Georgetown Day School - Director of Advancement Services

Alison Grasheim

About the School

Georgetown Day School opened its doors in 1945 as the first integrated school in a segregated city. Governed by a Board of Trustees elected by the parent body and administered by an appointed Head of School, it was founded by seven families who wanted to create a school committed not only to academic excellence and educational innovation but also to a value system emphasizing appreciation and respect for others. Believing that diversity was the ground out of which all deep and rich learning occurs, they established a school where all children would be welcome, celebrated, and challenged to be their best selves.

Today, the School's philosophy, programs, and position in the national educational landscape strongly reflect its roots. Having grown from 12 children in 1945 to 1075 students in PK-12 today, GDS is recognized as one of Washington, D.C.’s and the nation’s most dynamic educational institutions.

Since the school’s founding, GDS has called eight different locations home. In the fall of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools were all joined on one extraordinary campus.

About the Position
The Director of Advancement Services is responsible for overseeing the facilitation of constituent tracking and pipeline management, relationship management, prospect research, gift recording and reporting, and ensures data integrity and security. This position receives administrative direction from the Director of Development and works with the Advancement department of GDS.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary Advancement systems architect and functional expert overseeing all efforts related to the ongoing maintenance and enhancement of the development software programs including Raiser’s Edge, RENXT, and ResearchPoint.
• Serve as a liaison between Advancement and Admissions to create and maintain a strategic exchange of information on applicants, newly enrolled families, and current families to ensure the most up-to-date information and opportunity for timely, robust research.
• Serve as the primary liaison to the Business Office to ensure philanthropic budgets, transactions, recording, reporting, and systems are accurate, efficient, and coordinated.
• Use best practices to execute a thorough audit of a current database record health and design and implement a plan to bring the database up to date to include structure, processes, functionality with other school databases, etc.
• Contribute to the department’s overall fundraising strategies with research and analytics needed to support strategic and tactical fundraising efforts—proactively and/or by request of other development staff.
• Ensure the accuracy of constituent records using all available data sources, including constituent supplied information (alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and foundations), data append services, faculty/staff updates, etc. Additionally, ensure data is properly imported and updated from other school sources (MyGDS, Human Resources, etc.).
• Develop new systems to automate manual processes that increase the efficiency of the Advancement team’s operation.
• Stay up to date with best practices and make recommendations to the Director of Development and other school leaders, as necessary, with regard to software and database functionality.
• Proactively guide the department’s efforts to identify the most efficient and effective procedures and best practices related to gift processing, lost alumni tracking, research and prospect management, and other services.
• Supervise the timely and accurate entry of all gifts received including cash, credit cards, payroll deductions, electronic fund transfers, online gifts, securities, deferred, and in-kind gifts; ensure the gifts are accurately acknowledged, and ensure proper reconciliation with the Business office.
• Plan and direct implementation of pledge fulfillment efforts.
• Direct and supervise the timely and accurate reporting of information for data requests from Advancement staff, other campus offices, and other campus groups as needed. This could be mailing list information, financial reporting, prospect segmentation, DASL data, etc.
• Serve as the primary contact for the department in troubleshooting database problems, clarifying system procedures, and implementing technology-based solutions to increase the effectiveness of the Development operations.
• Provide training and professional development recommendations to enhance the understanding and utilization of the system by the Advancement staff.
• Research, implement and enforce school policies and procedures for following IRS, FASB, and CASE regulations regarding charitable giving.
• Other duties as assigned to support the school and the department. Including but not limited to attending functions outside of normal office hours.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of fundraising and organizational development experience
• Demonstrated success managing people and building team relationships
• Demonstrated success identifying leadership annual gift and major gift prospects
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communications skills
• A passion for GDS’s mission and serving as an ambassador for the School
• Experience with Blackbaud’s Raiser's Edge

VISIT THE ONLINE RECRUITING PORTAL

1. Click above to visit www.GDS.org/Recruiting
2. Locate the position you are seeking.
3. Complete all information.
4. Upload all necessary documents, including cover letter, résumé, three professional references (with contact information), statement of educational philosophy, relevant transcripts, and the GDS Employment Application (from STEP 1).