Senior Director of Development, Geological and Planetary Sciences

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions and pressing societal challenges. Caltech's extraordinary faculty and students are expanding understanding of the universe and inventing the technologies of the future, with research interests from quantum science and engineering to bioinformatics and the nature of life itself, from human behavior and economics to energy and sustainability.

Caltech is small but prizes excellence and ambition. The contributions of Caltech's faculty and alumni have earned national and international recognition, including 40 Nobel Prizes. The institute manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA, sending probes to explore the planets of the solar system and quantify changes on Earth; owns and operates large-scale research facilities such as the Seismological Laboratory and a global network of astronomical observatories, including the Palomar and W. M. Keck Observatories; and cofounded and comanages LIGO, which, in 2016, observed gravitational waves for the first time.

Job Summary

The purpose of Advancement and Alumni Relations (AAR) is to foster a thriving and engaged community of support for Caltech. By connecting the people who share and support Caltech’s mission and values, we will ensure the Institute receives the necessary resources to achieve Caltech’s aspirations and sustain its excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship in perpetuity.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Individual Giving, the Senior Director of Development for Geological and Planetary Sciences (SDOD, GPS) manages and executes the major and principal gift fundraising for the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS) at Caltech. As an individual contributor, the SDOD provides leadership in fundraising to advance the mission and goals of the Division and the Institute. The SDOD will collaborate broadly with campus and academic leadership, Advancement and Alumni Relations colleagues, faculty, and volunteer councils to ensure strategic coordination and integration of Division funding priorities across the Institute. The SDOD, GPS will be personally responsible for a portfolio of donors affiliated with the Division, interdisciplinary institutes, and centers associated with the Division, as well as Institute wide funding priorities.

Job Duties

• Execute the Division’s major and principal gift fundraising plan engaging established and prospective donors, building a major and principal gift pipeline, collaborating with faculty members, organizing events, and performing other activities to promote and achieve the fundraising goals of GPS and the Institute.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director of Individual Giving; Vice President of AAR, Associate Vice President of Development, GPS Division Chair, and others to develop, direct and implement all aspects of the Division’s development program.
• Consult with the GPS Division Chair to identify the Division’s fundraising goals, including the Division’s priorities, and develop a comprehensive plan to meet those goals.
• Work with GPS Division Chair to build and manage the Chair’s Council, a group of key volunteers for GPS. Create meaningful engagement opportunities for the Council that strengthen the commitment of Council members to GPS and ultimately lead to increased support for GPS priorities.
• Develop an in-depth understanding of GPS, its programs and priorities to leverage emergent opportunities within the framework of the Division’s and the Institute’s strategic development priorities.
• Actively identify and manage a portfolio of major and principal gift prospects and develop and implement donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
• Represent GPS to development stakeholders (donors, parents, alumni, faculty, Associates, students, campus leadership, etc.) and ensure the involvement of stakeholders in supporting GPS and contributing to the direction of its development function. Build strong relationships with donors and prospects, faculty, alumni and volunteers.
• Work with Advancement and Campaign Communications to create a compelling case for support of the GPS’s fundraising priorities that are consistent with the communications strategy follow Caltech’s brand strategy.
• Prepare proposals to established and prospective donors.
• Provide leadership and ensure coordination with colleagues regarding Campaign, annual, major and planned gifts, corporate and foundation gifts and grants, as well as Advancement Services and Alumni Relations.
• Collaborate and communicate with colleagues to ensure strategic focus, outcomes and documentation of prospect identification and management, and gift agreements and documentation.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 7-10 years of progressively responsible development experience.
• Proven experience raising major gifts, including raising six figure gifts from individuals.
• A working understanding of a research university environment and working with prominent faculty along with the grace and enthusiasm necessary to engage high net worth individuals on behalf of Caltech.
• Demonstrated success persuading and influencing groups and individuals to support the organization’s agenda with respect to colleagues, team members, volunteer leadership and other potential stakeholders.
• Outstanding demonstrated success building, cultivating and stewarding new relationships leading to measurable results i.e. larger donor base, increase in campaign revenue, increase in volunteer participation and partnership.
• Demonstrated success personally soliciting significant principal and major gifts.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and a track record of successfully managing current and prospective benefactors at the principal and major gift level along with outstanding social skills, instincts, judgment and integrity are required for success. The ideal candidate will be an ambitious and motivated professional, who values a collaborative working environment and who will be able establish strong, interpersonal relationships with academic leaders, donors and development office staff.
• Must demonstrate a highly sophisticated understanding of all aspects of the cultivation and solicitation process, whether staffing senior administrators such as the Institute's President, members of the Board of Trustees, GPS Division Chair and key faculty or making successful solicitations him/herself.
• Candidates must be comfortable with a flexible work schedule, including travel for major donor cultivation and some evening and weekend work.
• Demonstrate the ability to practice and adhere to organizational values.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven experience raising seven and eight figure gifts from individuals.
• Advanced degree
• Demonstrated success in fundraising for science or engineering related centers.
• Candidates will have an authentic curiosity about basic science as well as a strong appreciation for the extraordinary intellectual accomplishments and challenges of Caltech's faculty and students.
• Familiarity with Excel and Power Point is helpful.

Required Documents

• Resume
• Cover Letter