Associate Director of Gift Planning

Description of Job

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Collaborates with CU System Advancement staff to develop a prospect pipeline; cultivate, solicit, negotiate, and close gifts, focusing on multi-faceted outright gifts; gifts of complex or unique assets; gifts-in-kind; revocable designations; and irrevocable gifts such as charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities, retained life estates, or charitable lead trusts.
• Works within the CU Anschutz Advancement office to cultivate and advance gifts that benefit CU by providing technical gift planning expertise to colleagues and donors.
• Advises CU Anschutz development officers on prospect identification for planned gifts and development of solicitation strategies.
• Supports CU Anschutz development officers by adding value to the cultivation, proposal and solicitation phases of gift conversations, to include in-person and virtual meetings with donors as needed, and development of gift agreements.
• Remains current and shares up-to-date information with colleagues about planned giving strategies that can benefit both donors and the university, including assisting in conducting regular training and/or updates to Advancement staff on planned giving, tax laws, and other regulations pertaining to charitable giving.
• Contributes to University system, campus, and Gift Planning department goals by supporting the implementation of an annual gift planning workplan to achieve strategic goals and benchmarks for program growth.
• Contributes to system-level advancement of gift planning strategies to include creation of a strong future “pipeline”, development of staff trainings, stewardship of existing legacy society members, strengthening relationships with the advisor community, evaluation of counting standards, gift acceptance policies and procedures, and similar.
• Works to cultivate existing and new benefactor relationships (i.e.: through thank you calls, prospecting/cold calls, discovery visits, stewardship touches, etc.) with the intent of sustaining and increasing the relationship with benefactors and potential benefactors on behalf of and in support of the CU Anschutz Campus. The benefactor pool and pipeline are comprised of CU Anschutz alumni, grateful patients and/or their loved ones/families, leadership volunteers, CU Anschutz faculty, organizations and community members.
• Works daily to ensure timely, accurate completion of discovery outreach, proposals, pledges and fund agreements.
• Performs other duties and special projects as assigned such as database maintenance, gifts-in-kind support, and estate distribution efforts.

Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education, or equivalent professional experience (professional experience may be substituted for the educational requirement on a year-for-year basis)
• Five (5) years’ experience securing major and/or planned gifts, fundraising, acting as a financial planner, or directly comparable work
• One (1) year of experience in a team lead or supervisory role, which may include assigning and reviewing the work of others, providing guidance to internal and external team members, and/or assisting management with performance reviews
• Ability to travel

Preferred Qualifications

• Post-baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education (e.g. Master of Business Administration, Juris Doctorate, Master of Arts, etc.)
• Seven (7) years’ experience securing major and/or planned gifts, fundraising, acting as a financial planner, or directly comparable work
• Two (2) years’ experience in a team lead or supervisory role, as indicated above
• Professional certification (e.g. Certified Financial Planner)
• Experience in a nonprofit, higher education, or healthcare environment
• Experience working within large, complex organizations