Copywriter

Our higher education client is looking for a Copywriter/Copyeditor for a full time contract; this is a 40 hour a week contract in Cambridge MA. The work is high-volume and varied: some days it’s personalized gift thank you letters for senior leadership; other days, it’s editing student bios, drafting content for donor reports, or proofreading fundraising communications. The right person will be both a strong independent contributor and a flexible collaborator.

Position Overview

• The Writer/Copyeditor, on a temporary basis, supports key stewardship initiatives including personalized gift acknowledgments, donor reporting, and communications. They collaborate closely with internal partners to ensure all donor materials are accurate, compelling, and aligned with institutional priorities, while also providing copy editing support across the team. The Writer/Copyeditor is an integral member of the donor relations and stewardship team which serves as an in-house creative agency that creates and implements strategies to support donor engagement, fundraising,and stewardship.
• Craft and edits highly personalized presidential (PACK) and vice presidential (VPACK) gift acknowledgments for a broad portfolio of top-level donors, volunteers, current MIT parents, and faculty/staff; researches donor records, analyzes gift details and terms, and synthesizes complex relationship histories using Advance database and other tools to draft compelling, donor-centered messages that reflect the signatories’ tone and voice, and ensures consistency and accuracy through collaborative review with relationship managers, school partners, and senior officers.
• Contributes to the acknowledgement language library for gifts directed to key designations, proposing updates and expansions to the Associate Director of Engagement.
• Manages processes for and manually populates the PACK/VPACK trackers: this information is used for DES quarterly and annual analysis and includes: 1) week and date of gift; (2) name of donor; (3) constituency; (4) type of gift transaction; (5) status of draft (6) type of PACK (for appropriate prioritization); (7) author of the draft; (8)allocation; (9) note section (correspondence type). Exercises discretion in verifying and recording sensitive information while ensuring implementation follows established procedures
• Manages and oversees, from development to completion, the production of comprehensive reports for principle gift-level donors as well as impact reports for Institute priorities and other giving areas: Work with schools, departments, labs, centers, and institutes (DLCIs) to gather and compose program updates; assess andevaluate submitted content to ensure quality and that it articulates and aligns with donor priorities—make strategic recommendations for content improvements and changes to formatting, as needed; manage report production and work closely with frontline staff to execute report delivery.

Donor Engagement and Recognition

• Drafts communications related to the higher education clients recognition society which includes donors of $1million+
• Identifies and recommends stories and other relevant materials to support stewardship and donor outreach, including contributions to the magazine and promotion of articles that feature donor-supported students, faculty, or research to help fundraisers engage meaningfully with their portfolios.
• Copy edits and proofreads written content—ensuring that material is clear and consistent, complete, and accurate, and that text is well written, grammatically correct, and accessible—for a wide range and high volume of fundraising communications that support RD events and engagement marketing, publications, and stewardship reporting.
• Uses sophisticated editing skills and editorial expertise to copy edit, fact check, proofread, and, where needed, rewrite materials—including brochures and one–pagers, web sites, event invitations and collateral, remarks, case statements, PowerPoint presentations, proposals, publications, web stories, donor impact reports, and more.
• Develops and oversees completion of special projects, as assigned.

Qualifications

• Minimum two years of relevant work experience in a high-volume and complex organization.
• Experience managing projects and improving processes is required.
• Excellent communications skills (oral and written); experience with content writing and research, as well as knowledge about stewardship programs in higher education.
• Exceptional writing and editorial skills and a proven ability to perform copyediting work for grammar, spelling, accuracy, format, and tone to maintain the highest standards at all times.
• Proven ability to exercise discretion and sound independent judgment; ability to analyze, synthesize, and present information clearly.
• Ability to solicit information across departments, interact well with others, and serve as an ambassador.
• Strong initiative, motivation, and organizational skills; ability to manage multiple projects, prioritize work assignments, and meet tight deadlines, while maintaining precise attention to accuracy and detail.
• Must be highly adept with computer systems and have proficiency with complex databases (FileMaker and Advance preferred) and the ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Advanced user of Microsoft Office suite.
• Limited evening and weekend work, as needed.
• Bachelor\’s degree preferred.
• Experience and interest in higher education and/or advancement strongly preferred.
• Professional experience copyediting and fact checking in a publishing, news, or
• agency environment strongly preferred

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