Summary:
The Planned Giving Officer will advance the College’s bequest and life-income gift programs by qualifying, cultivating, and stewarding bequest and life-income gift prospects/donors, primarily through face-to-face visits and personal correspondence. The Planned Giving Officer will also promote endowed fund and Berea Fund gifts as appropriate.

Education required to ensure success in this position:
• Undergraduate degree

Experience required to ensure success in this position:
• Minimum 3 to 5 years successful fundraising with demonstrated success in soliciting and closing planned gifts or demonstrated success in a related field such as sales or financial planning.
  
Special skills, knowledge and abilities:
• A commitment to the special mission of Berea College and an ability to articulate the importance of Berea’s distinctive place in higher education.
• Adept at social engagement, active listening, and directed inquiry.
• Personal integrity and discretion in handling confidential information, especially pertaining to donors/prospects.
• Strong organizational skills and capacity to set priorities, meet deadlines, and navigate effectively between donor cultivation/solicitation/stewardship and the requisite administrative aspects of the position. Able to complete multiple objectives within overlapping timeframes.
• Capacity to integrate disparate information, attend to detail, and complete documentation requirements of the position effectively.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to effectively manage the planning and logistics of travel within a prescribed budget.
• Ability to develop varied and effective strategies for the successful cultivation and stewardship of donors based on the donor’s affinity for Berea, philanthropic goals, personal values, financial holdings, and desired outcomes.
• Accustomed to a metrics-based environment.
• Demonstrated solicitation and closing skills.
• Knowledge of or capacity to learn and articulate concepts of planned giving including gift types and benefits.
• Knowledge of or capacity to learn and articulate basic tax concepts, especially as they relate to planned gifts/charitable deductions.
        
License, certification, or registration necessary:
• None

Physical requirements:
• Extensive travel (up to 50%) is required. Must be able to navigate airports with luggage and portable computer as well as drive a car on extended trips with significant daily mileage.

Job Duties/Responsibilities:
• Identify planned giving prospects (alumni and friends) through the various tools available to the Office of Gift Planning and the Development team (including narrative/qualitative prospect research, planned giving propensity rankings such as BCFinder and DonorScape, and alumni survey data).
• Secure visits through calls and correspondence to prospective and existing planned giving donors for the primary purpose of estate gift promotion. Responsibilities include 100+ face-to-face visits per year and other significant contacts required for discovery, cultivation, solicitation/closing, and stewardship activities.
• Identify 10+ life-income gift prospects per year and provide planned giving proposals (life-income exhibits) to these prospects.
• Report to and strategize with the Director of Gift Planning, particularly with respect to coordinating efforts related to donor/prospect visits. 
• Document conversations in call reports and follow-up with thank you notes and relevant information.
• Call and thank donors who have reached milestones pertaining to years of giving and total number of gifts. Send thank you notes when phone numbers are unavailable or when donors are coded for no calls.
• Participate in and when appropriate help plan cultivation and alumni engagement events (for example, homecoming and summer reunion weekends) on campus and beyond.
• Provide Gift Officers with the names of donors in their territories who you identify through calls or visits as meriting outright gift cultivation.
• Foster and promote a collegial environment within the Office of Gift Planning, the Development team, and the division of Alumni and College Relations through professionalism, cooperation, and thoughtful/positive engagement.
• Demonstrate fiscal responsibility and thoughtful planning in the use and care of all College resources ranging from available funds to staff and student support.
• Participate in professional development activities as identified in conjunction with the Director of Gift Planning