Senior Associate Director of Development, Central Initiatives

The Division of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) is seeking a Senior Associate
Director of Development for the George Washington University Central Initiatives team, encompassing all aspects of a student’s university life outside of academics and athletics, as well as key university-wide priorities.

DAR is responsible for leading the university’s alumni and fundraising efforts and seeks to promote a culture of philanthropy throughout the university community, including alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, corporations and foundations, patients, and friends. Our goal is to advance GW’s mission of excellence in education, research, scholarship, and patient care.

Reporting to the Director of Development for Central Initiatives, the Senior Associate Director of Development, Central Initiatives will drive attainment in support of key university-wide priorities, specifically initiatives, programs, and curriculum relating to sustainability. The gift officer will work closely with the member of the administration charged with leading these initiatives. The Senior Associate Director of Development’s work will support the strategy for Central Initiatives fundraising as implemented by the Director of Development and will help to build and develop the university’s philanthropic pipeline as a front-line gift officer. In conjunction with the Director of Development, this Senior Associate Director supports the top-line and secondary goals for George Washington General University (GWGU).
Top-line goals include: Total Attainment in $s; Total Scholarship Attainment in $s; Total # of Donors; # of Engaged Alumni. Secondary goals include: Donor Retention; # of Scholarship Donors; # of Family Donors; and # of Alumni Donors. This position is based in Washington, DC, and will require regular, national travel to support and advance relationships with prospects and donors.

This experienced individual serves as the primary liaison between the development team and an assigned portfolio of alumni, parents, corporations/foundations, and friends of the university in order to secure philanthropic gifts. This role partners with deans, faculty, central-, and school-based development staff to meet fundraising goals, execute events, and build affinity in support of sustainability-related philanthropic priorities.
This position will average 8-10 prospect visits monthly and will identify, research, and cultivate individual giving prospects, in part by engaging in 500 substantive contacts per year. This will entail collaborating closely with school/unit development and alumni relations staff as well as the central university development office to increase donor engagement and maximize gift potential. This position will assist the alumni relations team by driving an alumni audience to relevant activities, with the intention of identifying prospects and cultivating donors, while working closely with faculty and staff to gain a strong knowledge and understanding of the academic and research programs taking place throughout the university.
The position will be responsible for data management of the portfolio to ensure accurate prospect tracking of stage progression, contact reports, proposals, philanthropic capacity/inclination and biographical data.
This position may mentor other major gift officers in DAR and will serve as a trusted partner to our campus partners in sustainability
This position is ideal for a creative and well-organized development professional who is experienced in the area of sustainability and who is comfortable with a workload that will shift fluidly between time-sensitive projects.

The Senior Associate Director operates in an environment that fosters sustainable development work based upon best practices and standard performance metrics. This gift officer will serve as an honest broker of donor interests and support fundraising opportunities for a variety of areas across campus with a collaborative approach at all times.

Responsibilities:

• Builds and manages a portfolio of 100 – 120 prospects, accomplishing substantive prospect moves to achieve individual metrics at the Senior Associate Director level. Secures gifts ranging from $50,000 to $1,000,000+, with a focus on 6-figure gifts, from major and principal level prospects with diverse interests and class year classifications, working with urgency to support priorities defined by university leadership, with a focus on sustainability.

 

 

• Completes high-level discovery work to build and document a pipeline of prospects for GW’s university-wide sustainability initiatives. Maintains proper documentation of fundraising activities in the database (Advance) including strategies, correspondence, visits, proposals, and solicitations.

 

• At the direction of the Director, Central Initiatives, builds and maintains relationships with appropriate campus partner staff to understand and effectively communicate university-wide funding priorities. This position operates with independence and initiative while collaborating with team members and colleagues across the division to share best practices and execute joint solicitations.

 

• In order to meet the demands of the role, the Senior Associate Director of Development will be expected to regularly travel to meet with donors and prospects.

  Performs other work-related duties as assigned. The omission of specific duties does not preclude the supervisor from assigning duties that are logically related to the position