Associate Vice President for Individual Giving

The Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with Denison University in the search for an Associate Vice President for Individual Giving.

Reporting to the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, the Associate Vice President for Individual Giving will build broad-based private support for Denison University through the management of integrated, comprehensive programs that include major and planned giving, family philanthropy, leadership gifts, a growing athletic fundraising program, and prospect development among others. The Associate Vice President will share in the comprehensive strategic visioning of all aspects of the university's fundraising programs, including long-term goal setting.

Denison University is one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges with a vibrant, residential community of 2,300 undergraduate students and a student to faculty ratio of 9:1, ensuring that students are more than a number, and that they become active participants in their own educational experience. The university offers 65 academic programs and four pre-professional programs that lead to three undergraduate degrees. Denison University fields 26 athletic teams that compete at the NCAA Division III level in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Denison's extracurricular options for students include more than 160 student organizations that provide over 600 opportunities for campus leadership. These opportunities are provided on a pedestrian-friendly campus designed by pioneering landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The more than 900-acre campus features the 250-acre hilltop section, a 350-acre Biological Reserve, and historic Denison Golf Club. With an endowment of $1.1 billion, Denison commits over $70 million towards student financial aid each year in the form of need-based and merit-based scholarships. Success for Denison students continues after graduation with 92 percent of graduates employed, in graduate school, or completing service within six months of graduation. Ninety six percent of Denison's 28,000 alumni are working in their desired field or position, or on their way to achieving their professional goals.

Denison University is nationally recognized for the value of its prestigious academic programs and for its welcoming community. Business Insider has ranked Denison #43 in “Smartest Liberal Arts Colleges in America” by analyzing average standardized test scores. In its lists of “America’s Top Colleges” and “America’s Most Entrepreneurial Colleges,” Forbes lists Denison among the very best. Denison is among the top 50 best value liberal arts colleges according to Kiplinger’s and is ranked 11th in the New York Times most economically diverse top colleges. Washington Monthly focuses on what colleges are doing in response to social inequalities and ranks Denison high for social mobility. The university also ranks high for undergraduate service community hours, as well as postgraduate service opportunities with Peace Corps, Teach for America, and City Year.

Denison University is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism for its students, and for its employees and it is striving to be better and more accountable for its efforts. The university has embarked on a journey of candid and critical self-reflection, taking a deeper look into the role it can and should play in correcting the country’s long and painful history of racism. Denison Forward is the university's commitment to changing the way it thinks and acts—and to spark, nurture, and demand that change in society as well. Denison Forward is a thoughtful, inclusive, and data-driven approach to understanding the road behind and carving a better path ahead.

A bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required for this position as is at least eight years of fundraising experience in progressively responsible development leadership positions within major and planned giving units. All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Cover letters should be responsive to the mission of Denison University as well as the responsibilities and qualifications stated in the prospectus.