| Job Description: |
Development Assistant
Position: Full-time (40 hours/week) Staff position
Date of Expected Hire: February 3, 2025 with flexibility of start date within a few weeks before or after
The College of the Arts Advancement Office seeks a Development Assistant to execute administrative operations for the office, as well as manage projects and execute strategic initiatives. This position will provide direct support to the Director of Advancement, general administrative support for the Advancement Office, and will support special events, meetings, and fundraising campaigns, as well as assist with special projects as needed.
The successful candidate will possess a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience and have a proven track record of efficient organizational skills, accuracy, attention to detail, and the ability to understand and execute administrative tasks in the context of a large, data-driven institution in addition to having a passion for and sophistication in customer service with a highly professional attitude and presentation.
The University of Florida College of the Arts intends to be a transformative community, responding to and generating foundational shifts in the arts and beyond. As business and academic professionals, artists, scholars, advisors, and teachers, we, the staff of the College, embrace the complexity of our evolving human experience and seek to empower our colleagues, students, and faculty to respond to and shape that experience fearlessly through critical thinking, creativity, constructive questioning, and respectful dialogue. We seek a colleague who engages with openness and enthusiasm for the work and the mission of the college. We seek a colleague who possesses skills in designing and facilitating work that advances curiosity, inclusion, open intellectual discourse, and the well-being of all in an environment of complex diversity. We seek a colleague who identifies as a trusted steward of resources, balancing institutional requirements and the demand for innovative solutions.
The University of Florida is an equal opportunity institution dedicated to building a broadly diverse and inclusive faculty, staff and student body.
Responsibilities:
Clerical/Administrative
- Answer phones for the College’s Advancement Office and route appropriately. Take messages when necessary and forward via email to appropriate staff.
- Ensure office supplies are organized and sufficiently stocked. Order/maintain adequate quantities of publications and stationary including, but not limited to, brochures, business cards, and note cards.
- Understand and execute within the appropriate systems (e.g. CRM software), forms and processes for accomplishing tasks within COTA and UF. Proactively stay abreast of all changes to those systems, forms and/or processes.
- Process all incoming and outgoing correspondence and information in an efficient manner, ensuring all items are mailed and charged to the appropriate fund. To include FedEx and UPS, as required. Coordinate all aspects of bulk mailings. Create labels via mail merge or individually as needed by Directors (i.e. visit follow up notes, birthday cards, etc.). Pick up and deliver items throughout the campus either by car, if available, or walking.
- Organize and maintain alphabetical and chronological files and records of correspondence, reports, and other materials, as required.
- Maintain appointments and calendars for Director of Advancement, including scheduling meetings, tracking appointments, and providing information pertaining to meetings. Keep the abreast of daily, weekly and monthly schedules. Assist with communication regarding calendar changes. Monitor calendars for Senior Directors of Development and other Development staff.
- Coordinate travel arrangements including airline/hotel/dinner reservations, car rental, directions, etc. for COTA Development purposes. Prepare reimbursement expense reports and Wells Fargo payment requests for the Director of Advancement and the other Development Officers.
- Prepare disbursement requests for pending invoices.
- Create agendas for, take and distribute weekly Staff meeting minutes.
- Create agendas for and schedule meetings for advisory board meetings
Gift Processing and Stewardship
- Process and track gifts and donation according to office policies. Compile and send weekly gift reports to each Fund Administrator for the respective unit(s).
- Research information as assigned and maintain files on the data. Prepare reports as requested insuring accuracy of data and clarity of presentation. Supply detailed and updated information about funds to Development Officers, Fund Administrators, Dean, Associate Deans, and Chairs as requested.
- Work with the Director’s of the College’s academic units in the implementation of fundraising mailing appeals for various departments of the college. This includes, but is not limited to, the preparation of pledge forms and the compilation of data.
Development Events
- Provide support for special events, meetings, and fundraising campaigns to include, but not limited to, assistance with sending invitations, tracking RSVPs.
- Coordinate event contracts, payments, and disbursements.
