Director of Major Gifts and Governance

William James College is in an exciting period of growth at a time when access to high-quality behavioral healthcare has never been more important. For over 50 years, our faculty and staff have prepared professionals to bring evidence-based mental health care to healthcare systems, community agencies, schools, correctional facilities, businesses, and private practice settings throughout New England and beyond. Our mission is clear: to advance educational excellence in applied psychology and to develop skilled, compassionate professionals committed to expanding access to behavioral healthcare for individuals and communities who need it most.

About the Role

The Director of Major Gifts and Governance will serve as a close strategic partner to the Vice President of Advancement and College President, playing a leadership role in growing the College’s major gifts program, advancing key philanthropic priorities, and strengthening engagement with the Board of Trustees and other volunteer leaders. This role joins WJC at an important moment of philanthropic opportunity as the College embarks on a major campaign and works toward growing annual philanthropic support from approximately $3 million to $5 million over the next two years.

The Director will manage a portfolio of major gift prospects and donors, developing and executing individualized strategies for identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. This role also involves supporting governance work, including meaningful trustee engagement and strengthening connections between Board members and institutional priorities.

Responsibilities

• Build and actively manage a portfolio of major gift prospects and donors, developing individualized strategies for identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Maintain an active schedule of meaningful donor and prospect engagement, with clear annual goals for visits, solicitations, proposals, philanthropic commitments, and dollars raised.
• Personally cultivate and solicit significant major, multi-year, campaign, and planned gifts in support of College priorities.
• Proactively identify and create new opportunities for donor engagement and philanthropic investment, expanding WJC’s network and pipeline of prospective supporters.
• Partner closely with the College President and Vice President of Advancement on the strategy, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of the College’s highest-level donors and prospects.
• Drive major gift activity from strategy through execution, maintaining momentum and consistently advancing relationships toward meaningful philanthropic commitments.
• Develop compelling proposals, briefings, talking points, and other materials that connect donor interests with institutional priorities.
• Strengthen the major gifts pipeline through thoughtful prospect identification and qualification and the strategic movement of donors toward deeper engagement and increased giving.
• Develop meaningful and individualized stewardship strategies for major donors, including opportunities to engage with College leadership, faculty, students, programs, and the impact of their philanthropy.
• Identify opportunities for planned giving and work with donors and their advisors to develop philanthropic commitments that support both donor interests and the College’s long-term priorities.
• Serve as a key member of the Advancement team responsible for planning and executing the College’s major campaign, including building and sustaining campaign momentum.
• Partner with the College President, Vice President of Advancement, trustees, campaign leaders, and other volunteers to cultivate and solicit prospective campaign donors.
• Engage and support campaign volunteers, providing them with the information, strategy, materials, and guidance necessary to be effective ambassadors and fundraising partners.
• Identify opportunities to broaden the College’s philanthropic network through campaign activity, events, introductions, and relationships with donors, alumni, friends, corporations, foundations, and community leaders.
• Contribute to campaign strategy, prospect review, goal setting, donor recognition, stewardship, and other activities necessary to achieve campaign objectives.
• Serve as a key Advancement liaison to the Board of Trustees and appropriate Board committees, working closely with the President, Vice President of Advancement, and College leadership.
• Build strong relationships with trustees and develop a deep understanding of their interests, networks, and potential roles in advancing the College.
• Support and strengthen trustee engagement in the philanthropic life of WJC, including personal giving, donor cultivation, introductions, solicitation, stewardship, campaign leadership, and participation in Advancement activities.
• Develop strategies that enable trustees to serve effectively as ambassadors and connectors for the College and help expand WJC’s network of philanthropic and community relationships.
• Support the identification, cultivation, recruitment, and engagement of prospective trustees and other volunteer leaders in partnership with College leadership.
• Prepare Board and committee materials, briefings, reports, presentations, and other communications related to Advancement and philanthropy.
• Develop a deep understanding of WJC’s academic programs, community partnerships, strategic priorities, and funding needs and articulate a compelling case for philanthropic support.
• Build strong working relationships with faculty, program leaders, senior administrators, and other colleagues to identify philanthropic opportunities and bring promising ideas from concept to fundable opportunities.
• Bring an entrepreneurial approach to Advancement by identifying opportunities, testing new strategies, solving problems creatively, and adapting quickly as institutional and philanthropic opportunities emerge.
• Work collaboratively across the WJC team, including with colleagues responsible for grants, operations, donor relations, communications, and events, to ensure a coordinated approach to donors and institutional priorities.
• Participate in the strategy, development, and execution of donor cultivation, stewardship, campaign, and special events.
• Maintain accurate and timely prospect information, contact reports, strategies, and next steps in the College’s donor database and use data to inform fundraising strategy.
• Contribute actively to Advancement planning, goal setting, prospect strategy, and departmental priorities as a senior member of the Advancement team.
• Take ownership of projects and opportunities, anticipate next steps, and drive work forward with a high degree of independence, accountability, and follow-through.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred.
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience in development and fundraising, including significant experience in major gifts and a demonstrated ability to expand donor networks, develop new philanthropic relationships, strengthen prospect pipelines, and grow fundraising programs.
• Proven track record of personally cultivating, soliciting, and securing significant major gifts and developing successful strategies for prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Demonstrated success in an entrepreneurial or growth-oriented fundraising environment, with the ability to take initiative, create opportunities, build momentum, and move ideas and relationships from concept to execution.
• Experience with a comprehensive, capital, or major fundraising campaign strongly preferred, including experience working with campaign leaders and volunteers.
• Demonstrated experience working effectively with boards, trustees, senior institutional leaders, and high-level volunteers, with an understanding of governance, volunteer engagement, and the role trustees can play in advancing institutional and philanthropic priorities.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and the judgment, professionalism, and discretion necessary to build trusted relationships with donors, trustees, senior leaders, faculty, volunteers, and other key constituents.
• Strategic, creative, nimble, and highly proactive, with demonstrated ability to identify opportunities, solve problems, manage multiple priorities, and drive work forward with consistent follow-through.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex institutional priorities into clear and compelling cases for philanthropic support.
• Ability to work collaboratively across an organization, engage colleagues as partners in fundraising, and build productive relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives.
• Strong organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to manage a significant portfolio of relationships and priorities simultaneously.
• Experience with donor databases and prospect management systems; Raiser’s Edge experience preferred.
• Knowledge of planned giving strategies and vehicles preferred.
• Ability to travel as needed and participate in occasional evening and weekend events and meetings.
• Valid driver’s license.