Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations serves as a link between the College and the corporate and foundation community—establishing and retaining relationships for the College at multiple levels. Reporting to and operating in close partnership with the Chief Development Officer, the Director secures corporate and foundation funding for a range of institutional priorities at Olin.

The Director closely partners with key stakeholders across the College to develop and submit proposals for funding with a focus on strategic priorities; builds bridges and relationships between the College and targeted corporate and foundation funders; creates strategies to advance the College’s mission by leveraging funding opportunities; and stewards existing grants while also providing faculty with funder-related guidance.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

FUNDRAISING

• Manages a targeted pool of local and national foundations and corporate prospects.
• Advances the College's agenda by gaining foundation and corporate support of Olin initiatives, either through direct funding, gifts-in-kind, or other agreements.
• Develops and executes cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT & MOVES MANAGEMENT

• Develops strategies to engage and encourage key foundation and corporate partners towards greater involvement with the College.
• Works externally with foundation program officers and corporate executives/partners.
• Develops, coordinates, and implements funder site and campus visits.
• Helps to create communication and marketing strategies for the college in its work with corporations and foundations.
• Increases involvement of alumni, parents of current students, and other friends of the College who are in senior positions within corporations to increase corporate support, as well as individual giving by those individuals.

PROPOSAL WRITING

• Meets with faculty members, and other stakeholders to gather information to develop detailed and compelling proposals.
• Drafts letters of inquiry, stewardship reports, and other documents, as needed.

COLLABORATING & REPORTING

• Works with the Development team to coordinate activities, develop best practices, streamline processes, and improve overall fund-raising capacity.
• Tracks their own cultivation and fundraising activities through existing databases and systems and generates reports on their own work to share with colleagues and senior management.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 5-7 years of front-line fundraising experience or equivalent with a track record of securing 6+ figure gifts from corporations and foundations to support higher education.
• Demonstrated success building strong professional relationships.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to interface effectively with corporate and foundation representatives, as well as with college stakeholders.
• A sincere interest in being a member of a highly interactive and mutually supportive team.
• Resourceful and able to collaborate with colleagues and external constituents at all levels.
• Self-motivated with the ability to think and plan strategically; strong problem solving skills.
• Excellent attention to detail; strong organizational skills.
• Customer-orientation that includes exceptional follow-up and responsiveness.
• A proactive approach that takes initiative and actively seeks to deepen current donor relationships and forge new ones.
• An appreciation for Olin’s unique value proposition and role in transforming engineering education.
• Proficient in Raiser’s Edge, or a similar CRM, Microsoft Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to values of equity, access, and belonging.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION:

Olin College of Engineering seeks employees who are passionate about working collaboratively within and outside of the Olin community to support the College’s mission and vision for the future. At Olin, we are educating the next generation of engineering innovators and shifting the definition of engineering. Not only do our students ask, “Who are we designing this for, and what are their values?” They also ask questions about the impact of their work on society.

As Olin evolves under the leadership of our president, Dr. Gilda Barabino, we seek to become a more diverse and aware community, a place where everyone is a learner and where everyone is an educator. Olin will become a place where experimentation—including making and learning from mistakes—will be embraced across the institution, not just in the classroom. Collaboration is key to Olin’s curriculum and culture, and we will work intentionally to reinforce the values and culture to which we aspire. We are a community that thrives on being together; we value trust. The College supports teams to collaboratively decide how they can best do their work, and display a commitment to the community, all while providing individuals with overall work-life flexibility.

Olin College is situated on 75 acres in Needham, Massachusetts. We are approximately ten miles from Boston, one mile from the MBTA Commuter Rail train station, and approximately four miles from the Woodland Station for the MBTA Green Line. We have plenty of free parking on campus. You can find more details on our Visiting Campus page.

https://www.olin.edu/">Take a Virtual Campus Tour: From the moment you step on campus at Olin, you feel a buzz of energy and activity—and once you experience it, you want to be a part of it.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER STATEMENT:

We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace:

At Olin College we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace. If you’re excited about a role and have relevant experience, but your work history doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we'd nevertheless encourage you to apply.

Olin College is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We especially welcome applications from candidates belonging to groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA people, and people with disabilities. Employees of the College who have a disability are welcome to request reasonable accommodations by contacting Human Resources at HR@olin.edu.