Associate Director, Advancement Research & Prospect Management

About the role

The Associate Director of Prospect Research is responsible for researching, discovering and qualifying potential major and leadership gift prospects to support the University's fundraising priorities. This position manages prospect research projects, prepares actionable donor intelligence, provides data modeling and predictive forecasting, and partners with advancement staff to ensure a healthy, evolving donor pipeline.

Responsibilities

• Conduct in-depth research on individuals, corporations, and foundations to evaluate giving capacity, philanthropic interests, and potential alignment with university priorities.
• Prepare detailed prospect profiles, briefing materials, and biographical notes for gift officers and university leadership to capture biographic, wealth and philanthropic interest information, focusing on the needs of each college.
• Ensure all information is updated in a timely and efficient manner in the CRM system.
• Use careful and independent judgement, proactively seek new major gift ($25,000+) and high-level annual gift prospects through data mining techniques, push technology and demographic searches.
• Collaborate with the ARPM team to validate, rate and prioritize prospects through combined qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Partner with the Director of Advancement Research & Prospect Management to lead additional proactive prospect identification efforts, including relationship mapping, event attendee analysis, and internal/external database screenings/scorings.
• Select & negotiate contracts with vendors when ARPM outsources an electronic screening or other project related to wealth/propensity scoring, data mining or appending (typically these contracts would be in the $25,000-$150,000 range).
• Partner with gift officers to support prospect strategy development, conduct portfolio reviews, and track cultivation & proposal progress.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree.
• At least four years of prospect research experience in a non-profit setting (preferably academic), or a combination of research and fundraising experience involving regular collaboration with a prospect research team on projects; however, a minimum of six years experience in library, market research or related field may be considered.
• Familiarity with CRMs (e.g. Ellucian's Banner, Salesforce, Blackbaud, etc.), data visualization platforms, wealth screening services and research tools.
• Familiarity with data querying, mining, and reporting.
• Excellent quantitative analysis skills, attention to detail and the ability to think strategically.
• Strong computer skills, including proficiency with Microsoft Office software (particularly Excel) and the products commonly used in fund-raising research (such as Lexis-Nexis).

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Data Analytics, Library Science, Marketing, Statistics, Journalism or related field.
• Major fund-raising campaign experience.
• Familiarity with the Banner database system and querying & reporting using Cognos; or proficiency with data querying, mining, and reporting.
• Knowledge of Wright State's mission and programs, and familiarity with Dayton-area businesses, VIPs, and philanthropic community.
• Supervisory experience.

Skills

• Proactive prospecting methodologies.
• Data modeling and predictive forecasting.
• Qualitative and quantitative research.
• Database management.
• Project management.
• Collaboration and teamwork.
• Communication and presentation skills.
• Problem-solving and analytical skills.

Benefits

Wright State University offers a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $60,000 - $80,000 annually.

Schedule

The schedule for this position is full-time (100%).