Job Abstract

MD Anderson Cancer Center seeks a Philanthropy Specialist for the Office of the Chief Philanthropy Officer (OCPO). Reporting to the Director, OCPO and an important member of the Philanthropy administrative support team, the Philanthropy Specialist provides high-level administrative support and executes various process-oriented tasks supporting the OCPO. This position readily partners with teams across the division to ensure execution of tasks and assignments associated with the functions of the OCPO and specialized donor strategies.

In support of the CPO’s portfolio and integral to the OCPO business model is planning and implementing investigation, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies for all constituents and stakeholders (new and established) for the purpose of executing on those strategies with precision and excellence thereby securing philanthropic gifts.

Utilizing self-direction and strategic thinking, this administrative professional will balance simultaneous requests and projects, prioritizing and executing in appropriate sequence on a variety of administrative responsibilities and tasks associated with fundraising portfolio management. The ability to manage task-switching across multiple, competing projects for varied stakeholders and bringing all work to resolution with timeliness and a keen attention to detail and completeness are core requirements for this position.

In addition to performing routine administrative tasks such as complex calendar management across multiple time zones, travel and expense preparation, telephone call management, and mailings, this person will also compose formal and informal correspondence, create and format presentations and provide professional and supportive assistance to donors, patient referrals and other institutional stakeholders. Central to all activities is to support the Chief Philanthropy Officer’s donor engagement activities through facilitating internal and external meetings, site visit preparation and providing thorough follow-through on all related follow up deliverables.

Additionally, this team member will leverage partnerships with division service lines in donor communications, donor relations and the Grateful Giving Program on gift officer related donor engagement tasks and projects, requiring the comprehension of project content and deliverables and ensuring appropriateness and completeness of associated documents and donor communications.

The Philanthropy Specialist will support data integrity and data stewardship, recording all relevant correspondence, actions and tasks in the CRM in agreement with established business processes and procedures. This team member will actively review all emails, call reports, strategy documents, donor correspondence and proposal documents to identify and/or infer relevant information for supporting the team member and/or data entry into the CRM. This team member will support efficient operations by utilizing strong anticipatory and critical thinking, independent judgement and problem-solving skills. It is essential that this team member handle materials and issues with urgency, confidentiality, and prudence.

KEY FUNCTIONS

Philanthropic Business Support – 60%

This position supports the work of the Director of the Office of the Chief Philanthropy Officer. Along with donor relationship development activities, tracking and delivery of strategy for the OCPC, this role supports the smooth functioning of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). This work encompasses the proactive preparation of agendas, materials, and projects as well as follow up from the work of the SLT. The successful candidate possesses knowledge of fundraising operations, donor stages and life cycle, moves management and engagement activities. This position requires the ability to anticipate next steps and prepare accordingly, ability to effectively communicate with internal and external stakeholders and proactively approach one’s work. Organizational, time management and event coordination skills are critical to the role as well as detailed focus with proficient writing and proofreading skills. The Philanthropy Specialist must have the ability to prioritize the care of donors and knowledge of when and how to request and coordinate services from internal partners for report generation, donor prospect research, donor prospect management, donor communications and stewardship activities.

Administrative Portfolio Support – 20%

In support of the CPO’s portfolio and working in coordination with the Program Director and Program Coordinator, this role performs portfolio activity and donor outreach support (portfolio mass mailings with correlating data entry and mail merge, individualized donor outreach by portfolio [birthday cards, donor anniversaries and other milestones, donor summary reports, etc.] along with CRM updates and reporting. Readily completes Philanthropy Operations support request according to portfolio activity need [research, prospect management, donor communications, business solutions, gift designation account changes] for the CPO. Travel and expense management as needed. Possesses knowledge of appropriateness, timing and urgency.

Administrative Support – 20%

This role ensures effective management of calendar and meeting schedule management (external and internal stakeholders) for the Director, OCPO and serves as backup for the CPO. Along with meeting preparation and division wide activity support, the Philanthropy Specialist provides donor moves management administrative support, patient schedule monitoring and lookup, communications workflows, and division events and activities.