Director of Leadership Giving

: Job no: 492832 Work type: Staff Full Time - Full Year Location: Lewiston, ME Categories: Advancement

Title: Director of Leadership Giving

Position Purpose:

The Director of Leadership Giving will manage a giving program that meets fundraising targets in support of the college's short and long-term strategic priorities. The Director is responsible for this key individual giving program focused on relationship building with alumni, parents, and friends who have the capacity to make gifts at the level of $50,000 to $1,000,000. Annual goals for this program range from $3 million to $7 million in new cash and commitments/pledges. They will manage a team of five front-line officers, each of whom supports a portfolio of approximately 125 prospects. The Director will lead by example, managing a personal portfolio in addition to their management responsibilities. They will be responsible for setting metrics for leadership gift cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, including number of contacts, visits, proposals, and commitments. The Director supervises front-line officers on a regular basis as they progress through their prospect work and towards established leadership giving goals based on strategic philanthropic initiatives. The Director works with LGOs to develop and implement strategic plans aimed at maximizing each individual's support of the college by working with colleagues in College Advancement, faculty, Purposeful Work, Admission, The Office of Intercultural Education, the Office of the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion, and high-level volunteers in an effort to engage our entire donor base and provide transformative support to our students, faculty, and staff.

Job Duties:

• Hire front-line officers and work closely with the team to establish best-practice approaches to relationship building and prospect management.
• Work closely with senior colleagues in Advancement to structure officer portfolios that mirror industry best standard and that map to regional, era, industry, and affinity priorities.
• Cultivate, solicit, and steward donors and prospects for gifts of $50,000 and higher for identified priorities of the college; this includes securing annual fund contributions as appropriate.
• Manage their own portfolio of 80-100 prospects for the purpose of cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, including the writing and presentation of proposals.
• Lead regular strategy sessions with Advancement colleagues; assist with development of prospect strategies and briefings; brief Vice President and President for individual meetings as
• Review the program and prospect pool Work with the Research team to analyze and identify best potential prospects for the program to focus on over the next 3-5 years.
• Build a pipeline of 200-300 prospects in advance of the next
• Support college leaders and key volunteers in the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of prospects and donors.
• Respond to general and targeted inquiries from the college's constituency regarding the leadership giving program through correspondence, proposals, and personal contact.
• Demonstrate a commitment to equity and anti-racist work and building new ways of engaging and connecting with underrepresented donor populations.
• Manage the marketing strategy and plan for the leadership gifts team with the support of Advancement Communications.
• Develop an annual operating plan for the team, including setting goals and benchmarks for assessment/measurement of prospect activity.
• Trained in the Plus Delta model, the director will be responsible for supporting the officers in following that model and demonstrating that training in their own work.
• Manage a program of dialogue gatherings aimed at key fundraising priorities for the
• Plan and organize events for high-level donors to showcase Bates and college priorities and act as a liaison with Advancement partners to support other key Bates events.
• Develop a thorough knowledge of Bates history, academic, extracurricular, and athletic programs and its faculty, students and administration.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of the college's priorities and initiatives of the faculty and
• Understand and meet departmental standards, policies, and procedures with respect to all aspects of work.
• Other duties as assigned by the Vice President for College Advancement.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education

• Bachelor's degree required
• Valid drivers license required

Experience

• Familiarity with the academic environment and higher education, preferably the liberal arts.
• 10+ years of experience in higher education advancement or equivalent.
• 5+ years of front-line fundraising experience, including successful solicitations, and familiarity with annual and reunion giving and/or alumni development experience, preferably in an academic setting.
• Demonstrated experience in and ability to cultivate and close major or deferred gift commitments is required.
• Experience with capital campaigns strongly preferred.
• Extensive experience working with and motivating staff.

Skills and Knowledge

• Excellent communication (written, verbal and presentation) skills.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills; ability to synthesize complex or diverse information.
• Ability to work independently and handle multiple priorities with minimal supervision.
• Impeccable organizational (time, task, project management) skills and ability to coordinate resources and staff within the college community.
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to develop and maintain collegial relationships. Must be flexible, collaborative and have a positive attitude.
• Willingness and ability to learn additional applications as needed.
• Ability and willingness to travel (by car, air, train or bus) domestically and internationally as needed.
• Ability and willingness to work weekends, evenings and other non-traditional schedules.
• Personal commitment to excellence and the mission of a top-tier small liberal arts college.
• Commitment to equity and inclusion, and serving the needs of a culturally and educationally diverse community.

Benefits:

Bates College offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits (health, dental, sick leave, 24 days of vacation, 2 personal days, 13 paid holidays, dependent care subsidy, free parking, access to library and athletic facilities & more), and a supportive, collegial environment in a drug and smoke-free workplace.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

Bates College is committed to the principle of equal opportunity and providing an educational and work environment free from discrimination. The college prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status and other legally protected statuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its education policies and programs, or in the recruitment of its faculty and staff. Bates College adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations. All college faculty, staff, students, contractors, visitors, and volunteers are responsible for understanding and complying with the Non-Discrimination Policy.

Inquiries concerning the college's policies, compliance with applicable laws, statutes, and regulations (such as Title VII, Title IX, and ADA/Section 504), and complaints may be directed to Gwen Lexow, Title IX Officer, View phone number on us.edajobs.com or via email at View email address on us.edajobs.com.

About Bates:

Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal arts college, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world.

Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. Committed to opportunity and excellence, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion, or national origin.

Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world. Bates engages the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology — that are transforming higher education and the world into which our students graduate.

Bates has highly competitive admissions, graduates over 90 percent of its entering students, and more than half of its alumni earn graduate degrees. Bates employs 200 faculty members and 550 staff.

The college is proud of deep roots in the Lewiston/Auburn community, Maine's second-largest urban area with a population of approximately 65,000. Bates is located on a beautiful, 133-acre, traditional New England campus in Lewiston, an emerging city with an entrepreneurial climate, a lively arts scene, and a dynamic business community. Bates is 35 miles north of Portland, 140 miles north of Boston, and 350 miles north of New York City.

Advertised: May 13 2024 Eastern Daylight Time