- Provide in-person support for select development and college events and meetings, including but not limited to assistance with set-up, clean-up, check-in, and other attendee support
Donor Maintenance
- Create agendas for, take and distribute weekly Staff meeting minutes.
- Process development forms/transactions, obtaining necessary signatures. Forms include, but are not limited to, fund creation/revision forms, gift agreements, asset transmittals, fund transfers.
- Enter information into database (Ascend) to update contact information and record fundraising activities.
- Maintain a solid knowledge of programs of the college and the mission of the Development Office, in order to converse effectively with donors, prospects, and others in an appropriate, informative, helpful and professional manner.
Project Management/Strategic Initiatives
- Prioritize multiple projects and plan and execute strategies of projects; effectively communicate project progress and timelines. Ensures project deliverables are met.
- Work with senior management and strategic operations to define scope of the project and create a detailed work plan which identifies and sequences the activities needed to successfully complete the project.
- Determine the resources required to complete the project and develop a schedule for project completion that effectively allocates the resources to the activities. Monitor the progress of projects and make adjustments as necessary to ensure the successful completion of the project.
- Develop forms and records to document project activities and execute projects according to project plans. Set up files to ensure that all project information is appropriately documented and secured.
- Establish a communication schedule to update appropriate staff in the office on the progress of projects.
Location and Schedule:
Normal working hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Infrequent evening or weekend hours may be necessary related to events and other development activities.
This position is expected to operate vehicles for an assigned business purpose as a “non-frequent driver” (1-2/mth)
This position is expected to perform their duties on the UF main campus in Gainesville, Florida.
THE COLLEGE OF THE ARTS: The mission of the College of the Arts is to be a transformative community, responding to and generating paradigmatic shifts in the arts and beyond. We achieve the university’s mission by training professionals and educating students as artists and scholars, while developing their capacities for critical study, creative practice, and provocation. The College offers baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degrees. Approximately 1,700 students are pursuing majors in degrees offered by the College of the Arts under the direction of 135 faculty members in its three accredited schools— the School of Art + Art History, the School of Music, and the School of Theatre + Dance, and in the Center for Arts in Medicine, the Digital Worlds Institute, and the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship. In addition, the college comprises the University Galleries, and the University level of the New World School of the Arts in Miami.
The University of Florida: The University of Florida is a comprehensive learning institution built on a land grant foundation, ranked one of the top five best public universities in the nation in U.S. News & World Report. We are The Gator Nation, a diverse community dedicated to excellence in education and research and shaping a better future for Florida, the nation and the world. Our mission is to enable our students to lead and influence the next generation and beyond for economic, cultural and societal benefit. UF is a graduate research institution with more than 50,000 students and membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities. Gainesville, which is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s most livable cities, is located midway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Together, the University and the community comprise the educational, medical and cultural center of North Central Florida, with outstanding resources such as the University of Florida Performing Arts (Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the Squitieri Studio Theatre, the Baughman Center, University Auditorium), the Harn Museum of Art, the Florida Museum of Natural History and in the community, the Hippodrome State Theatre and Dance Alive National Ballet.
In addition to salary, the University of Florida (UF) offers low cost State Health plans, a number of Dental plans to fit you and your family’s needs, and Vision. Domestic partner coverage through GatorCare is also available. Optional plans such as life, disability, legal and accident insurance are also available.
UF provides a variety of leave programs including vacation, sick leave, 11 paid holidays, personal leave days, and family medical leave. TEAMS employees accrue approximately 22 vacation days annually, 13 sick days annually, and 4 personal leave days, typically used during the holiday closing period (accruals based on full-time employment). UF also provides you the flexibility to deal with life’s challenges by offering paid family leave, eight full weeks of leave over a 24-month period.
Build a retirement roadmap with competitive pension plans, investment accounts and a host of voluntary add-ons, such as 457 deferred compensation and 403(b) plans.
UF Employees are also eligible for the GatorPerks discount program, which provides big savings at various business and retailers!
Explore UF’s plethora of benefit options here: TEAMS Benefits
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