Advancement Systems Business Analyst

Job Title

Leads a full range of activities that ensure operational use and effectiveness of systems and workflows that support the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) operational systems. Guides the design, documentation, and improvement of workflows that enhance efficiencies and optimize resources. Serves as a strategic partner in analyzing business processes, identifying gaps, and recommending solutions aligned with organizational goals, particularly in support of fundraising, donor engagement, and prospect development initiatives. This position plays a key role in improving constituent data quality, optimizing data flows and advancing analytics that support fundraising performance, donor retention strategies, stewardship effectiveness, and prospect identification, research, and portfolio management.

This position is a remote. All remote work must be performed within one of the MCW registered payroll states, which currently includes: WI, AZ, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, TN, TX, and UT.

Primary Responsibilities

• Translates business requirements into business solutions; acts as a liaison between OIA staff and DIS staff to design and configure solutions ensuring business requirements are met.
• Works directly with the Advancement Systems Manager to define business needs, evaluate solution alternatives and support evolving operational requirements.
• Coordinates system troubleshooting and day-to-day support activities to ensure minimal downtime for advancement systems, reporting tools, and donor-facing applications.
• Leads medium to high complexity projects by creating and managing project plans, tracking milestones, monitoring risks, delivering regular status updates, coordinating cross-functional teams and facilitating project meetings to maintain momentum and resolve issues promptly.
• Conducts comprehensive requirements of activities including stakeholder interviews, workshops and business process reviews. Produces detailed documentation such as requirements, process flows, use cases, user stories and performs gap and impact analyses related to fundraising workflows, gift processing and donor stewardship.
• Develops and maintains data models, reporting specifications and dashboard documentation. Evaluates dashboard usage, collaborates with Business Intelligence to optimize reporting assets, retire outdated dashboards, enhance existing dashboards, and ensure analytics support donor engagement, fundraising strategies and leadership decision-making.
• Designs and implements business process improvements and workflow automations to reduce manual work, streamline data flows and improve efficiency across advancement operations.
• Trains stakeholders on analysis methods, requirements techniques, system features and new workflows. Leads end-user training for new solutions and process changes.
• Supports the integration and effective use of prospect research tools and external data sources within the CRM.
• Evaluates test plans, develops test cases and executes testing to validate functionality, quality and alignment with defined requirements.
• Recommends information technology solutions that support advancement business needs and coordinates planning and implementation of new platforms or enhancements.
• Supports change management initiatives including communication plans, stakeholder engagement, onboarding of new processes and ensuring adoption of new systems or workflows.
• Ensures compliance with data governance, security, and privacy standards. Champions data quality improvements, standardization of imports and data entry, and enforcement of governance policies across donor and constituent data.

Knowledge Skills Abilities

• Knowledge of computers, electronics, digital media, databases, applications, software development, risk management, and information security.
• Customer support, systems analysis, troubleshooting, problem-solving, and listening skills.
• Strong understanding of fundraising principles, donor lifecycle management and advancement operations.
• Experience with CRM systems used in fundraising (e.g., Blackbaud, Slate, Salesforce, Ellucian Advance).
• Ability to interpret fundraising data and translate insights into actionable strategies for gift officers and leadership. Experience with donor segmentation, trend analysis and performance dashboards related to Annual Giving strategy is preferred.
• Proficiency in business process modeling, requirements documentation and workflow optimization for donor engagement.
• Experience with Agile and Waterfall methodologies, including backlog grooming and sprint planning.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to use business intelligence tools and programming/scripting tools such as SQL or Python for data analysis and reporting.

Qualifications

Appropriate experience may be substituted for education on an equivalent basis.

Minimum Required Education: Bachelor's degree

Minimum Required Experience: 5 year's

Preferred Education: Master's degree

Preferred Experience: Direct experience supporting fundraising operations, annual giving, gift processing, donor stewardship and advancement systems in a higher education or nonprofit organizations

Physical Requirements

Work requires occasionally lifting moderate weight materials, standing, or walking continuously.

Work Environment

Occasional exposure to dust, noise, temperature changes, or contact with water or other liquids. Work is performed in an environmentally controlled environment.

Sensory Acuity

Ability to detect and translate speech or other communication required. May occasionally require the ability to distinguish colors and perceive relative distances between objects.

The target salary range for this position is $86,300 - $110,400 annually. The final offered salary will depend on the applicant's education, experience, skills, and knowledge, as well as considerations of internal equity and market alignment.

Why MCW?

• Outstanding Healthcare Coverage, including but not limited to Health, Vision, and Dental. Along with Flexible Spending options
• 403B Retirement Package
• Competitive Vacation and Paid Holidays offered
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP)
• Pet Insurance
• On campus Fitness Facility, offering onsite classes
• Additional discounted rates on items such as: Select cell phone plans, local fitness facilities, Milwaukee recreation and entertainment etc.

For a brief overview of our benefits see: Benefits Overview

For a full list of positions see: MCW Careers At MCW all of our endeavors, from our internal operations to our interactions with our partners, are driven by our shared organizational values: Caring Collaborative Curiosity Inclusive Integrity Respect. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment that values diversity in backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives through merit-based processes and in alignment with all applicable laws. We believe that embracing human differences is critical to realize our vision of a healthier world, and we recognize that a healthy and thriving community starts from within. Our values define who we are, what we stand for and how we conduct ourselves at MCW. If you believe in embracing individuality and working together according to these principles to improve health for all, then MCW is the place for you. For more information, please visit our institutional website.

MCW as an Equal Opportunity Employer and Commitment to Non-Discrimination:

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive community of outstanding faculty, staff, and students, as well as ensuring equal educational opportunity, employment, and access to services, programs, and activities, without regard to an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, sex, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, predisposing genetic characteristic, or military status. Employees, students, applicants or other members of the MCW community (including but not limited to vendors, visitors, and guests) may not be subjected to harassment that is prohibited by law or treated adversely or retaliated against based upon a protected characteristic.