Assistant Director of Development, Harvard College Fund, Leadership Giving

Harvard University • Cambridge, MA

32d • Hybrid

About The Position

This full-time, exempt position is a frontline fundraising role on the Harvard College Fund (HCF) team, reporting to the Director of Development, Leadership Giving, Harvard College Fund. The Assistant Director manages a portfolio of approximately 75+ qualified leadership prospects and actively qualifies new prospects, while securing four-, five-, and six-figure commitments for the HCF and other critical FAS priorities. The Assistant Director will partner with colleagues across the Harvard College Fund, Donor Development, Gift Planning, other AA&D teams, as well as with volunteers, to encourage leadership level support at $5,000 annually or through multi-year pledges of $25,000 or more. At maturity, this role will generate $1 million+ per year.

Requirements

• BA/BS required.
• Minimum of 4 years’ experience in development or directly related transferable experience. Experience received while in college may contribute to the required work experience minimum for this position, if the role was within the development field.
• Travel expectations of roughly 35% of working days spent on the road in specified territory/region.
• You will be expected to attend meetings, work certain events/campus activities, such as reunions each Spring, and participate in department retreats that are taking place on campus in Cambridge, MA.
• Proven success as a fundraiser or in a closely related field (e.g., sales, account management, relationship management), with a preference for 4+ years of direct solicitation experience.
• Strong command of fundraising principles, with particular familiarity with reunion, annual, and unrestricted/current-use fundraising.
• Demonstrated strength in qualification: able to use initial visits to assess capacity and inclination to make significant gifts and to identify new donors at leadership and major gift levels.
• Exceptional active listening and discovery skills; able to ask sensitive questions with tact, uncover interests, motivations, and objections, and remain pleasantly persistent while exercising sound judgment.
• Comfortable making solicitations, with a bias toward asking during initial prospect meetings when appropriate.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust with donors, volunteers, and colleagues; must consistently demonstrate tact, diplomacy, discretion, and maintain confidentiality.
• Strong team orientation: understands that individual success contributes to—and depends on—the success of the broader team.
• Demonstrated ability to persuasively communicate the case for unrestricted and current-use support.
• Self-starter who is organized, detail-oriented, and able to prioritize and manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced, complex environment.
• Natural collaborator with high emotional intelligence and the ability to lead through influence; comfortable working through ambiguity and advancing solutions in a highly matrixed organization.
• Demonstrates a personal commitment to excellence, including the humility to acknowledge mistakes and the generosity to extend grace to colleagues.
• Experience with Advance or other fundraising/CRM systems.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to learn and effectively use other relevant software applications.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working within a complex academic institution and/or staffing senior leaders in development work preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manage, cultivate, solicit, and steward a targeted portfolio of 75+ qualified leadership prospects.
• Utilize knowledge of prospects’ interests to develop and execute robust, multi-step prospect strategies that leverage programmatic and stewardship engagement opportunities, HCF volunteer involvement, academic leadership, faculty, and other members of the Harvard community to cultivate and secure four-, five-, and six-figure leadership gifts.
• Actively identify and qualify new prospects with the capacity and inclination to support Harvard at a leadership, major, or principal gift level; add them to the appropriate assignment pipeline through thorough qualification, referrals from prospects, list reviews, and other methods in consultation with Prospect Management and Research partners.
• Use thoughtful prospect strategies and intentional prioritization to meet and exceed revenue goals, with particular emphasis on upgrading donors and maintaining an active presence in assigned regions/territories, and with a focus on securing new leadership-level commitments for the Harvard College Fund and other FAS priorities.
• In partnership with the Office of Gift Planning, incorporate gift planning elements into donor conversations to identify and confirm John Harvard Society households, and to structure proposals that incorporate gift planning opportunities wherever they may help leverage a larger gift.
• Adhere to all prospect management processes and policies including accurate and timely contact reports, proposals, moves management etc. to ensure transparency and effective cross-departmental collaboration.
• Serve as a partner to the Major Gift and Gift Planning colleagues by identifying new prospects and volunteers, and by supporting the goals of elevating unrestricted and lightly restricted support for the FAS.
• Provide timely feedback from donor conversations to help shape and refine the case for current-use support.
• Actively deepen knowledge of Harvard and professional fundraising skills by building relationships with colleagues across campus, attending events and activities, and participating in training opportunities.
• Serve as a member of the AA&D team by participating in group strategy discussions, providing project leadership when requested by management, sharing information with colleagues, and contributing to the achievement of the overall goals of Harvard University.
• Direct and mentor a shared, full-time Development Assistant, setting clear priorities and providing feedback and guidance.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off including parental leave
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one
• Retirement plans with university contributions
• Wellbeing and mental health resources
• Support for families and caregivers
• Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement
• Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level