Advancement Senior Business Analyst, Annual Giving, Campaigns

The Senior Business Analyst, Annual Giving will play a crucial role in supporting the advancement efforts of the university by providing data-driven insights, developing strategic analyses, and optimizing business processes. This position requires a detail-oriented professional with strong analytical skills, excellent communication abilities, and a passion for higher education and fundraising. position serves as the primary liaison between the Annual Giving Campaigns team and the Advancement Information Services team, and serves as liaison for other Advancement Department system communications including Blackbaud, VanillaSoft, etc.

1. Collaborates with fundraisers to identifies business needs, determines specifications and requirements. Collaborates with school-based annual giving team, medical school annual giving team, undergraduate reunions and annual fund team and AIS team members to develop innovative solutions. Prepares functional specifications; reviews with all team members and revises as needed.
2. Verifies output through rigorous testing against specifications. Runs reports and data extracts per specifications; documents findings; communicates with AIS analysts and developers and end-users to mitigate issues. Collaborates with end-users to construct appropriate and targeted research questions, and analyzes data to provide results. Assists with analyzing past fundraising performance to inform current fundraising strategy and planning. Collaborates with end-users to analyze and hone data requirements as necessary to address specific business needs; modifies technical requirements as necessary. Communicates technical information and data to non-technical users.

3. Serves as primary liaison between all annual fund teams and the AIS team. Provides application support to the giving teams for complex CRM, Blackbaud, or engagement center platform issues; researches issues; documents and recommends solutions; communicates outcomes to team members and to management. Conducts training and provides support to end-users on how to run specific reports in CRM and Blackbaud to measure fundraising performance.

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

1. Bachelor's degree
2. 5 years’ experience in business analysis, data analysis, or a related field.
3. Experience in higher education, fundraising, or non-profit sector is highly desirable.
4. Any appropriate combination of relevant education, experience, and/or certifications may be considered.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITITIES/COMPETENCIES TYPICALLY NEEDED TO PERFORM THIS JOB SUCCESSFULLY:

1. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
2. Proficiency in data analysis tools and software (e.g., Excel, SQL, Tableau, Power BI).
3. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
4. Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-paced environment
5. Strong attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy
6. Familiarity with advancement systems (e.g. CRM, donor database) is a plus

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Master’s degree preferred
2. Experience with Salesforce/Affinaquest
3. Specific experience in a fund-raising environment, particularly annual giving offices.