Development Executive – Events & Stewardship
You will be responsible for the implementation of a comprehensive, effective, and creative stewardship programme for high-level individuals as well as legacy, in memorial, and trust donors
that will contribute to ongoing and long-term donor relations with Heriot-Watt University. The
You will play a key role in enabling the Development & Alumni Office (DAO), and the
wider University, to create and build relationships with donors who are a crucial part of the
the long-term success of the University.
You will develop and implement a comprehensive stewardship plan. All the actions entailed in the
plan will help DAO coordinate how it strengthens long-term relationships with donors and, in doing
so; provide more opportunities to attract future donations from current donors. You will coordinate the implementation of this plan with the support of the fundraisers. This plan should be creative in engaging donors, comprehensive in detail, and have measurable elements to ensure its success can be tracked.
Specifically, this will involve putting in place a detailed and robust stewardship plan for each
major donation or grant received including funding reports, donor communications (e.g., newsletter or annual thank you brochure), reminders to staff for information submissions(e.g., retrieving scholarship recipient details from the Scholarship Office), invoicing, and event invitations. For significant gifts, a ‘surprise and delight’ approach should be taken to engage creatively and innovatively with donors.
You will work closely with all senior fundraising staff to put in place such actions and then to
provide the necessary administration and support for delivery.
Heriot-Watt is a truly distinctive and vibrant global university with five campuses in three countries: partners in 150 countries and over 30,000 students worldwide.
Named International University of the Year by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018, walking around the corridors of Heriot-Watt University is like taking a trip around the world! Heriot-Watt has established a reputation for world-class teaching and practical, leading-edge research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for business and industry.
This is an exciting time to be joining the Development and Alumni Team, following on from the success of the 1821 Appeal, the University will be launching a more ambitious campaign and you can play a key role.
Skills & attributes for success: You will have:
• Experience delivering high-value events involving multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with a professional customer-focused approach and ability
to build relationships with donors, external organisations, and teams across the University and peer groups.
• The thirst to learn and develop your knowledge and career with a willingness to attend training courses
to develop new and existing skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a high degree of attention to detail and high-quality output.
• An understanding of budget processes and financial processes.
• Ability to calmly and flexibly manage a full, varied, and confidential workload and meet deadlines
in a very busy environment.
• Good organisational skills, quality focus, proactive, results-oriented and team player.
• A clear understanding of the DAO function as a whole and how stewardship fits into all aspects of this activity.
• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills with the ability to build relationships with donors,
external suppliers, and teams across HWU.