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Western Governors University

Advancement Writer

🇺🇸 Salt Lake City, UT

🕑 Full-Time

💰 $73K - $109K

💻 Development & Advancement

🗓️ November 6th, 2025

Edtech.com's Summary

WGU Corporation is hiring an Advancement Writer. The role involves writing and contributing materials for grant proposals, stewardship communications, post-grant reports, and broad-based fundraising communications while documenting business processes and collaborating with project managers to support WGU Advancement’s initiatives.

Highlights
  • Writes letters of inquiry, grant proposals, and post-grant reports for foundations and government agencies.
  • Develops stewardship communications such as gift acknowledgements and endowment reports with Donor Relations & Stewardship Manager.
  • Documents and updates technical, system, and business processes for WGU Advancement including flowcharts.
  • Creates case statements for prospect development and fundraising by synthesizing complex information.
  • Collaborates on project requirements and writes Jira stories with Project Manager and Business Systems Analyst.
  • Copyedits and proofs materials authored by Advancement staff and leadership.
  • Provides expert consultation and leadership on writing projects across Advancement and other university units.
  • Requires expertise in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Adobe InDesign, Acrobat, and Visio or similar flowchart software.
  • Bachelor’s degree in a writing-intensive field and 5 years of related experience are required; experience in grant, business, or technical writing preferred.
  • Full-time position with benefits including bonuses, insurance options, retirement plan, tuition discount, and flexible paid time off; salary range $73,000 to $109,400.

Advancement Writer Full Description

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.
At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: 
 
Grade: Professional 308Pay Range: $73,000.00 - $109,400.00

Job Description

Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities
  • Writes and contributes written material for letters of inquiry and grant proposals to public and private grantmaking organizations, including family foundations, corporate foundations, and governmental grantmaking agencies.
  • Writes and contributes written material for post-grant reporting on awarded grants.
  • Writes and contributes written material for stewardship communications, including gift acknowledgement letters, thank you letters, and endowment reports, in collaboration with the Donor Relations & Stewardship Manager.
  • Develops a robust, up-to-date understanding of current and historical business processes, technology systems, and projects led and contributed to by WGU Advancement.
  • Organizes and writes documentation of WGU Advancement's technical, system, and business processes.
  • Develops flowcharts and visual representations of business processes.
  • Synthesizes and crystallizes complex information about WGU's initiatives, programs, and projects, using this information to compose case statements for use in prospect development and fundraising.
  • Documents and updates written project requirements and tasks in collaboration with the Project Manager and Director of Advancement Services.
  • Writes Jira stories in collaboration with the Project Manager and Senior Business Systems Analyst.
  • Writes and contributes written material for broad-based communications, including event invitations, fundraising solicitations, and community engagement content.
  • Copyedits and proofreads materials, including but not limited to the kinds noted above, written by other staff and leadership in Advancement and other WGU areas.
  • Provides expert consultation and leadership on writing projects led by other staff and units in Advancement and other WGU areas.

This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities.  The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
  • Exceptional written communication skills
  • Ability to manage multiple tasks and prepare high-quality work under strict deadlines
  • Knowledge of one or more academic or professional citation styles
  • Expertise in desktop publishing, typesetting, and document design
  • Extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office, especially Word and PowerPoint
  • Strong working knowledge of Adobe InDesign and Acrobat
  • Knowledge of Visio or similar flowchart software
  • Familiarity with the unique constraints and requirements of grant and proposal writing
  • Strong analytical skills
  • Excellent leadership and project management skills.
  • Self-starter with a strong ability to use initiative and work autonomously under tight deadlines.
  • Works well in a team environment.
  • Excellent verbal communication skills.
  • Excellent listening and informal interviewing skills.
  • Strong customer focus.
  • Strong technical and problem-solving skills.

Education          
  • Bachelor's degree in Literature, Journalism, Communications, Rhetoric and Composition, or a similar writing-intensive field

Experience
  • 5 years of related experience.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience with grant writing, business writing, and technical documentation
  • Experience with promotional, persuasive, or journalistic writing

Experience in lieu of education
An equivalent combination of training, experience, credentials, or accomplishments demonstrating the ability to perform the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements.

Position & Application DetailsFull-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information
Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive. 
Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.