Executive Director, Advancement

Northeastern University • Boston, MA

162d • $154,809 - $224,473 • Remote

About The Position

The Executive Director, Advancement (ED), as part of an interdisciplinary advancement team, reports to the Senior Associate Vice President of Development, and partners with colleagues at the Assistant, Associate, and Senior Associate Vice President level(s), as well as with the Vice President for Development and the Senior Vice President for Advancement. Multidisciplinary collaboration is now indispensable to transformative research and learning, and in this context, the Executive Director will provide structure and strategy to teams who will be integral to Northeastern's ambitious fundraising to support its leadership in global experiential higher education. The ED will be a part of an evolving organizational model that will create a comprehensive team of Northeastern advancement generalists with access to content and expertise within the colleges, programs, and campuses. The ED will collaborate with academic leaders to develop individualized cultivation and solicitation strategies yielding major and principal gifts. In addition to managing a portfolio of top prospects, the principal responsibilities of the ED will be managing a small team of advancement professionals within this structure, working closely with colleagues who are responsible for other content specialty areas to identify new major and principal gift prospects across disciplines; to develop and manage comprehensive and compelling solicitation strategies; and to cultivate, solicit, and steward university-wide prospects and donors, thus securing significant philanthropic revenue for the university. In addition, the ED will plan, organize, and execute the major gifts fund-raising program for alumni, parents, and friends for their colleges/programs/campuses. They will manage a small team of advancement professionals. The ED works closely with their colleagues who are responsible for other content specialty areas to identify new major and principal gift prospects across disciplines; to develop comprehensive and compelling solicitation strategies; and to cultivate, solicit, and steward university-wide prospects and donors, thus securing significant philanthropic revenue for the university. They will oversee and provide strategic direction for their content and specialty expertise for not only their own advancement teams but also for their colleagues within the global network. Likewise, they will work with their advancement and other content partners to develop interdisciplinary fundraising programs that support areas within the global network. The ED will manage a portfolio of 80+ prospects and donors and will actively solicit prospects at the $500K+ major gifts level and $1-5M principal gifts level. They will meet or exceed a goal of 80 personal contacts (virtual meetings, phone meetings, and personal visits) per year, utilizing virtual technology and travel to visit identified donors, prospects, and suspects, and meet or exceed annual fundraising and strategic goals. They will build and enhance relationships with Northeastern prospects and donors, involving them strategically in special programs and events, and connecting them to other university leaders and supporters to maximize their involvement with the university. They will use database donor software (Ascend) to track action on donors, prospects, and suspects in a timely and accurate fashion while maintaining appropriate records, reports, and analyses as required. They will oversee the design and production of regularly produced reports on progress toward annual goals for use by colleagues at the Assistant/Associate/Senior Associate/Vice President level(s). This position is Boston-based and not available for remote work.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required; Master's Degree preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive major gifts fund-raising experience, preferably in higher education.
• Proven track record in soliciting and closing major and principal gifts.
• Demonstrated ability to strategically lead a team, manage a comprehensive program, and hold fundraisers accountable for meeting ambitious fundraising goals.
• Data- and metric-driven mindset.
• Strong interpersonal skills necessary for building relationships with external (donors, prospects, trustees) and internal (deans, faculty, staff, colleagues) constituents.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to travel frequently (anticipated 60% of the time).
• Must possess high degree of independent initiative and innovation, negotiation, interpersonal, and networking skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop a sound program to facilitate and increase principal and major giving.
• Identify, qualify, and visit an assigned pool of approximately 80 prospects, suspects, and donors to assess their interest in the university and their capacity to make gifts.
• Develop and manage relationships with alumni, parent, and friend prospects and donors.
• Utilize virtual meeting technologies and travel as needed to qualify new parent prospects and to build relationships with existing parent prospects and donors.
• Actively solicit at $500K-$5M gift level.
• Utilize Advancement data management system (Ascend) to log activity, create call reports and progress reports, and maintain data integrity of prospect portfolio.
• Meet/exceed standard performance expectations (i.e. 80 personal contacts per year) as defined by supervisor.
• Collaborate with and guide other content expert colleagues within the global network to significantly increase major and principal gift commitments from prospects and donors.
• Oversee and provide strategic prospect management and direction to their colleges/programs/campuses.
• Identify, develop, manage, and support for their college/program/campus leadership prospects (at least 10 per unit), including developing solicitation strategies and partnering on each dean's travel to cultivate and solicit prospects and donors.
• Manage a small team of individual gift fundraisers; participate in the hiring, orientation, and training of direct reports; provide guidance, feedback, coaching, and mentorship to direct reports.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Paid time off
• Tuition assistance
• Wellness & life benefits
• Retirement benefits
• Commuting & transportation benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Educational Services
• Education Level: Master's degree