The client seeks an Executive Director of Development for Strategic Initiatives to lead a team of development professionals focused on fundraising, donor engagement, and stewardship across a portfolio of interdisciplinary, universitywide priorities. The role provides strategic leadership and coordination, guiding embedded development leaders across student-focused and engagement-related units, while also serving as a primary development partner and content lead for admissions and financial aid efforts and other emerging initiatives. The Executive Director will oversee annual fundraising planning, prospect pipeline development, and strategy execution, ensuring the team is positioned to expand philanthropic support.
In addition to team leadership, the Executive Director manages a personal portfolio of major and principal gift prospects with interests spanning multiple schools, units, and universitywide initiatives. Responsibilities include identifying and qualifying new prospects, cultivating and deepening donor relationships, developing tailored strategies, and securing significant gifts that support interdisciplinary priorities. This includes building and maintaining coordinated fundraising partnerships with relevant leadership and acting as a connector between admissions and financial aid efforts and other unit-level fundraising activities, particularly related to financial aid, access and affordability, and student success.
The ideal candidate is a strategic, relationship-driven leader who can align teams around complex priorities, translate institutional needs into compelling donor opportunities, and maintain disciplined portfolio management using CRM systems such as Affinaquest or Salesforce. Essential functions include supervising staff, setting performance goals, and fostering a collaborative, results-oriented culture, as well as identifying, qualifying, cultivating, and soliciting individual donors through substantive in-person and virtual meetings and proposal development to secure gifts at the major level (including $100,000 and above). The role will also provide overall leadership of development efforts across participating units to maximize fundraising performance and strengthen donor and alumni engagement through both short-term outcomes and long-term, sustainable success.