Senior Director, Prospect Development

About the Organization 

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health is here to unlock philanthropy to transform health for all kids and families, in our community and around the world. We support child and maternal health programs at two world-renowned institutions, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The Foundation was established in 1997 as an independent public charity to ensure a continued source of dedicated funding and support for the health and well-being of children. The Foundation is the sole fundraising entity for the children's hospital at Stanford and maternal and child health programs at Stanford's School of Medicine. Philanthropy supports clinical care, research, innovation and education to improve the health of children and expectant mothers, locally and worldwide.

Our team is on a shared mission to:

• Fundraise to improve health outcomes and equitable access to excellent care for all kids and their families
• Advance equity and access to care for children with special health care needs

Job Description 

The Senior Director of Prospect Development leads a growing team of cutting-edge prospect researchers, managers, and analysts to help achieve the organizations ambitious fundraising goals in support of childrens health. Through identifying the greatest value that the Prospect Development team can contribute, the Senior Director will design, build and manage a comprehensive prospect identification, research and management program. The Senior Director navigates between the many (data models, grateful patient prospect pools) and the singular (research on prospects, development officer relationships). The Senior Director and the Prospect Development team partner closely with Development leadership, fundraisers, the Data & Reporting team and other stakeholders to plan, develop and implement prospect strategies that maximize philanthropic engagement and organizational performance.

The ideal candidate will have the experience to lead the team to maximize creative opportunities derived from the intersection of data, technology, research and partnership with frontline field officers; and the communication, leadership, and team-building skills to fully realize those opportunities.

Due to Covid-19, employees of LPFCH (Lucile Packard Foundation for Childrens Health) are currently working remotely, with the expectation of returning to the office within the next few months (subject to extensions as circumstances warrant). Once the office reopens, employees will transition to a hybrid work model. Please note that LPFCH has a Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy and that all new employees must submit proof of their Covid-19 vaccination and booster vaccines at the time their employment commences. Alternatively, prior to commencing employment, new employees may request approval for accommodation for an exemption to the policy as permitted by law.

The organization will give preference to candidates who are able to be on site one to two times per week at the office in Palo Alto, California, but fully remote candidates will be considered. Please note, if a remote candidate is selected for the position, compensation will be adjusted for their geographic location.

GENERAL POSITION DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The essential duties of the Senior Director, Prospect Development include:

Prospect Management

• Direct Prospect Development team in a systematic approach to prospect identification, cultivation, and solicitation strategies in collaboration with development officers and partners, focused on optimizing philanthropic potential throughout the organization.

• Partner with development leadership and front-line field officers to support individual giving through identifying new prospects, building portfolios, providing consultative services in support of prospect strategy, and tracking and reporting on relevant fundraising activities.
• Work with development leadership to ensure that prospect management policies and procedures are implemented in a manner that results in accurate and useful reporting built to support development officer performance and philanthropic optimization.
• Design, monitor, and evaluate the effectiveness of prospect identification and prospect pool management, especially focused on, but not limited to, prospects derived from the grateful patient family data feed, including implementation and maintenance of the capacity screening tool and a data modelling service.
• Collaborate with the Data & Reporting team to provide reliable and timely qualitative and quantitative data and trend analysis that supports the planning and operational effectiveness of key fundraising programs, including principal, major, gift planning and leadership annual giving.

Prospect Research

• Direct the prospect research team to provide prospect identification, research findings, strategic insights and solicitation sight-setting recommendations derived from research, and related services in support of effective fundraising programs and activities.
• Manage the team to efficiently use time and resources appropriate to the scope of the information requested.
• Work with team and stakeholders to develop partnerships that encourage two-way feedback with the goal of clearly articulated business needs and objectives successfully directing highest value research and strategy.
• Create or review donor profiles, fundraising summaries, prospect lists and other materials for internal and external clients.
• Ensure sufficient due diligence to meet partner organization requirements and reduce risk to the Foundation.
• Build focus and specialization on the team as appropriate in Bay Area and Silicon Valley wealth and the research required to support principal gift success.
• Support Board member prospect identification and research.

