Senior Director of Foundation Relations, Healthcare and STEM

The University of Texas at Austin•Austin, TX

32d•Onsite

About The Position

The University Development Office seeks a Senior Director of Foundations Relations to focus on priority health care and STEM initiatives at UT Austin. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a team building a $2.5B integrated academic health system including a complex care hospital that is at the heart of an international research powerhouse campus. It is the chance to create the hospital of the future built on UT’s strengths in AI and supercomputing. This position reports to the Executive Director of Foundation Relations. In partnership with senior leaders, faculty and staff at The University of Texas at Austin, the Senior Director will establish, secure and cultivate philanthropic investments from local, national and international foundation partners. They will identify, qualify, solicit and steward professional and family foundations for funding to support, but not limited to top-ranked Dell Medical School, Cockrell School of Engineering, College of Natural Sciences, College of Pharmacy, School of Nursing, Steve Hicks School of Social Work and others.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and five years of direct fundraising and fundraising management experience.
Demonstrated track record of high performance in a fast-paced environment.
Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to develop compelling proposals and reports with a focus on areas such as policy, science, health, and medicine.
Experience in establishing strategies to identify and qualify private foundations and corporate foundation partners.
Success in creating and executing a strategic development plan for soliciting, securing and stewarding gifts from external partners.
Experience in establishing a pipeline of supporters and managing a portfolio of donors.
Demonstrated success in portfolio management, prospect qualification, analytics, and research.
Proven project management skills.
Demonstrated ability to think strategically and creatively, work well under pressure, and manage details of several concurrent projects.
Experience using reporting tools, design software, and donor management software.
Proficient in MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

Passion for healthcare.
Seven to ten years of high-level fundraising experience on both the national stage and Texas stage.
Experience in six-figure-plus donor proposal or grant-writing.
Three to five years of grant management, institutional fundraising and corporate partnership experience.
Internship and substantive volunteer experiences focused on grant writing and grant management are a plus.
Experience with fundraising database and knowledge of prospecting tools and reports within fundraising systems or other prospective donor relations systems, e.g. Raiser's Edge, Sales Force, etc.
Proven self-starter capable of making sound, ethical, independent judgments.
Success working on teams to develop high-level proposals with funding opportunities across disciplines.
Personal and professional confidence, accompanied by a sense of humor and empathy toward others.
UT Austin is especially interested in qualified candidates who can contribute to excellence within an integrated health care system.

Responsibilities

Responsible for a $5-10 million annual fundraising goal from foundations partners withing 12-24 months of being in the role.
Develop strong relationships with foundation leaders and program officers, develop a deep understanding of the landscape of foundation giving. Report these findings back to UT Austin internal partners.
Partner with Executive Director, Foundation Relations to develop multi-million-dollar grants that fund both single and interdisciplinary opportunities across the UT Austin enterprise.
Develop persuasive and compelling solicitations and ensure proposals align with the strategic priorities and goals of UT Austin.
Cultivate and manage a portfolio of 35+ foundations.
Attend partnership and content relevant events to enhance UT Austin’s position such as conferences, scientific talks, lectures, etc. Visit with the foundation boards, leaders and/or program staff; organize campus site visits, and participating in meetings, calls, and events that advance these vital relationships.
Develop funding strategic plans for grand challenges and other interdisciplinary projects that impact priority initiatives.
Work closely with faculty to understand the concept, how his/her research/project stands on a national basis, what the research/scientific contribution will be and how the funding can help move the initiative forward.
Ensure the timely development, submission, and management of grant and sponsorship proposals including event sponsorships for signature programs, and applying best practices for tracking, acknowledging, stewarding, and reporting to our institutional partners.
Work closely with faculty, university leaders, and foundation representatives to coordinate all grant and foundation management activities to include RFP reviews and submissions, proposal development, deadline management, reporting requirements and communication plan.
Work with internal partners including other gift officers and teams within Texas Development to develop proposals and reports that accurately reflect programmatic priorities, needs, results, and lessons learned.
Create cases for support for both existing programs and programs of promise and institutional priority.
Provide top-quality stewardship to the institutional donors who invest in The University of Texas at Austin each year. Related responsibilities include providing personalized outreach and invitations to relevant events and experiences, coordinating sponsor recognition efforts with the communications team, and ensuring timely and accurate processing of all grant-related paperwork.
Adhere to internal donor management policies and utilize tools (VIP) for donor and volunteer management, data tracking and historical analysis of institutional donor relationships.
Other related functions as assigned.