Development Officer (Assistant Director, Stewardship and Donor Relations)

USC Marshall School of Business

External Relations

Support the Impact of Philanthropy Through Exceptional Stewardship

Join a collaborative, mission-driven team where your talent for managing scholarship administration, coordinating complex projects, and delivering polished communications and events helps showcase the transformative impact of philanthropy while creating meaningful experiences for donors and the USC Marshall School of Business and USC Leventhal School of Accounting community.

Position Overview

The USC Marshall School of Business is seeking a collaborative, detail-oriented professional to join its Office of External Relations as Assistant Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations. This position helps Marshall and Leventhal strengthen relationships with the generous donors whose philanthropy expands opportunities for students and advances the school's mission. Working closely with the Senior Director and Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations, the Assistant Director plays a key role in administering a complex scholarship program, coordinating signature donor events, supporting the scholarship ambassador program, and creating meaningful stewardship communications, including impact reports, videos, and other recognition initiatives, that demonstrate the transformative impact of philanthropy.

The ideal candidate brings experience in scholarship administration, program and event management, and donor relations and stewardship, within a large organization of philanthropy for higher education. Success in this role requires exceptional project management and communication skills, meticulous attention to detail, strong organizational abilities, and the ability to manage multiple priorities, work collaboratively while producing high-quality work.

Responsibilities and Duties

The Assistant Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations plays a key role in advancing USC Marshall's donor engagement strategy by administering scholarship stewardship, coordinating signature events, developing impactful communications, and fostering meaningful donor experiences. This position works collaboratively across the school and university to ensure donors understand the impact of their philanthropy and remain connected to the Marshall community.

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Scholarship Stewardship and Donor Engagement

• Manage the administration of Marshall and Leventhal scholarship stewardship programs, partnering with academic departments and campus stakeholders to administer scholarships, coordinate recipient communications, track stewardship deliverables, maintain program data, and collect, organize, and produce scholarship impact reports and other donor recognition materials.
• Partner with development officers and university colleagues to review gift agreements, identify stewardship commitments, and ensure stewardship activities align with donor intent and university policies.
• Support the scholarship ambassador program by coordinating student participation and facilitating meaningful interactions between scholarship recipients and donors.
• Develop thoughtful stewardship strategies and creative recognition opportunities that demonstrate the impact of philanthropy and strengthen long-term donor relationships.
• Provide exceptional customer service and responsive support to internal partners, donors, students, and volunteers.

Stewardship Communications

• Develop, write, edit, design, and coordinate a wide range of stewardship communications, including impact reports, donor acknowledgments, event materials, speeches, presentations, videos, invitations, social media content, digital communications, and other print and electronic collateral.
• Partner with colleagues across External Relations, Marketing and Communications, University Advancement, and other campus units to ensure messaging, branding, and visual presentation align with university standards and advancement goals.
• Utilize design, publishing, CRM, survey, and marketing platforms to produce professional, data-informed communications and reports with exceptional accuracy and attention to detail.

Events and Program Management

• Coordinate and execute stewardship and donor events from concept through post-event evaluation, including planning, budget management, vendor coordination, logistics, donor recognition, communications, timelines, financial reconciliation, attendance and engagement tracking, surveys, data analysis, and debrief sessions to evaluate outcomes and support continuous program improvement.
• Coordinate VIP experiences for donors, board members, parents, and university leadership while collaborating with campus partners to deliver high-quality events and programming.

Project Management, Data and Collaboration

• Manage multiple concurrent projects with competing deadlines, exercising sound judgment, initiative, and strong organizational skills in a fast-paced environment.
• Analyze and maintain scholarship, donor, and event data to support tracking activities, reporting, communications, and program effectiveness.
• Maintain and analyze complex datasets and database systems to support scholarship and fund administration, stewardship reporting, and donor engagement initiatives, utilizing advanced Excel and data management skills to ensure the accurate management, reconciliation, reporting, and integrity of large volumes of data.
• Collaborate with internal partners across External Relations and university administrative offices to support scholarship administration, stewardship reporting, financial reconciliation, and related operational processes.
• Build collaborative relationships across USC Marshall/Leventhal and the university, working effectively with faculty, senior administrators, development colleagues, and external vendors to advance stewardship initiatives.
• Serve as a stewardship resource to development colleagues by providing strategic support for donor engagement, recognition, and stewardship.
• Maintain the year-round stewardship calendar that aligns scholarship administration, communications, events, and donor engagement activities throughout the year.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, solve problems proactively, and contribute to the continuous enhancement of stewardship programs.

Other Responsibilities

• Perform other duties and special projects as assigned or requested.
• Available to work flexible hours with occasional morning, evening, and weekend events and travel.
• The University reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least five years of progressively responsible experience in donor relations, stewardship, advancement, event management, communications, scholarship administration, or a related field; experience in higher education is preferred.
• Demonstrated success managing complex projects, high-profile events, and strategic donor communications while balancing multiple priorities.
• Excellent writing, editing, proofreading, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with senior leaders, donors, faculty, staff, and external partners.
• Strong project management, organizational, budgeting, and vendor management skills, with exceptional attention to detail and follow-through.
• Experience working with CRM, marketing, survey, design, and communication platforms such as Salesforce, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Scholarship Universe, Adobe Creative Suite (particularly InDesign), Canva, Qualtrics, Mythos, and ThankView or video editing software. Experience with HTML or web content management is a plus. Demonstrated ability to learn and effectively utilize emerging technologies and AI-assisted productivity tools, such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, while exercising independent judgment and maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, confidentiality, and professionalism.
• Demonstrated technical proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.
• Proven skill in navigating complex databases as well as using shared, protected platforms to construct, maintain, and analyze data to produce reports, communications, and program metrics.
• Solid relationship-building skills with an ability to interface and collaborate with donors, leading faculty, administrators, board members, trustees, and campus partners.
• Creative, collaborative, and solutions-oriented, with the ability to work independently while building strong cross-functional partnerships.
• Demonstrated ability to adapt, manage, and implement change; and flexibility to thrive in a fast-paced, complex environment.
• Experience supervising and training others, including students, is also preferred.

Anticipated Hiring Range:

The annual base salary range for this position is $85,062.11 - $111,043.02. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Required Documents and Additional Information

• Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.
• USC has excellent benefits, including health benefits for staff and their family with access to the renowned university medical network; eligibility for retirement plans with employer contributions*; tuition benefits for staff and their family; free Professional Development classes; central Los Angeles location with easy access to commuter trains, buses, and free tram pick up services; discounts to sporting and other campus events.

Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor's degree.
3 years of work experience in development or a related field.
Combined experience/education may serve as a substitute for minimum education.
Experience in development, maintaining meaningful relationships with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders.
Ability to self-manage, prioritize work assignments and manage multiple deadlines.
Experience maintaining and interpreting large datasets and database systems.
Excellent planning, organizational and interpersonal skills.
Detail oriented with excellent written and oral communication skills.
Proficient in Microsoft Office.

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