Marketing and Strategic Planning Officer

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range:

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Annual Giving, the Marketing and Strategic Planning Officer, Annual Giving collaborates with key internal and external constituencies to develop and make recommendations for multi-channel (mail, email, phone) data-driven fundraising strategies to increase donor participation at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). The incumbent focuses on increasing the number of undergraduate SEAS alumni donors to Columbia, and he or she also works to raise participation from other constituencies including the School’s Master’s and PhD alumni. The Marketing and Strategic Planning Officer manages one position â€" the team’s Coordinator of Annual Giving.

Alongside our overall broad-based marketing strategy, the position plays a key role on the Columbia Engineering Development and Alumni Relations team, overseeing the School’s important campaign seasons, including Columbia Giving Day and Columbia Engineering Pi Day.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Overseeing a series of annual campaigns and working in collaboration across the Alumni & Development team;
• Supporting the Director of Annual Giving in overseeing and providing data-driven strategic direction;
• Employing a data to insight approach, creating performance benchmarks and communication strategies to a number of major campaigns that help drive the school’s participation numbers. These projects include but are not limited to Giving Day, the School’s spring appeal Columbia Engineering Pi Day, student giving programs, and SEAS’ phone, direct mail, e-mail, and social media campaigns.
• Develop goal measurements to track donor and gift activity, monitor and analyze progress to goal, and works with the team to adjust strategy where necessary;
• Use research on alumni giving patterns to improve solicitation techniques and goal setting;
• Analyzes database searches to gather information and solicitation data sets, prepare reports, interprets progress and results to build strategies.
• Advises on reporting needs, and in collaboration with the Coordinator, ensures that team has the data they need to execute targeted donor solicitation strategies;
• Develop goals and metrics, including analyzing renewal, retention, and acquisition rates, developing models and reports on SEAS giving and alumni engagement to support assessment and short- and long-term planning.
• Manages the Coordinator, Annual Giving, supporting this individual's growth on the team and at Columbia, while simultaneously partnering on team-wide initiatives and priorities;
• Works collaboratively across the Columbia Engineering Office of Alumni and Development, Annual Fund Programs and with the Columbia Engineering Communications team to amplify School messaging to drive donor engagement, stewardship, reactivation and retention.
• Other related duties as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree required and advanced degree desirable. A minimum of four to six years of related work experience (i.e., annual giving, non-profit management/fundraising, marketing, and communications) required.  Due to the collaborative nature of the role, it is key that the incumbent demonstrates a high regard for teamwork and the collective achievement of departmental goals. 

Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, set deadlines, determine priorities and monitor results required; a high level of proficiency with analyzing and segmenting data in Excel; experience in supervising staff is a plus, planning and managing programs, developing and monitoring budgets required; strong verbal skills and attention to detail and follow up, excellent organizational skills and a high degree of flexibility and initiative required; and excellent writing skills required; position may require longer hours including some evening work. Must have the ability to manage relationships with faculty, students, staff, and alumni and have the temperament to work skillfully with a diverse population.

Preferred Qualifications

• Type preferred qualifications

Other Requirements

The Marketing and Strategic Planning Officer meets regularly with the Director of Annual Giving to update progress to goals, review donor retention, reactivation and acquisition and develop strategies to drive giving metrics. A key partner is the Annual Fund Programs (AFP) Team who helps execute the Annual Giving strategy for the school. With assistance from the Director of Annual Giving, the Marketing and Strategic Planning Officer manages this relationship.  Another key partnership is with colleagues on Columbia Engineering’s Communications team.  The incumbent will collaborate on projects with the School’s communication team to develop marketing strategies to advance the agenda of the Dean and drive donor participation.

The Marketing and Strategic Planning Officer helps to set a strategy around young alumni communications, appeals, and peer-to-peer solicitation efforts to increase young alumni participation. Working in partnership with the Stewardship Officer, examines the impact and effectiveness of annual giving stewardship efforts to drive donor retention, making recommendations when needed.

In partnership with the Director of Annual Giving, works with the Alumni Relations team to drive stewardship opportunities and participation messaging through programming, communications, and volunteer board efforts.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.