Associate Vice President for Development

About the Role

The Associate Vice President for Development is a senior advancement leader responsible for designing, leading, and executing comprehensive fundraising strategies across annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, and corporate and foundation relations in support of the university’s strategic priorities.

Reporting to the Vice President for University Advancement (VPUA), the AVP serves as both strategic architect and working fundraiser—driving revenue growth and organizational capacity while maintaining a personal portfolio of high-capacity donors and providing day-to-day leadership to frontline development staff.

The AVP partners closely with the President, Vice President for Advancement, deans, faculty, and trustees to align fundraising priorities with institutional goals and to build a culture of philanthropic excellence across the university.

Responsibilities

• Design, lead, and execute comprehensive fundraising strategies across annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, and corporate and foundation relations.
• Drive revenue growth and organizational capacity while maintaining a personal portfolio of high-capacity donors.
• Provide day-to-day leadership to frontline development staff.
• Partner with university leadership to align fundraising priorities with institutional goals.
• Build a culture of philanthropic excellence across the university.
• Demonstrate strong financial acumen with budget development, resource allocation, and ROI analysis capabilities.
• Use data-driven decision-making with analytics, metrics, and predictive modeling.
• Develop long-range plans and translate strategy into executable action.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors at the six- and seven-figure level.
• Implement performance management expertise, including goal-setting, metrics tracking, and accountability systems.
• Coach others in frontline fundraising and build organizational capacity.

Requirements

• Seven years of development experience with demonstrated success managing comprehensive fundraising programs and securing major and planned gifts, preferably in higher education or a comparably complex nonprofit environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• Detail-, goal-, and results-oriented with the ability to make independent decisions.
• Self-motivated, collaborative, and a team player.
• Sound judgment when dealing with a wide range of personalities, relationships, and situations.
• Ability to maintain enthusiasm for hard work, changing priorities, and multiple deadlines.
• Ability to interact well with a diverse community of faculty, students, and constituents.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, and corporate and foundation relations programs, including strategy development and performance management.
• Deep knowledge of donor-centered fundraising, gift planning vehicles, and complex gift structures.
• Comprehensive capital campaign experience.
• Experience with advancement CRM systems (Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce, etc.) and analytics platforms.
• Commitment to the University’s core values of Ethical Reasoning, Civic and Community Engagement, Lifelong Learning, and Diversity and Inclusivity.