full-time Visiting Advancement Coordinator to secure private leadership annual giving support among the college’s alumni and patrons of its premiere public presenting and exhibiting institutions, including Krannert Art Museum, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and Japan House. The Visiting Advancement Coordinator will play a critical role to maximize overall support and opportunities for collaborative giving. The successful candidate will serve as a member of the advancement team in the College.

The College of Fine and Applied Arts is dedicated to the advancement, practice, and understanding of the arts. The central focus of the college is the synergy between research and the preparation of students for professional careers in the creation and interpretation of the environmental, visual, and performing arts. Deeply related to that focus is the commitment to elevate and sustain the study of the arts as both a necessary mode of understanding and a vibrant expression of human experience within the local, national, and international communities.

Organizational Relationship
The Visiting Advancement Coordinator reports to the Senior Director for Advancement and will work closely with advancement colleagues, the Heads of the departments and members of the faculty.

Job Summary
This position will assist the College and its departments in designing strategies to broaden and strengthen development activities and leadership annual giving with donors through digital and/or print communications, phone calls, video conferencing (Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, etc.) and in-person meetings. The position will require some travel of varying durations and locations, up to 25%, including some evenings and weekends. They will be a collaborative team member who values inclusion and is skilled at building strong internal and external collaborative relationships. They will be responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding leadership annual giving prospects and donors to increase private giving in support of the college and the philanthropic interests of donors.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Identify, assess, analyze, and design appropriate strategies for approaching prospects and donors and making the vitally important match between donors’ philanthropic interests and the departments’ programmatic and curricular needs. Plan and implement effective outreach and cultivation activities to enhance prospect identification and move solicitation and stewardship processes forward. Qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of leadership annual giving prospects, with an emphasis on gifts up to $10,000, determining frequency of contact needed. Assist the major gift officers in identifying any possible major gift donors and prospects. Document all activities and interactions in the alumni/donor database.
• Develop and maintain close collaborative partnerships with faculty and staff to gain a strong knowledge of the academic and research programs to identify and define priorities to be funded through private support. Partner closely with other advancement professionals, including gift officers, stewardship and donor relations, alumni relations, and corporate relations professionals.
• Determine and prioritize lists of donor prospects, alumni, and other stakeholders to be contacted for meetings and solicitations.
• Prepare and educate unit volunteer leadership and advisory boards, faculty members, and other unit volunteers to participate in cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of leadership annual gifts as needed.

 

Impact in Your First Year
At Advancement at Illinois, we value our employees and provide resources to help you continually learn and grow. We foster a strong, collaborative community of people who are driven by their ability to make a difference.

Within 3 months, you’ll:

• Become familiar with the strategic vision and priorities of the College/specific departments
• Meet your assigned Prospect Development Analyst and begin to dig into your portfolio
• Attend professional development and networking activities for newcomers within Advancement
• Be introduced to fundraising fundamentals and terminology adopted from Plus Delta Partners

Within 6 months, you’ll:

• Begin contacting and cultivating relationships with key prospects/donors/alumni to create and implement solicitation strategies
• Partner with stewardship and donor relations, events, alumni relations, and communications colleagues on department and College-wide initiatives
• Be able to share multiple meaningful impact stories of transformative gifts

By the end of the first year, you’ll:

• Cooperatively set annual goals with your supervisor and portfolio management team
• Continue portfolio growth of qualified prospects and successful solicitation strategies
• Receive one-on-one coaching from Talent Management to help transition to your new role
• Build a robust network of colleagues across campus

 

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Experience working in a collaborative, team-oriented environment

 

Preferred Qualifications

• Documented success as a fundraiser
• Experience managing and creating innovative programs to engage alumni and/or donors to financially support academic priorities
• Experience fundraising in the arts

 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Superb oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills, with an emphasis on engaged, active listening
• Demonstrated ability to represent an organization in meetings with key constituents
• Strong relationship building and management skills
• Demonstrated understanding of donor cultivation and solicitation

 

Appointment Information
This is a 100% full-time Visiting Academic Professional position, appointed on a 12-month service basis and renewable annually based on satisfactory progress in the position and continued funding. Position may become permanent at a later date depending on funding and programmatic need.   The expected start date is as soon as possible after close date.

 

Salary
Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience, while also considering internal equity.  The salary range for this position starts at $50,000 annually.

 

Application Procedures & Deadline Information
To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 6:00 pm (CST) on November 13, 2023. Upload a resume, cover letter and the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of three professional references.  Applications not submitted through https://jobs.illinois.edu will not be considered. For further information about this specific position, please contact Zsayla Brummett at zbrummet@illinois.edu. For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137.

Please note: Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.

The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer. As a qualifying federal contractor, the University of Illinois System uses E-Verify to verify employment eligibility. The University of Illinois System requires candidates selected for hire to disclose any documented finding of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment and to authorize inquiries to current and former employers regarding findings of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. For more information, visit For more information, visit Policy on Consideration of Sexual Misconduct in Prior Employment.

The Illinois Advancement community is committed to an ongoing, proactive process to foster and achieve diversity and inclusion in its development, alumni relations and communication activities. We will respect and encourage different voices, perspectives and ideas as we strive to represent individuals of all backgrounds and cultures which includes but are not limited to the following: nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, spirituality, age and ability who represent our alumni, donors and friends of the University of Illinois.

CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY:

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a comprehensive and major public land-grant university (Doctoral/Research University-Extensive) that is ranked among the best in the world. Chartered in 1867, it provides undergraduate and graduate education in more than 150 fields of study, conducts theoretical and applied research, and provides public service to the state and the nation. It employs about 3,000 faculty members who serve over 33,000 undergraduates and 17,000 graduate and professional students. More information about the campus is available at www.illinois.edu.

The university is located in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana (total population 226,000) in east-central Illinois, and is situated about 140 miles south of Chicago, 125 miles west of Indianapolis, and 170 northeast of St. Louis. The University and its surrounding communities offer a cultural and recreational environment ideally suited to the work of a major research institution. For more information about the community, visit: Living in Champaign-Urbana, Experience Champaign Urbana, or Champaign County Chamber of Commerce.

Health insurance is available to employees (with the option to purchase coverage for spouse and dependents), required participation in State Universities Retirement System (SURS), with several options for participation in additional retirement plans. Learn more about employee benefits at the University of Illinois. Newly hired employees are covered by the Medicare portion of Social Security and are subject to this deduction.

The University of Illinois has a strong commitment to work-life balance and family-friendly programs for faculty and staff:  Work-Life Balance & Family-Friendly Programs and  Other Work-Life Programs.