Creative Writer and Researcher for Transformational Gifts, Alumni Engagement and Development

Occupational Summary:

The Transformational Gifts Program is a first-of-its-kind endeavor at Duke that is unique throughout higher education in its effort to philanthropically engage individuals, families, and organizations with no current affiliation with a university. This position will enable the selected individual to unleash their entrepreneurial and investigative reporting spirit to craft the partnerships and ideas necessary for Duke to pursue principal gift-level support (gifts of $10 million-plus) from these yet-to-be affiliated (YTBA) philanthropists.

Reporting to the Transformational Gifts Program Director, you will be asked to gain and grow an understanding of work being done in every facet of campus so that while learning about the giving of YTBA philanthropists you will be able to connect their philanthropy to areas of strength and/or desired growth at Duke. This will spur additional research to find the Duke alumni, parents, and friends who can connect us with the YTBA philanthropists. Regular strategy meetings with the program director and the assistant director for principal and transformational gifts will determine appropriate next steps, with the most important being your gathering of information from relevant university leadership, faculty, and development colleagues to craft the ideas that the YTBA philanthropists can support. What you gather and craft will then drive engagement strategy planning sessions that will be part of the newly instituted Principal Gift Action Plan process (when appropriate).

This position is not intended to serve in a frontline fundraiser capacity.

Responsibilities:

Establish YTBA, Idea, and Duke Connector Connections

• Through open sources, licensed software programs, and in-person conversations take the initiative to continuously identify prospective YTBA philanthropists and the Duke alumni, parents, and friends in their respective networks.
• Contribute to keeping current a repository of these connections.

Gather Information and Craft Ideas

• Meet with university leadership, faculty, and/or development colleagues to acquire the inspirational, structural, and financial particulars needed to write compelling, bespoke narratives for the ideas that YTBA philanthropists can support. Such narratives can take the form of 1-pagers, white papers, PowerPoint presentations, videos, or other mediums that this position feels is most appropriate for the situation.

Engage in Strategic Planning

• Establish and maintain mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of strategy meetings and engagement strategy planning sessions, proactively making decisions and recommendations to optimize workflow.
• Continuously benchmark big idea and YTBA giving across higher education and in other relevant economic sectors.
• Stay abreast of news and trends in the YTBA landscape, sharing them with key stakeholders.
• Serve as liaison to the Marketing, Communications and Stewardship and Major and Leadership Gifts teams.

Desired Skills:

• Writing Acumen: Exhibit comfort in complexity to effectively and persuasively communicate ideas, thoughts, and facts orally and in writing.
• Intellectual Curiosity: Driven to better understand people, ideas, and higher education, going beyond routine questions to learn the why and to assess purpose and impact. Identifies novel approaches to organizational processes and procedures to increase effectiveness and efficiency.
• Flexibility: Adapts to and works well in a complex environment featuring a variety of situations and individuals.
• Collaborative Nature: Works formally and informally within one's team and across the university, regularly.
• Organizational Awareness: Learns and understands organizational relationships and dynamics.

Preferred Qualifications: 

Bachelor's degree and/or at least five years of progressively responsible experience in communications/journalism, marketing, storytelling, prospect research, market/intelligence analysis, and/or donor relations/stewardship. 

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.