Senior Reporting and Research Analyst

Job Summary

Rhode Island School of Design's Office of Institutional Engagement is pleased to announce an opening for a Senior Reporting and Research Analyst for a two-year term appointment. This role designs, implements, maintains and serves as the primary contact for reporting functions for Institutional Engagement (IE). Coordinating all reporting activities for the Vice-President (VPIE) and units within the department, this position works closely with the IE senior management group to provide a comprehensive view of donor analytics at RISD. The Senior Reporting and Research Analyst identifies and develops strategic measures of factors leading to positive outcomes in alumnx and family’s engagement and fundraising efforts, completes operational and analytic efforts to expand, and enhances data-informed decision making around fundraising goals and resource deployment. In accordance with overall divisional goals, this position develops and models prospect development, donor, and volunteer engagement. As well, the role is responsible for designing and implementing systems reporting and data visualizations to better understand, communicate and predict prospect development; volunteer recruitment and retention; and donor acquisition, retention, and upgrade patterns. Reporting to the Executive Director of Advancement Operations and Systems, this position will also work closely with the Advancement Services team, including the Director of Prospect Management and Analytics; Director of Gift Administration and Recording Secretary; and Database Administrator and Application Specialist to understand existing data structures and recommend strategies for enhanced reporting and analysis.

Essential Functions

• Analyzes data in Raisers Edge (RE) and other IE platforms to identify patterns of donor and volunteer engagement; forecasts and projects fundraising cash and commitment trends; and delivers comprehensive reports to demonstrate findings. Reporting includes, but is not limited to standard and customized dashboards through Raisers Edge NXT and analysis developed with reporting tools native to Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft SQL and other data aggregation tools, wherever possible harnessing existing technology.
  
  
• Working closely with the Database Administrator and Applications Specialist becomes fluent in all aspects of data coding, storage, reporting, extraction, sharing, and importing within RE. Looks for and implements, as appropriate, ways to improve the use and overall integrity of RISD’s constituent database including the evaluation of third-party tools/utilities. Collaborates with others to understand data opportunities, needs and drive data quality improvement.
  
  
• Creates a best practice reporting environment that communicates shared report definitions, observes consistency of report formatting/branding, and regularly distributes reports to defined audiences at established frequencies.
  
  
• Develops a library of essential analytical reports within Raiser’s Edge-NXT including, but not limited to, the following categories: Campaign Progress, Year-over-Year Fundraising Achievement, Cash Projections, Proposal Pipelines, Key Performance Indicators, Portfolio Activity, Gift Officer Performance, RISD Fund LYBUNT/SYBUNT, new donor and retention reports, Alumni and Parent Engagement and a variety of Operational Reports. Works with the VPIE and Board Development Committee and Campaign Committee to develop campaign and annual fundraising models.
  
  
• Develops longitudinal reporting around key programmatic and fundraising activities to measure RISD’s current achievement and aspirant goals against established historical performance. Completes analysis of giving, engagement, and alumni survey data. Shares research to inform decision making, including compilations and analyses of market research data, and information about aspirational peer and AICAD institutions. Synthesizes results for use by VP of Institutional Engagement, Institutional Research and other RISD customers to support strategic and tactical decision-making, providing notations of performance deviations and anomalies.
  
  
• Provides research and analytical expertise to inform marketing efforts in developing not only effective communication and publication strategies, but also timing and messages to optimize interactions with RISD alumnx, families and friends. Serves as point person for outside marketing firms and vendor analytical teams on behalf of the IE division to supply and receive databases, and to analyze data.
  
  
• Serves as a project manager for IE reporting and analytics projects. Actively engages with the offices of the Vice President, Campaign Planning, RISD Fund, Alumni + Family Relations and Stewardship to understand informational needs and to deliver timely reports focusing on strategic outcomes. Lends expertise to internal teams and task forces.
  
  
• Completes the Council for Aid to Education’s VSE (Voluntary Support of Education) reports and works with RISD’s offices of Institutional Research, Finance and others to prepare institutional survey responses and reports, including, but not limited to, US News and World Report (alumni giving), Chronicle of Philanthropy and IRS-990. Responds to ad-hoc requests from internal and external customers.
  
  
• Provides predictive modeling and statistical analysis to a wide range of data sets to enable IE and the College to better understand the constituent data and improve donor/alumni outreach. Coordinates research efforts from the various departments within IE to best understand prospect and donor trends and provide consistent and accurate information to the Vice President of IE and internal IE stakeholders.
  
  
• Leverages existing systems and processes to maximize data mining and analysis and to allow for proactive strategic planning. Uses BBNC, Google Analytics, and any other data analysis tools to enhance RISD’s understanding of behavioral data associated with online platforms, including giving, event registrations, and volunteerism. Provides data strategy, analysis, and reporting to management based on trends and forecast models.
  
  

Required Knowledge/Skills/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in business, finance, accounting, or computer science or another Bachelor’s degree plus advanced coursework in data analytics. Five to eight years of relevant reporting management experience preferably in a higher education or complex non-profit setting. Demonstrable planning, administrative, teamwork, and organizational skills. Proven decision-making, writing, research, and analytical skills. Ability to stay abreast of trends, new systems, tools and features and to evaluate for potential use in RISD’s IE division.
  
  
• Solid understanding of computerized data management programs and their application to the achievement of fundraising and constituent engagement goals. Expertise using fundraising metrics for projections, leveraging, modeling, and other analyses. Experience with visualization/analysis software as well as MS Office, Word, Excel, and Google required.
  
  
• Extensive research background including database design, manipulation, and statistical analysis. Broad knowledge of fundraising and alumni engagement strategies and predictive modeling methods. Familiarity with content management systems, email applications, enterprise systems, such as Raisers Edge, computer applications for data analysis, preferably in higher education. Ability to integrate multiple systems, data sets, query databases, and perform statistical analysis; linking multiple/distinctive data sets to discover new insights within IE’s central database, Raiser's Edge, currently estimated at over 178,000 records.
  
  
• Excellent organization skills, with a demonstrated ability to prioritize, manage multiple demands, work under pressure, and meet deadlines with accuracy, speed, independent judgment, and minimal supervision.
  
  
• Superlative diplomatic and communication skills, including an ability to work and communicate effectively with a broad spectrum of divisional and institutional colleagues, within an environment that values diversity as defined by, race, color, religion, age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
  
  

Union:
No

Work Schedule:
35 hours per week
Two-year term appointment

Employment Status:
Full-time, Exempt

Grade:
09/AD

Documents Needed to Apply:
Resume
Cover Letter

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please upload all required documents.

The successful candidate will be required to meet our pre-employment background screening requirements.

For certain positions, RISD is currently supporting remote work arrangements due to the pandemic. When work resumes in person, employees are expected to perform work on campus.

RISD recognizes diversity and inclusivity as fundamental to its learning community and integral to an art and design education. We welcome candidates whose experience has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. RISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.

For internal use only - Job Family:

Development - Operations