Senior Assistant Director, Development Communications

Responsibilities

• Writes a broad spectrum of fundraising materials created for a specific audience such as a prospective donor, family foundation, corporation, or volunteer solicitor.
• Takes comprehensive responsibility for the materials such as, but not limited to: building a persuasive case for each written piece; considering the specific audience; identifying influential facts or statistics; fact checking; and establishing, monitoring, and executing a timeline.
• Responsible for written materials and projects such as proposals; correspondence that includes acknowledgement letters; cultivation visits/meetings; stewardship reports; Power Point presentations; and conceptualization of a stewardship meeting.
• Project manages the team’s activity and implements tactical next steps to ensure goals and objectives are met. As such, closely monitors team activity and anticipates and tracks deliverables, including letters, briefings, reports, presentations, and proposals.
• Facilitates internal meetings and fundraiser visits with donors and prospective donors to advance prospect strategy.
• Researches, writes, and edits a variety of communications, publications and/or reports.
• Writes analytic, interpretive, or highly individualized features utilizing personal subject matter expertise.
• Determines, researches, verifies, writes and edits content material.
• Coordinates efforts and collaborates with other teams at MBSD such as Communications, including graphic design and the Senior Writers; Protocol; Events; Strategic Research and Analysis.
• Under supervision, may assist with writing and/or editing technical/scientific material for manuals or journals.

Requirements

• Education: Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Work Experience: Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Preferred

• A bachelor’s degree or higher in journalism, English, communications or a relevant field.
• Background in a university setting or a similarly complex institution.
• Familiar with writing in a scientific field or a complex subject material.
• Background in a large or complex organization or subject matter.
• Proven expertise taking complicated information from various sources and synthesizing it to identify and clarify key issues and opportunities, as well as developing a compelling message.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills.
• Manage multiple details while adhering to a broader concept or purpose.
• Understand finance and quantitative documents.
• Capacity for identifying and evaluating basic issues, for bringing together information from a variety of sources, and for selecting appropriate analytical and creative approaches in dealing with immediate responsibilities.

Benefits

• The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.