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Major Gifts and Campaign Communications Officer

Employer
University of Massachusetts Boston
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Salary
Salary Commensurate with experience
Closing date
Dec 8, 2022

UMass Boston
As Greater Boston’s only public research university and the most diverse university in New England, the University of Massachusetts Boston is a springboard to a more prosperous future for 16,000 students; a gateway to intellectual, practical, and artistic discovery; and a lever for higher education equity in Massachusetts. With a new strategic plan, we are poised for even greater impact in public-serving education and research.

University Advancement
UMass Boston University Advancement will partner with philanthropists to help bring this strategic vision and its outcomes to life. Our 32-person fundraising team is growing in size and impact. Over the past four years, University Advancement (UA) has doubled giving, raised more seven- and eight-plus-figure gifts than it had over the previous 50 years, and quintupled new endowments, increasing the university’s total endowment by 50 percent. Today we seek an experienced creative professional to help our mission-minded team inspire prospective donors to invest in the success of UMass Boston’s students and faculty.

General Summary: 

The Major Gifts and Campaign Communications Officer, reporting to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Principal & Leadership Gifts, will play a central role in advancing University Advancement’s leadership-gift cultivation and solicitation, and in building the pipeline of prospective major-gift donors for and during a comprehensive fundraising campaign. The Major Gifts and Campaign Communications Officer will be responsible for aligning solicitation strategy and messaging with university priorities and donor motivations across UA activities and vehicles, from in-person meetings to campaign outreach and events. The dynamic person in this role will work in close partnership with colleagues in Leadership Gifts and in Donor Engagement and Stewardship to develop and implement long- and short-term cultivation/solicitation strategies and communications, and with university leaders, key faculty, students, alumni, and donors to connect asks and gifts with their impacts in the UMass Boston community and beyond. This critical role will help drive our development results and shape the messaging and roll-out of a comprehensive nine-figure campaign

Examples of Duties: 

  • Solicitation: Proactively and responsively conceive, craft, and deliver informative and inspiring messaging, materials, and proposals connecting high-priority initiatives across campus with the philanthropic motivations of potential UMB donors, especially at the leadership level and above. Train frontline fundraisers to use materials in support of their solicitations as needed.
  • Strategic and campaign planning: Working closely with the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement and the UA Senior Leadership Team, help create and implement a plan for engaging alumni and friends in a comprehensive campaign driven by the university’s strategic goals. Partner with colleagues (and vendors, as needed) to develop key campaign messages and in-person, printed, multimedia, and digital outreach vehicles.
  • Management: This position oversees one PACE student-apprentice and a student worker. The role also prioritizes and project-manages many simultaneous initiatives and—in consultation with the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Principal & Leadership Gifts—oversees a variety of vendor relationships related to them (e.g., with writers, editors, designers, videographers, event planners). As the Advancement team grows in support of a comprehensive campaign, this position is expected to be responsible for hiring, supervising, and managing at least one direct report.
  • Communications: Write, edit, and proofread a variety of UA engagement materials as needed, eg. informational one-pagers, alumni magazine articles, invitations, reports, and web copy.
  • As directed by the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Principal & Leadership Gifts and Principal & Leadership Gifts team, perform other engagement and solicitation activities as yet to be determined, given the breadth of campaign outreach.

Qualifications: 

A bachelor’s degree is required, preferably with a concentration in a communications or nonprofit-management field. A minimum of 8 years of direct professional development experience in higher education or a non-profit institution, with a proven track-record of crafting effective proposals and/or other solicitation materials at the principal gift level, is mandatory. Thorough understanding and experience in comprehensive campaigning at the $100 million-plus level is expected.

Additional requirements and/or expectations are:

  • The ability to advance solicitation strategies while adhering to sound processes and procedures
  • A clear understanding of modern university development and campaigning at the nine-figure-plus level
  • Demonstrated success in helping close principal-level gifts
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, including:
    • The desire to work as part of a collaborative team
    • The ability to unify disparate voices and agendas toward a common goal
    • Comfort with and effectiveness in face-to-face meetings with university leaders, faculty, staff, and students, as well as donors and potential funders
  • Dependability and strong project-management, with:
    • The ability to deliver time-sensitive projects on deadline
    • Demonstrated success in developing and implementing strategic activities with clear goals and objectives
    • The ability to perform well under pressure and adapt to change in a fast-paced environment
  • Highly developed creative/communications skills, including:
    • Writing in a variety of voices and formats
    • Copyediting and proofreading
    • Interviewing, with a knack for drawing out meaningful stories and details
    • An appreciation for graphic design and experience working with designers, printers, photographers, and/or videographers. (Additional graphic design, photography, videography, and event-development capabilities and experience will be highly valued, as will familiarity with the Adobe Creative Suite.)
    • Willingness to travel out-of-state to major cities when needed.

Application Instructions: 

Please apply online with your resume, cover letter and list of three professional references.

Review of candidates will begin following the application closing date. 

Only Internal candidates in the Professional Staff Bargaining Unit will be considered during the first 10 business days of the posting.  All other candidates will be considered after that period. 

Salary Ranges for the appropriate Pay Grade can be found at the following link: 

Grade: 34            

Salary Ranges

This is an exempt union position.

All official salary offers must be approved by Human Resources.

UMass Boston requires all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and to confirm proof of their vaccination status. Exemptions from the vaccine requirement will be permitted only for qualifying religious or medical reasons. Regardless of vaccination status, you must wear a face covering in public indoor spaces on campus.

 

The University of Massachusetts Boston provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition, or membership in any other legally protected class. The University of Massachusetts Boston complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the university operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.

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