Senior Stewardship Program Specialist - Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association

The Senior Stewardship Program Specialist plays a pivotal role in shaping WFAA’s relationships with its most generous donors. This key position supports VIP stewardship, donor relations, and internal coordination to foster initiatives that enhance gratitude and engagement with our top supporters. As an essential team member, you will contribute to advancing the university’s mission by ensuring that our donors feel deeply appreciated and connected to the impact of their generosity.  This position is a hybrid role and will require you to work in the office at least two days weekly.

Who is WFAA?
The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association is a private, nonprofit corporation that encourages individuals and organizations to make gifts to the university and to connect with the UW. In 2014, the UW Foundation merged with the Wisconsin Alumni Association® to better serve a growing population of UW alumni and donors. We believe that private support grows out of good relationships between campus leaders, faculty and program staff who need support, and the alumni and friends who want to invest in UW–Madison. We provide important engagement opportunities to link UW–Madison alumni to each other and to their alma mater, building a strong community of Badgers.

Diversity and Inclusion:

Just as the university community benefits from differing viewpoints, perspectives, and experiences, inclusion and diversity are imperative for the success of our mission. WFAA values people and the differences that they bring to the organization, and creates an environment in which all staff members and constituents feel respected and have opportunities to thrive.  

Stewardship and Donor Relations 

• Collaborate across the central development group (central stewardship, principal gifts and gift planning) on stewardship initiatives for the university’s most generous donors, including handling details for customized appreciation and bespoke impact reporting.
• Support the group leader with scheduling meetings, planning, and details for internal partners, campus, and donors.
• Aid central development group as needed with VIP donor events, including preparing materials, and executing on follow-up strategies.
• Occasionally take part with event on-site coordination, greeting and hosting guests, and responding to needs as they arise.
• Help in planning VIP visits and experiences designed to cultivate principal gift prospects and build relationships with existing donors.
• Coordinate, assist with, and report out on special projects for principal gifts and gift planning.
• Serve as ThankView liaison for principal gifts by creating and executing ThankView campaigns.
• Serve as content collector for VIP Canva projects and organize content for assembly. Facilitate review process, content creation, and printing, as necessary.

Organizational Partnerships 

• Serve as point of contact for WFAA and campus inquiries about policies and procedures regarding VIP donor stewardship at WFAA.
• Collaborate with development operations and cross-division colleagues to build mutually beneficial relationships and share information on resources and best practices.
• Participate in meetings and communicate with WFAA colleagues on signature donor stewardship plans and actions.
• Assist with VIP and narrative stewardship data collection from units.
• Identify issues and opportunities for process improvements.

 CRM and Reporting 

• Track priority and project lists, and regularly report progress to group leader.
• Serve as a resource for development division on stewardship database navigation and best practices.
• Maintain contact updates, stewardship preferences, and other constituent management duties in 4WARD database.
• Log activity reports and link funds for VIP stewardship projects.

Office Coordination 

• Maintain, assess, and communicate options for VIP experiences.
• Responsible for inventory of curated VIP stewardship items.
• Place orders, make reservations, and spearhead other activities such as gift wrapping related to signature donor stewardship activities and details.
• Coordinate mailing, shipping, and special delivery of stewardship items.
• Suggest areas for process improvement and drive improvement implementation. 

Required Qualifications:

• 2 + years of relevant work/internship experience

 Other Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and strong attention to detail.
• Some experience with designing creative visual content using programs like Canva is desired.
• High degree of proficiency in Microsoft office (Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint); previous experience with database reporting and constituent relationship management software preferred.
• Ability to judge the relative importance of issues and act independently to address them, applying the appropriate level of urgency to achieve results.
• Strong customer service mentality.
• Curiosity, a proactive nature, persistence, flexibility, dependability, tact, poise, professionalism, and diplomacy.
• Ability to work effectively with a team in an entrepreneurial environment and interact well with all internal and external constituents.
• Ability to remain calm under pressure; prioritize and manage many, sometimes competing tasks, and maintain confidentiality.

WFAA is committed to provide our employees with an environment that is inspiring, creative and respectful.  We offer competitive pay and an excellent benefits program, which includes a 10% 401k contribution after 1 year of service!

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association is an Equal Opportunity Employer *The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association is the “doing business as” name of the merged organization comprising the University of Wisconsin Foundation (supportuw.org) and the Wisconsin Alumni Association (uwalumni.com). Its legal corporate name is registered as the University of Wisconsin Foundation.