Director, University-Wide Philanthropy - Sciences

Job Purpose

Provide leadership and direction for foundation fundraising on behalf of assigned schools/colleges/units in the areas of life and physical sciences. Develop, implement, and manage private foundation fundraising strategies and initiatives to increase philanthropy. Oversee cultivation, solicitations, and stewardship of foundation partners to strengthen relationships, increase proposal submissions and award activity, and meet established fundraising goals. This position reports to the Senior Director, University-Wide Philanthropy.

Essential Functions

Essential functions are the primary duties/major job responsibilities that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation. The essential functions are listed in order of importance.

• Collaborate with academic leadership, including the provost, deans, department chairs, and faculty, to identify fundraising needs and priorities; develop fundraising strategies; create opportunities; and establish realistic and achievable timelines. Encourage, build and maintain strong relationships with foundation partners to enhance philanthropic support. Manage robust portfolio of foundation prospects. Cultivate, steward, and submit strong funding proposals to foundations based on needs and opportunities within the University. (30%)
• Responsible for achieving annual fundraising goal and assisting in meeting unit and division goals: allocating and prioritizing time and resources to achieve the greatest return on investment. Performance and productivity will be measured on the following metrics as determined annually:
  • Dollars raised toward unit fundraising goals
  • Number of proposals submitted
  • Number of proposals secured
  • Number of visits with external funders
  (25%)
• Collaborate with development professionals and other staff within the schools/colleges/units to identify funding opportunities. Cultivate and educate faculty and staff in philanthropic landscape, norms, and procedures. Strengthen relationships with faculty and community partners. (20%)
• Supervise staff, effectively managing performance to meet individual and team initiatives; foster a collegial and highly productive work environment. Recruit, interview, hire, train, coach, and evaluate staff. Establish and communicate performance expectations in a manner that motivates and empowers staff to fulfill job duties. Encourage, support, and ensure employee participation in training and development programs. (10%)
• Increase quality of CRM data in collaboration with Data Integrity team. Oversee project to codify internal policies and procedures as it pertains to foundation grant funding. Distribute policies and procedures to necessary groups. (5%)
• Assist in the annual revenue and expense projections for the University-wide Philanthropy team. Approve expenditures at the unit level and monitor transactions for compliance with university policies and procedures. (5%)
• Network with outside professional groups and organizations to keep abreast of current industry trends and best practices. Represent the Division of Development & Alumni Affairs at industry or community meetings as appropriate. Special projects and other duties as assigned. (5%)

This grid characterizes the position scope.