Reporting to the Assistant Dean of Advancement, this position is responsible for activities related to the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of annual leadership, major and planned gifts from alumni, families, friends, and institutions. The position collaborates closely with the other members of the College/School Advancement Team as well as with University Advancement, which provides resources and strategic counsel, and uniform metrics to help drive results within the schools and across the University. The Associate Director also partners with the Assistant Dean of Advancement in building alumni engagement and communicating the school’s mission, vision, and achievements to key donors, alumni, and additional external constituencies.
Entry- to mid-level donor portfolio management is the primary focus for this position, working to identify leadership annual giving ($5K+) and major gift ($50K+) prospects. This position will also help to identify and qualify major and principal gift donors and will closely collaborate with the Assistant Dean of Advancement on strategy and cultivation process.
The Associate Director’s performance will be measured against a set of mutually agreed-upon gift officer performance metrics, including prospects identified, donor visits, solicitations completed, and dollars
raised. In addition, this position (in partnership with the Assistant Dean of Advancement) will help lead and nurture volunteer groups, including (but not limited to) focused attention on recruiting, retaining, and strengthening a Council for Emerging Leaders.
This position may also serve in a non-supervisory capacity, but to assist in mentoring a Leadership Annual Giving (LAG) officer position that will also help build a leadership gifts pipeline for both the Associate Director of Advancement as well as the Assistant Dean for Advancement.
The projected salary range for this position, which represents the full range of anticipated compensation, is: $80,000 to 86,000 annually.
1. Individual Goals: Focus on securing leadership and major gift sources of support to meet funding priorities set by the Dean and in response to supporting key initiatives or strengths of the academic program within the College/School. Manage a portfolio of relationships with leadership and major gift suspects, prospects, and donors. The Associate Director will be expected to build, grow and manage a portfolio of major gift prospects, based
on new and past donors, at the $25k+ level, in addition to the metrics below.
The Associate Director will be expected to conduct prospect visits annually (number of visits to be agreed upon with Asst. Dean of Advancement), soliciting and closing 10-20 major gifts and engaging the same number of new major gift prospects each year.
The Associate Director is expected to build upon a program that currently generates 7-figure revenue annually, with a personal fundraising goal of $1.0M+ million per year. Annual gift revenue goals may vary year to year.
2. Partner with the Leadership Annual Giving Team to develop annual revenue targets, participation rate, and acquisition and retention targets. Work with school leadership and the central Advancement team to establish annual performance metrics (quantitative and qualitative).
3. Work with school leadership and the central advancement team to understand the program’s annual fund priorities and how these gifts support the needs of the Dean, the faculty and staff, and the various programs in the school. Strengthens the case for annual fund support and helps to steward donors through the sharing of gift impact.
4. Conduct face-to-face visits with annual fund program prospects and donors, including alumni and unaffiliated donors. The Assistant Director will be accountable for individual metrics (visits, solicitations, revenue, qualifications,etc…) in addition to school and programmatic goals for the annual fund.
5. Cultivate and solicit leadership annual giving members ($5,000 - $49,999) for the school, ensuring renewals are occurring for the program-based donors, and assisting with solicitation of annual fund support with the Board of Visitors in the school.
6. Develop strategies to move donors throughout the donor life cycle and up the pipeline to the major gift ($50K+) level and beyond. Strategies should be implemented in collaboration with the appropriate major gift officer(s), and an appropriate hand-off of relationships should occur as needed.
7. Utilize the University Advancement’s database to document call reports and other relevant information about donor and prospect engagement. Efficiently and effectively comb through a larger list of highly modeled prospects to qualify and disqualify them for larger philanthropic engagement.
8. Steward annual fund donors for the school throughout the year to thank donors and qualify them for further engagement by either the leadership annual fund officer and/or another colleague.
9. Develop and maintain excellent knowledge and understanding of the higher education fundraising climate and be constantly looking to identify and implement innovative and creative fundraising techniques, both in terms of engagement and advancement activities in general. Attend school donor events as needed.
10. Takes on new job-related projects as assigned.
11. Supports the Division of University Advancement in achieving its strategic and fundraising goals, as well as campaign goals, through productive interaction and collaboration with all departmental staff, University liaisons, and external constituents.
Bachelor's degree with a minimum of 3 years of fundraising or transferable experience required. Experience working in a higher education fundraising office is preferred. Sales experience and/or experience with donor/customer relationship management is preferred. Experience and impact as a fundraiser will be evaluated. Experience with Raiser's Edge or another database CRM is preferred but not required.