Leadership

• Work with the AVP of Advancement Services and Development leadership to set strategic goals for the Prospect Development team. Create transparency and set appropriate expectations with organizational leaders and stakeholders.
• Based on analysis of the application of resources to the highest priorities of the organization, determine useful metrics to evaluate effectiveness and implement changes as needed for the Prospect Development program.
• Negotiate service level agreements/tiered access to research products with development leadership in order to build shared ownership for rationale and right scoping for access to research products or services.
• Supervise the team, to include hiring, mentoring, goal setting, continuous feedback, professional development, and performance evaluation. Seek opportunities to promote the work of the team within the organization.
• Build relationships and collaborate appropriately with partners at Stanford School of Medicine and Stanford Childrens Health.
• Employ effective outreach and client-centered educational opportunities to ensure that Advancement staff, foundation leadership, and key leadership volunteers are appropriately educated and trained in the policies, products, and services offered by prospect development.
• Inform prospect management and prospect research software purchase projects.

NOTE: We are a dynamic organization in a rapidly changing industry. Therefore, the responsibilities associated with this position will evolve and grow in accordance with LPFCH's business needs and growth plans. More specifically, the incumbent may be required to perform additional and/or different responsibilities based on the future growth plans for the Foundation.

Position Requirements

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Required:

• A Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience in leading a prospect development program, preferably within a health care or university setting.
• 5+ years of staff management experience including the ability to coach, mentor, train and manage teams of 2 or more direct reports.
• Demonstrated expertise in the areas of non-profit prospect research, screenings, tools, data enrichment, maintenance, and integrity.
• Superior written and verbal presentation skills.
• Extensive experience analyzing high volumes of data from varying sources.
• Expertise in donor databases such as The Raiser’s Edge (or similar software) and commonly used research tools (LexisNexis, iWave etc.) is essential.
• Advanced ability to locate and interpret financial and biographical information from a variety of sources and adapt based on recognized economic and geographic factors.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office products including Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power Point.

Preferred:

• Experience in a large health care or university setting, and/or with large, related partner organizations.
• Experience with Grateful Patient fundraising data and programs.
• Prior specialization in Bay Area/Silicon Valley research and principal gifts research support.
• Some experience with international prospect research.
• Some experience using analytics software such as Power BI or Tableau.

SKILLS

Competencies the Senior Director, Prospect Development possesses:

• Strategic Thinker
  • Analytical; focused on synthesizing research findings into actionable insights.
  • Exercises good judgement and handles confidential and sensitive information with the utmost discretion.
  • Articulates a vision and routinely and repeatedly returns to guiding principles in order to evaluate resource allocation, level of effort, and right scoping for projects.
  • Holistic view of fundraising operations and ability to forecast impacts across teams from process changes.
  • Proactive in addressing stakeholder needs, motivations, concerns, and culture.
• Data Driven and Research Skills
  • Makes informed decisions based on data and analytics captured by systems or derived from research.
  • Applies logic and deep knowledge of fundraising practice to categorize, summarize and present complex findings from screenings, models, or research.
  • Delivers a high degree of accuracy without losing sight of the big picture.
• Inclusive Leadership
  • Holds space for all voices to contribute, grow and develop.
  • Stewards a cadence of regular feedback to team members; seeks it out and is open to coaching too.
  • Ability to lead through change and navigate ambiguity with success.
• Collaborative
  • Demonstrated ability to collaborate with diverse staff across an institution; strong team player with recognized leadership capacity and excellent interpersonal skills.
  • Highly developed verbal and written communication skills and the ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
  • Takes initiative, delivers results, observes a high degree of satisfaction from partners based on excellent outcomes and good relationships.
• Motivated by the LPFCH Mission
  • Possesses a genuine interest in improving the health and well-being of children.
  • Possesses a genuine interest in fundraising and philanthropy.

We know that building a diverse and inclusive workforce is key to our success and enables us to do extraordinary work for kids and their families. When you become part of our team, you’ll be joining a group of passionate and dedicated individuals who truly care about and believe in the work they do.

We provide competitive compensation and a wide range of benefits designed to meet the needs of our employees and their families. We are strong supporters of work life balance.

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health is an equal opportunity employer. Women, minorities, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.