Development Coordinator at UCalgary | Calgary

The University of Calgary is recruiting a Development Coordinator in Calgary to support fundraising operations for its Cumming School of Medicine. The position combines donor administration, careful documentation, meeting coordination, and dependable support for several development professionals.

This is a full-time appointment for a limited term of approximately two years, with a hybrid working arrangement. It suits an administrator who can keep detailed work moving while responding thoughtfully to competing requests and handling confidential information with discretion.

Opportunity Details

The coordinator works within the Office of the Vice President Development & Alumni and supports the Cumming School of Medicine Development team. Reporting to the Senior Director of Development, the role helps fundraisers organize donor engagement, maintain records, and coordinate the paperwork behind philanthropic commitments. Its contribution is operational: accurate information and reliable follow-through help the wider team maintain professional donor relationships.

The advertised work ranges from predictable administrative routines to changing project needs. Calendar changes, briefing materials, expense reconciliation, and gift documentation can involve different stakeholders at the same time. Applicants should therefore consider how their experience demonstrates both consistency and judgment. General preparation suggestions below are intended to help candidates explain that experience; they do not create additional university selection requirements.

About the Employer

The University of Calgary is a Canadian university based in Calgary, Alberta. Its activities include undergraduate and graduate education, research, and professional and continuing education. The institution describes entrepreneurial thinking, practical learning, and research as important parts of its educational environment.

For this vacancy, the relevant setting is the Cumming School of Medicine and its development office. That office supports philanthropic relationships connected with medical research, education, and patient care. The coordinator's administrative work sits alongside the work of development professionals rather than constituting a clinical appointment or a research position.

The university's fundraising operations involve donor correspondence, stewardship, institutional records, and internal review processes. These are the services most directly connected with the advertised position. Its professional environment calls for care with commitments and information because several people may rely on the same record when preparing a conversation, documenting a gift, or following up with a supporter.

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Open Positions

Development Coordinator, Development & Alumni

The opening is for one advertised role, with its work focused on supporting multiple fundraisers and the broader development team. Successful performance depends on keeping information usable and administrative commitments visible, alongside completing individual tasks accurately. Candidates should distinguish experience supporting a busy team from experience personally leading fundraising strategy.

Responsibilities

• Arrange donor meetings, prepare logistical and briefing support, and organize follow-up activities. The work supports cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship efforts undertaken by fundraisers, with professional correspondence and timely assistance helping maintain a consistent experience for donors and partners.
• Prepare gift agreements and related documents, coordinate their internal review, and keep commitments and supporting records organized. Accuracy and discretion matter throughout this process, including when several people must contribute information or approve a document before it can proceed.
• Maintain donor and prospect information in the fundraising database and support reporting and information tracking. Electronic records need to remain organized and accessible so colleagues can understand the current position without depending on informal recollection or scattered correspondence.
• Support recognition activities, stewardship initiatives, and special events while coordinating calendars and meetings for several professionals. The role also contributes to projects that improve the effectiveness of the development office and its ongoing operational work.
• Prepare and reconcile expenses and undertake departmental administration, including filing, supplies, mail, and tracking. These routine responsibilities remain important alongside more visible donor activities, particularly where incomplete administrative information could delay another person's work.

Qualifications

• Post-secondary education, or an equivalent combination of education and experience, together with at least two years in coordination, administration, customer service, or an operations-focused role.
• Experience organizing calendars, meetings, travel, or other complex administrative processes, supported by strong organization and the ability to manage shifting priorities independently.
• Experience with databases or CRM systems and Microsoft 365, together with accurate written work, clear interpersonal communication, sound judgment, and discretion when handling sensitive material.
• Fundraising, advancement, higher education, healthcare, or nonprofit experience is an asset. Knowledge of gift administration or stewardship and experience supporting several professionals are also advantageous rather than universal prerequisites.

Skills and Competencies

• Precision with names, commitments, documents, and records, including the discipline to check information before passing it to someone who will use it in a donor-facing situation.
• Practical prioritization and independent follow-through, with enough judgment to recognize when a request needs clarification and when a routine task can proceed without further supervision.
• Professional communication and a constructive learning approach, allowing the coordinator to support colleagues while improving administrative methods and maintaining appropriate confidentiality.

Benefits and Employment Information

• Full-time, limited-term employment of approximately two years is advertised, together with a hybrid model combining campus collaboration and work from home.
• The listing describes health and dental benefits, paid time off, professional development opportunities, and pension participation. It does not publish a numerical salary range for this appointment.
• Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, while Canadian citizens and permanent residents receive preference. That preference should not be described as a promise of immigration assistance or as an unconditional restriction on all other applicants.

Application Guidance

Build the opening of your resume around administrative coordination rather than a broad claim that you are organized. A short example showing how you supported several professionals, maintained a sensitive database, or kept documentation moving is more useful than a long list of general personality traits. Identify the setting and your own contribution without suggesting that you held responsibilities belonging to a manager or fundraiser.

For calendar experience, explain the competing demands. You might describe arranging meetings across several schedules, resolving a conflict, and communicating the final arrangement clearly. Include the scale only if you can substantiate it. The useful evidence is your method: how you identified priorities, checked the right information, and made the change understandable to everyone affected by it.

Document preparation deserves its own example. Consider a situation in which a form, agreement, or report required several checks before approval. Explain how you controlled revisions and resolved missing information. Avoid presenting a confidential donor agreement as a work sample. A self-created demonstration using fictional details can illustrate organization without disclosing another organization's records or implying that a portfolio is required.

Show database experience in terms of reliable information rather than software names alone. If you have used a CRM, explain what you maintained, how you prevented duplication, and how colleagues used the resulting records. If your experience comes from another administrative system, describe the comparable habits honestly. Do not rename that system as a fundraising platform merely to match the wording of the vacancy.

Prepare a concise account of handling confidential information. Discuss your approach to access, appropriate sharing, and checking recipients, while omitting the sensitive material itself. The purpose is to demonstrate judgment in the way you tell the example. An application that casually reveals private information would undermine the very discretion the coordinator position requires.

At an interview, a useful practice scenario is a donor meeting moving while an agreement needs correction and several expenses await reconciliation. Work through how you would determine urgency, confirm dependencies, and communicate a practical order of work. This is an editorial preparation exercise, not a published university interview question. There may be several reasonable answers, depending on the information available.

Applicants with customer service or operations experience should explain the connection to this role explicitly. Service recovery can demonstrate clear communication; maintaining transaction records can demonstrate accuracy; supporting a supervisor can demonstrate anticipation. Keep the distinction between transferable experience and direct advancement experience clear, especially where the latter is described as an asset rather than the only acceptable route into the position.

Review the term and hybrid arrangement before submitting. Consider whether you can meet the role's Calgary-based requirements and describe your circumstances accurately in the application. Prepare questions about the balance of donor administration and team support, the systems used for records, and how priorities are agreed when several fundraisers need assistance. Those questions can help clarify the practical scope of the appointment.

For your own preparation, outline how you would keep a small donor-meeting record complete: the purpose, participants, required materials, follow-up owner, and next action. Use fictional details and keep the example separate from actual university procedures. This can help you explain administrative discipline without suggesting that you already know the institution's systems or that the employer requires a particular document format in the application.

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How to Apply

Use the official application route below and select the application control on the university vacancy page. It opens a process retaining this Development Coordinator position. Review the information requested, provide your own accurate details and documents, and complete the employer's submission steps yourself. Opening the route alone does not submit an application.