The Director of Donor Services and Gift Processing reports to the Chief Financial and People Officer. The Donor Services department, within the Finance department, is a comprehensive team that manages the ingestion of donor detail and the donor experience from the donor’s interaction with United Way in the donation process. The overall goal of the Donor Services department is to process donations effectively, efficiently, and timely, while supporting donors with a best-in-class donor relations experience.

Position Summary

This position involves managing the day-to-day operations of the Donor Services department, which includes customer service and donor relations, end-to-end gift processing, and processing donor analytics. This position will manage a team of 5-7 staff, ensuring the team strives for excellence and successfully meets goals and deadlines. On a regular basis, you will help define and refine standard operating procedures that facilitate pledge accuracy and enhance day-to-day operations for the organization. You will seek out new opportunities for continuous improvement, make recommendations to Senior Leadership, and partner with cross-functional teams to implement those strategies. As the leader representing the Donor Services department, you will foster collaborative relationships with the fundraising staff, operation teams, and external vendors.

Key Responsibilities

• Supervise the full cycle of gift processing from receipt of gift through acknowledgement and gift transfer. Ensuring that all gifts are acknowledged and transferred efficiently, timely and accurately.
• Create and maintain department dashboards and monitor team workflow.
• Recommend and implement enhancements to processes and increase accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining appropriate internal controls.
• Establish training and documentation protocols; routinely train staff on gift processing standards & protocols.
• Decrease processing time and create efficiencies that aid a timely, efficient, and accurate data ingestion.
• Ensure all finance related communications (donor tax receipts, thank you communications, payout disbursement details, agency payment notifications, etc.) are delivered in a timely manner.
• Assist in the development, maintenance, and implementation of policies and procedures for all aspects of the gift processing cycle and month end process.
• Process complex or escalated gifts; serve in a back-up and/or overflow capacity for gift processing during peak seasons or staff vacations.
• Develop standards for customer service and data quality and monitor the team’s achievement of these standards.
• Assist the donor relations team in ensuring that all cases are handled to maximum satisfaction in a timely manner.

• Navigate all challenges presented and guide them to resolution, working closely with internal departments, & nonprofit partners
• Stay abreast of industry trends, best practices regarding gift administration, gift processing and customer support.
• Monitor and understand the IRS regulations as they pertain to gift acceptance, processing, receipt delivery, and 501(c)3 organizational operations.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent work experience.
• 5+ years of non-profit gift processing or accounting and fund management related experience.
• 3+ years of experience managing and leading a team, including mentoring, and developing staff.
• Working knowledge of all aspects of the gift cycle, including gift entry and acknowledgement.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, including intermediate experience using Microsoft Excel.
• Proven ability to perform consistently against set timelines.
• Creative and willing to initiate process improvements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong customer service skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to identify errors and determine if structural or process changes need to be made to mitigate future risk.

Additional qualifications that are not required but would be helpful:

• Relational database experience including data entry, query construction, report creation, and data manipulation.
• Experience with financial reconciliation processes.
• Experience using Microsoft 365 suite including PowerBi.
• Experience with Great Plains accounting software.

Expectations

A successful individual in this role will be:

• A self-starter who is able to problem solve and think of solutions on their own.
• An excellent communicator with the ability to interact with a wide variety of individuals.
• Resourceful, creative problem-solver with attention to detail.
• Strong mathematical & analytical skills.
• Organized and goal oriented.
• Ability to learn new technologies quickly.
• A strong collaborator, comfortable with working in a highly dynamic environment.
• Effective interpersonal skills and ability to relate with a diverse team.
• Ability to work in harmony with peers and as an active team member.