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Gift Processing Assistant

Department: The Office of Development and Alumni Affairs Effective Date: March 2011
Grade: USG 5 Reports to: Manager, Gift Processing

General Accountability

The Gifts Processing team is responsible for handling the overall processing of donations and other revenue for the University of Waterloo. This process involves receiving, banking, recording, coding, receipting and acknowledging donations and other revenue. Senior level, specialized tasks are also performed to transmit gift transactions to the general ledger, manage electronic gift interfaces, and distribute information to the various donations recipients across campus.

Nature and Scope

Reporting to the Manager, Gift Processing, the Gift Processing Assistant is part of a team consisting of three full time and two part time Gift Processing Assistants.

The Team has working relationships with and provides functional support to all the Office of Development & Alumni Affairs (ODAA) staff. Under the umbrella of the Vice-President External Relations, ODAA consists of approximately 89 staff members. Development and Alumni Officers are physically located in the central ODAA office, and in six Faculty Offices and seven Schools. Other development officers with whom the office collaborates are located in the Library and in each of the Federated University Affiliated Colleges. The Gift Processing teamacts as a resource to and interacts closely with Development Officers, Prospect Research, Records, System Administration, and Call Centre Managers. They work in a challenging centrally coordinated, decentralized organizational model, where communication is crucial.

The majority of donations, related pledge forms and/or information result from solicitations done by Development Officers, Planned Giving officers, the Call Centre, direct mail appeals, events and memorials. Gift Processing Assistants must diligently deal with the timely receipt of the related forms and/or information and donations for all University fundraising initiatives. Often the solicitation of a major donor has involved visits, proposals, follow-up with senior business and university officers. Pledges can be complex and may require follow up with the Development Officer for pertinent information. The ability to effectively communicate with sensitivity, written or orally, is essential. Attention to detail and accuracy are necessary for efficient processing.  Coding completed at the gift entry level drives reporting for all areas of ODAA.  Regular data maintenance is performed requiring gift processers to create, generate and use queries to insure data integrity.

Within the collaborative team environment each Gift Processing Assistant will process incoming donations ranging from small to medium Annual Fund gifts, to significant principal gift ($1M+) contributions. Donations are primarily received as cheques, credit card, pre-authorized payment, debit card, wired funds, payroll and pension deductions, departmental transfers, and foreign currency. Online donations are increasing in popularity as a method of giving.  Up to date knowledge of  Blackbaud Net Community software and it’s integration with real time credit card processing (Beanstream) is essential in accurate donation processing. The gift processing assistant must be knowledgeable about PCI compliance and credit card security. Donations may also be received in the form of a gift-in-kind, securities, life insurance and other planned giving vehicles. Preparing and reconciling multiple bank deposits and posting batches to the giving history files are completed daily. Handling of the daily coding and input of multi-year pledges taken through the telemarketing program as well as other fundraising initiatives, setting up payment schedules, and pledge maintenance are tasks also completed. Precise updates to biographic and business data are routinely completed. Batches of cheques, payroll deductions, securities, in kind, PAC and credit card donations are reconciled. Serialized receipts are reconciled for amount and sequential numbering. Receipts are issued following Canada Revenue Agency standards. The ability to prioritize, multi-task and meet deadlines are crucial to ensure that accurate and complete reporting requirements are met. Increasingly, keeping up to date on a myriad of new software applications in a complex data model is essential to this role. 

Non-routine donations are processed after consulting with the Manager, Gift Processing or Financial Manager. Extraordinary handling may include identifying and coding gifts which should take an exceptional path i.e. donations which go to the expendable account instead of the principal for endowments. Consequences of not taking this action could result in funds being disbursed to the wrong account. Other exceptions may include split projects within one cheque (part donation, part non-donation such as those resulting from fundraising dinners); donations to the US Foundation; or donations given via another agency like the United Way or the Federated Affiliated University Colleges. Gift Processing Assistants must be knowledgeable about Tax Law to identify non-donations which may cross their desks i.e. sponsorships or research contracts which do not get receipted.

The Gift Processing Assistant uses a series of queries, exports and merges to generate batches of specialized letters of acknowledgement, reminders, pledge packages and receipts.  Proof reading and customizing is performed before the letters are mailed to donors. There are more than twenty-five specialized letters of acknowledgment. Donations received from individuals, foundations, or corporations each require distinctive coding. The type of gift that is donated as well as the amounts received further determines which specialized letter of acknowledgement is generated.  Judgement is required to determine if a gift should be brought to the attention of senior management for a specific or customized stewardship action. Some letters are mailed from the ODAA and others are forwarded to specific Faculties, Schools or Development Officers. Excellent writing skills are important to iterate our appreciation and stewardship of their gift as well as include specific details pertaining to their gift.

The Donor Circle Program requires the Gift Processing Assistants use the utmost care and attention to detail to  accurately reflect donors giving history at a level of $1,000 to $10,000 for stewardship purposes. In collaboration with the IT department and leadership giving staff, the Gift Processing Assistant carefully reviews monthly data pulls and creates conditional word merges specific to the giving level.  Special attention to specific instructions from the donors on spousal information and recognition must be taken into account.  Attention to detail is essential.  

Gift Processing Assistants work with confidential information from alumni, faculty, staff, retirees, parents, friends, students, corporations, foundations, government and other organizations. Some donors contact Gift Processing Assistants by telephone or electronic mail. All inquiries of sensitive information are handled responsibly; ensuring appropriate information is disclosed in a professional manner while consistent with the federal privacy legislation, PIPEDA.

A high degree of accuracy and attention to detail, knowledge of several program details such as current targeted fundraising projects, methods of solicitation, and tracking of individual donations is required. With increasingly complex procedures, a broad knowledge base ensures accurate recording, receipting, coding, reporting, and acknowledging donations in a specialized computing environment. Due to the complexity and sensitivity of information, policies and procedures are documented and practiced.

Statistical Data

Specific Accountabilities

Working Conditions