Assistant Director, Advancement Growth - Athletics Advancement

Reporting to the Director, Advancement Growth of Athletics Advancement, the Assistant Director, Advancement Growth will manage a portfolio of major gift donors ($25,000+) to raise funds for strategic fundraising priorities for the University of Oklahoma Athletics Department, as well as seat-related contributions for OU Athletics events. This professional will be responsible for the effective solicitation and procurement of high annual and principal gifts, including facility gifts, planned gifts, scholarship endowments and premium seating.

The Assistant Director works closely with other members of the Athletics Advancement team, including the Sr. Associate Athletics Director, Associate Athletics Director, Assistant Athletics Director, Advancement Growth & Strategy and fellow OU Foundation colleagues, and athletic department leadership to develop and implement the fundraising strategy for the team to meet fundraising goals. Continuously seeks private fundraising opportunities to benefit the athletics department.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Engage in daily outreach to current donors and prospects to cultivate and solicit philanthropic pledges and donations to support OU Athletics, focusing specifically on contributions $25,000 or greater with an annual goal of $1,500,000.

• Responsible for achieving high sell-through related to priority seating contributions for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and softball.

• Engages in new revenue opportunities to boost membership growth and enhance funding priorities within OU Athletics.

• Manages an active portfolio of principal gift prospects in all aspects of the development cycle, including annual renewals. Solicits and secures private gifts from individuals and businesses.

• Records and reports to the Assistant Athletics Director of Advancement Growth & Strategy on a consistent and regular basis (i.e. weekly) in regard to principal gift and seat-related metrics such as meaningful contacts, in-person donor visits, solicitations, dollars raised, seat-related gifts secured, and other activities related to these metrics.

• Collaborates with the athletics Principal Gifts Team to recommend and coordinate the implementation of cultivation strategies that will increase the number of principal gift solicitations.

• Collaborates with the athletics Stewardship, Donor Engagement and Communications team to ensure cultivation and stewardship strategy and plans are developed and executed.

• Assists in developing and maintaining ticket requests that are tracked and filled based on the priority point system.

• Collaborates with multimedia partner on corporate philanthropy opportunities.

• Assists in all Sooner Club activities including event preparation, management, and implementation. Assists in game day operations as needed for all sports.

• Liaison for assigned Booster Club(s)

• Assures that donor inquiries are answered in a timely manner.

• Maintains standard in-office working schedule to accommodate in-person visits with current and prospective Sooner Club members while also being engaged out of the office on donor appointments and all Sooner Club activities including solicitations, cultivation, and stewardship. Develops and manages an individual business travel schedule within the budget and policies of the OU Foundation. Travel availability 25%.

• Works with confidential donor information, documents donor interactions and solicitations in the prospect management system keeping donor information updated.

• Builds strong relationships with athletic department leadership and staff to creatively connect department needs with opportunities for support from individual donors and achieve team goals.

• Works with legal documents including donor agreements.

• Monitors, analyzes, and provides data related to team-specific activity and use of donor funds.

• Actively and continuously learns about the practices of fundraising and the University of Oklahoma through internal and external professional development opportunities, relationships, and independent study.

• Continuously be aware and mindful that all activities reflect the Oklahoma Athletics and OU Foundation mission statement and core values.

• Knows, understands, and reinforces commitment to NCAA and conference rules. Violations or suspected violations will be reported to the OU Athletics compliance staff.

• Promotes student-athlete experience in all initiatives.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Ability to develop, maintain and grow interpersonal relationships with university alumni, donors and friends, administrators, faculty, students, and staff.

• Demonstrated ability to solicit gifts, preferable but not required.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to make effective presentations to large and small groups.

• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills. Ability to handle multiple projects and deadlines. 

• Ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and the ability to learn customized online software applications, basic data analysis.

• Ability to effectively evaluate projects/programs and produce comprehensive reports.

• Understanding of ethics as described in the Association of Fundraising Professionals Code of Ethical Standards.

• Ability to travel to in-person meetings in various U.S. cities.

• Ability to travel independently, by car, to multiple locations for work that may be significant distances from one another.

• Occasional weekend or evening work is required.

Equivalent Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree and two years' experience or master's degree with 1 year experience in fundraising, sales, nonprofit, higher education and/or communications experience preferred.