Advancement Services Specialist

Viewpoint School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school serving 1,200 students in grades K-12. Viewpoint is located in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County on a 40-acre campus in Calabasas, close to the countless urban and recreational destinations Los Angeles has to offer. 

Viewpoint School prioritizes the quality of the student experience within a context of achievement, and encourages broad student participation in academic and co-curricular opportunities. The school community is unified by a shared set of values and seeks always to strengthen its culture of learning, purpose, caring, and challenge. Viewpoint asks teachers to create relational classroom climates conducive to collaboration, creativity, and application. Employees are part of a dynamic community of bright, engaged students and colleagues. Balancing academic achievement with student wellness is also a priority for the School. 

We are honored to have been named 2022, 2023, and 2024 Best Place to Work in SoCal by Best Companies Group. Our talented staff are the ones that made this happen and make this a great place to work every day. What makes this news even better? We're hiring!

Viewpoint School is currently seeking an Advancement Services Specialist. The Advancement Services Specialist will join Viewpoint’s Advancement Office at an important moment of strategic growth and will be critical to the department’s effort to build a best-in-class fundraising operation in preparation for a forthcoming comprehensive campaign. This is a hybrid position (2 days max remote). Reporting directly to the Director of Prospect Research Strategy and working closely with all members of the team, as well as collaboratively with the School’s Controller and Business Office, this is an exciting opportunity to be on the ground floor of campaign planning from the perspective of gift administration and data management. With a burgeoning major gifts effort, several capital projects on the horizon, a recently launched planned giving society, and a robust volunteer network platform, the Advancement Services Specialist will have myriad opportunities to work on important projects requiring both expertise and entrepreneurship. 

Basic Purpose

This position serves as the primary liaison between the Advancement office and Business office, streamlining the entire lifecycle of a gift from receipt of a donation, to fund allocation, to donor acknowledgment. The Advancement Services Specialist is directly responsible for the comprehensive management of the donor database (Raiser’s Edge NXT). This includes ensuring that the database is accurately and efficiently organized, managed and utilized, all gifts are processed, and all information is inputted according to standards and procedures. The Advancement Services Specialist is also responsible for ensuring proper gift processing, gift accounting, and gift entry functions of the Advancement office. The Advancement Services Specialist is responsible for ensuring proper donation processing, maintaining data integrity, proactively identifying and working on areas requiring modifications within the database. The Advancement Services Specialist reports to the Director of Prospect Research Strategy and collaborates extensively with the Director of the Viewpoint Fund, Senior Director of Advancement, and Director of Special Events to optimize donor recognition, stewardship, and engagement.  The Advancement Services Specialist is expected to perform exempt duties during the majority of the employee’s work time, utilizing discretion and independent judgment while doing so. 

The Advancement Services Specialist will also play a key supporting role in preparing for the school’s upcoming comprehensive campaign by ensuring data integrity, developing tracking tools, and building reports that support campaign planning, donor segmentation, and fundraising analysis. This individual will assist in maintaining accurate reporting structures and dashboards to monitor campaign metrics, pipeline development, and gift officer activity. In collaboration with the Business Office, they will also support the transition to Financial Edge by understanding its integration with Raiser’s Edge, assessing its impact on Advancement processes, and identifying opportunities to streamline and improve workflows.

Data Management, Gift Processing & Training

• Manage gift processing and ensure acknowledgement letters and pledge reminders are prepared and delivered. 
• In consultation with the Director, develop strategic guidelines and procedures for data entry, moves management, data maintenance, and gift reconciliation.
• Work closely with the Director of Prospect Research Strategy and AHOS as needed to facilitate the onboarding of new users and future training sessions as needed. 
• Contribute to the organization’s effective use of electronic communication by deduping and integrating data and lists with Finalsite and the marketing office.
• Strategize and prepare queries, reports, and exports for direct mail, invitations, and tracking of fundraising results; Prepare analytics for quarterly board meetings 
• Work closely with Blackbaud on upgrades, issues and products closely aligned with our needs.
• Maintain knowledge of all campaigns, funds, appeals, gifts, and accounting distributions.
• Manage collection, updates, and integrity of constituent data (parents, grandparents, students, special friends, alumni, affinity groups).

Data Analysis, Strategic Planning, and Process Improvement

• Strategize and implement methodology for maximizing the efficient management of the organization’s constituents through the effective use of Raiser’s Edge.
• Suggest new and creative ways to help frontline gift officers maximize the use of data with the goal of deepening the understanding of donor behavior to drive increased giving.
• Responsible for ensuring committee members have up-to-date advancement revenue information. Engage in analysis and provide reports.  

Data Updates and Data Integrity

• Work with Admission to ensure the database reflects updated information with outgoing and incoming constituents.
• Manage collection, updates, and integrity of constituent data (parents, grandparents, students, special friends, alumni, affinity groups).
• Analyze and compile donor lists for the Impact Report, as well as comprehensive year-end fundraising statistics for NAIS and CASE.
• Partner with the Business Office on all audit inquiries to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Other duties and responsibilities, as assigned by the Director or the Assistant Head of School.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities Required: 

• Expert knowledge of Blackbaud hosted databases such as Raiser's Edge NXT
• Familiarity with data visualization software such as Tableau, PowerBI, or Google Looker strongly preferred
• General knowledge of Blackbaud’s Financial Edge preferred
• Strong experience in data analysis and manipulation, and using data to support strategic fundraising decisions and operations
• High level of professionalism and excellent interpersonal relations
• Strong attention to detail, especially with regards to numerical accuracy and systems integrity 
• Organizational and time management skills
• High level of competency with Word, Excel, Google Suite and troubleshooting abilities using available resources
• Must demonstrate competency with basic word processing, spreadsheet, database, internet and computer functions
• Ability to communicate effectively with all constituents in a school environment and occasionally field phone calls from donors 
• Proactive self-starter with the ability to take on new projects and responsibilities with enthusiasm for growth 
• Bachelor’s Degree and minimum of two years’ managing fundraising database efforts in a non-profit institution, preferably in a cultural organization, independent school or higher ed institution