Permanent, full-time position
Guelph, ON
Are you a donor engagement professional looking to make a meaningful impact?
The University of Guelph is seeking a Senior Manager, Communications and Donor Experience to join our Alumni Affairs & Development team. Reporting to the Director of Engagement Services, this role will lead strategic communications and donor experience initiatives that foster strong relationships with alumni, donors, and friends of the university.
As Senior Manager, you will oversee a team responsible for delivering compelling messaging, supporting fundraising efforts, and ensuring consistent brand experience. You’ll collaborate with senior leadership to develop and implement marketing strategies that engage our community and showcase the impact of philanthropy.
If you are a strategic leader with a passion for storytelling, donor stewardship, and relationship-building, we’d love to hear from you!
Your key responsibilities will include:
- Oversees a team that provides regular, accurate, and inspiring messaging to donors, provides support to other AA&D units in the creation of marketing and outreach materials, and serves as the organizational lead for brand adherence.
- Collaborates with colleagues and senior AA&D leadership to develop and oversee a constituent-centric marketing and communications program that engages constituents with the University, stewards donors and demonstrates impact, advances fundraising goals, and creates a consistent experience for constituents.
- Leads Communications, Marketing, and Donor Experience staff members, creates an environment of excellence and professionalism in customer service and teamwork; implements best practices; and identifies operational, technological, and administrative improvements that will enhance efficiencies and promote departmental success. A critical deliverable of this role will be ensuring that foundational processes are in place to support successful partnerships in the department.
Requirements
This role requires a skilled people leader who has deep experience in the philanthropic sector and a passion for effective and strategic constituent engagement. The Senior Manager will be comfortable managing change in a complex environment and approaching opportunities with a forward focus.
- University degree and 3-6 years of related experience in communications and donor relations.
- Excellent leadership and team-building abilities, with experience managing others.
- Expertise in creating and supporting strategic marketing and outreach materials that advance fundraising goals.
- Highly skilled writer, editor, and proofreader who can adapt to various audiences.
- Proven relationship management and donor stewardship experience.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to make quick, effective decisions under pressure.
- Experience with process improvement and best practice implementation.
- Adept at collaboration with experience in problem-solving and driving solutions in a dynamic team environment.
- Exceptional interpersonal skills, diplomacy, and tact.
- Detail-oriented with superior multi-tasking abilities.
- Proficiency and experience in customer relationship management systems, design tools, and web technologies, with preference to experience with Blackbaud Constituent Relationship Management (CRM), Luminate Online (LO), Stripo, Adobe Suite, Drupal, and Microsoft Office Suite.
The University has adopted a policy relative to flexible work arrangements. This appointment is required to be fulfilled both remotely and on campus (Guelph Campus).
The University of Guelph (www.uoguelph.ca) is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive comprehensive institutions, with a record of outstanding scholarship in the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences, physical and engineering sciences, agriculture, and veterinary sciences. This is your chance to join us in our endeavor to improve life.
To view a detailed posting for the role of Senior Development Manager – OVC Advancement, please go to our website at https://careers.uoguelph.ca/.
At the University of Guelph, fostering a culture of inclusion is an institutional imperative. The University invites and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in employment, who may contribute to further diversification of our Institution.