Senior Director of Major Gifts

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Director, Major Gifts will qualify, cultivate, and solicit major gift prospects ($250K-$1M) in a designated geographic region. Operating within the One Northeastern model, the Senior Director maintains a university-wide perspective, raising support for a broad range of institutional priorities spanning individual colleges, multidisciplinary programs, and strategic initiatives.

About the role

Operating within the One Northeastern model, the Senior Director maintains a university-wide perspective, raising support for a broad range of institutional priorities spanning individual colleges, multidisciplinary programs, and strategic initiatives. While possessing a solid understanding of Northeastern University’s overall academic enterprise, the Senior Director may also build deeper expertise/knowledge about a college, program or campus in order to serve as a content resource to other development colleagues and to strengthen collaborative fundraising efforts.

Responsibilities

• Lead major gifts fund-raising effort and serve as the content expert for Advancement for assigned College
• Cultivate, solicit, and build alumni, parent, and friend relationships. Strategize with faculty and other colleagues on next steps with prospects within College and across disciplines.
• Travel as needed to build relationships with existing volunteers, prospects, and donors. Solicit gifts in the $250K – $5M+ range.
• Work with the Senior Associate Vice President, Advancement and other advancement teams (corporate & foundation relations, leadership giving, international and regional giving, gift planning, and family philanthropy) to ensure the development goals of College are met.
• Advise faculty, fund-raising colleagues, and administrators on alumni and parent areas of interest.
• Partner with fund-raising colleagues (corporate & foundation relations, leadership giving, international and regional giving, gift planning, and family philanthropy) to develop interdisciplinary strategies for donors providing support across the university.
• Build Prospect Portfolio and Pipeline
• Discover new prospects and build pipeline to feed gifts at the major gift level. Work closely with the Senior Associate Vice President to create a strategic development plan for College and develop and manage a portfolio of prospects (approximately 80+).
• Establish region-based plans for cultivating and soliciting alumni and current parents in targeted areas nationally.
• Engage faculty strategically with prospects; maintain correspondence; and keep the Senior Associate Vice President, faculty, and appropriate University administrators apprised of funding opportunities and trends.
• Travel as needed to strategically identified regions to support prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Achieve annual fund-raising goals and activity (visits, video meetings, calls, proposals, etc.) metrics set by the Senior Associate Vice President.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience cultivating and soliciting, alumni, parents, and friends at the $100K+ level, and maintaining positive relationships with donors
• Superior communication skills—highly collaborative and entrepreneurial in approach and possessing interpersonal skills necessary for building relationships with various university constituents, both internal and external
• Data- and metric-driven mindset
• An appreciation and understanding of the mission of Northeastern University

Key Skills

• Strategic thinking and problem-solving
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Effective communication and relationship-building
• Data analysis and reporting
• Project management and goal-setting

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a relevant field
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in fundraising, preferably in higher education
• Experience working with alumni, parents, and friends at the $100K+ level
• Proven track record of successful fundraising campaigns
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively

Benefits

Northwestern University offers a comprehensive benefits package for eligible employees, including medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement, and commuting & transportation. For more information, visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/.

Pay

$130,945.00 - $189,868.75 With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and expertise, and a pay comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to change.