Experience Inc. Jobs

Senior Director, Major Gifts – College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Wayne State University is searching for an experiencedSenior Director, Major Gifts – College of Liberal Arts and Sciencesat its Detroit campus location.

Wayne State is a premier, public, urban research university located in the heart of Detroit, Michigan where students from all backgrounds are offered a rich, high-quality education. Our deep-rooted commitment to excellence, collaboration, integrity, diversity and inclusion creates exceptional educational opportunities which prepare students for success in a global society.

Essential functions (job duties):

Job Purpose

Provide vision, leadership, and direction for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences fundraising team (CLAS). Partner with the dean, and college leadership, to identify and articulate fundraising priorities for CLAS. Develop and manage fundraising strategies, initiatives and plans for CLAS. Manage senior major gift staff, and personally cultivate, solicit, and steward major and principal donors to meet established fundraising goals within the allocated expense budget. This position reports to the Associate Vice President, Development and Alumni Affairs.

Essential Functions

Organize and lead the effort, in partnership with the AVP, dean, department chairs and faculty, to identify and articulate fundraising needs and priorities for CLAS. Lead the development team in developing fundraising plans and strategies. Establish realistic and achievable timelines. Remain current with fundraising trends and serve as a resource on successful development activities, techniques, and methods.

Oversee the college’s major gifts portfolio. Personally manage a prospect portfolio to achieve aggressive fundraising and contact goals annually. Establish and implement prospect qualification, cultivation, and solicitation strategies with a focus on securing commitments of $100,000+. Draft and negotiate gift and pledge documentation ranging from moderate to high complexity. Engage university leadership and unit-based colleagues to support prospect strategies, as appropriate.

Responsible for leading team to meet unit fundraising goals and achieving individual fundraising goals; allocating and prioritizing time and resources to achieve the greatest return on investment. Performance and productivity will be measured on the following core metrics as determined annually:

• Dollars raised through new gifts and pledges

• Dollars raised toward campaign goals

• Number of major gift solicitations of $25,000+

• Number of major gifts closed at $25,000+

• Number of prospect visits and meaningful contacts each month

Supervise a diverse staff, effectively managing performance to meet individual and team initiatives; foster a collegial and highly productive work environment. Recruit, interview, hire, train, coach, evaluate, and discipline staff. Establish and communicate performance expectations in a manner that motivates and empowers staff to fulfill job duties. Encourage, support, and ensure employee participation in training and development programs.

In coordination with division leadership, manage the cultivation and solicitation of principal-level individual donors for CLAS. Conduct one-on-one visits to qualify, cultivate, and solicit donors and prospects to increase philanthropic giving. Model best-practices in major and principal gifts fundraising.

Manage unit's annual expenditure budget. Develop revenue and expense projections, prepare annual budget request, approve expenditures at unit level and monitor transactions for compliance with university policies and procedures.

Identify and recruit prospects to participate on volunteer committees to further the college’s major gift program. Train volunteers on appropriate cultivation and solicitation methods, techniques, and processes. Provide oversight of volunteers to ensure college, division, and university missions are attained.

Collaborate with divisional units (e.g. Corporate Relations, Foundation Relations, Annual Campaigns, Planned Giving, and Donor Experience) as well as other university units to ensure operational efficiencies within the unit.

Network with outside professional groups and organizations to keep abreast of current industry trends and best practices related to fundraising. Represent the Division of Development & Alumni Affairs at industry or community meetings at the request of leadership. Special projects and other duties as assigned.

WORK CONTEXT

This grid characterizes the position scope.

Job Reports to: Vice President/AVP/Dean

Leadership Accountability: Develops policy and strategic plans

Supervisory Accountability: Supervises professionals and non-managers

Organizational Accountability: Manages department

Financial Accountability: Manages operating budget

Customer Accountability: Interfaces with officials and executives

Freedom to Act: Sets broad policies and objectives

Unique duties:

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Bachelor's degree

Additional Education Information: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a degree in marketing, public relations, business administration or related field. Master's degree preferred.

Reasonable knowledge and understanding of university policies and procedures.

Experience

Expert (established subject matter expert, 7+ years experience)

Additional Experience Information: Minimum of 8-9 years experience working as a fundraising professional in direct major donor solicitations in excess of $25,000. Minimum of 4 years experience managing personnel, developing and implementing policies and procedures.

Direct experience with creating fundraising plans, preparing proposals, and conducting major gift solicitations required.

Higher education development and volunteer management experience preferred.

Professional understanding of, and interest in, Development and Alumni Affairs best practices and general operations. Understanding of trends and best practices within higher education fundraising.

Positive and collaborative professional philosophy, recognizing that this position is integral to the achievement of the goals and objectives of Development and Alumni Affairs.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

LEADERSHIP SKILLS: Demonstrated strong leadership skills that can influence and motivate individuals and groups to achieve results.

COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS: Ability to communicate clearly, concisely and professionally both orally and in writing. Strong interpersonal skills are a must. Ability to work successfully with persons from diverse backgrounds.

PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION: Ability to manage several projects simultaneously, prioritize and plan work activities while meeting respective deadlines. Strong organizational and time-management skills required. Maturity, sound judgment and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in a deadline-oriented environment.

ANALYTICAL AND PRESENTATION SKILLS: Ability to evaluate, interpret, and present complex information effectively in professionally prepared documents or presentations. Must possess a demonstrated attention to detail in order to achieve a high degree of accuracy.

TECHNICAL SKILLS: Proficient in the use of complex administrative systems software, preferably in the higher education environment. Proficient with Microsoft Office suite, especially Word, Excel and Teams. Ability to understand and translate complex concepts into lay terms. Demonstrated ability to translate user requirements into technical specifications and systems.

LEARNING AGILITY: Independent and innovative self-starter who displays an ability to learn quickly and easily adapts to changing situations. Experience researching topics to gain knowledge and understanding when information gaps exist.

TEAMWORK: Ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues within the division and other units to gain full understanding of the project and desired outcome; ability to produce high quality and consistent results with assistance of team members; provide support to teammates when tackling complex projects.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION: Demonstrates a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through continuous development, modeling inclusive behaviors and proactively managing implicit bias.

Preferred qualifications:

School/College/Division:

H86 - Development & Alumni Affairs

Primary department:

H8605-Developmnt office

Employment type:

• Regular Employee

• Job type: Full Time

• Job category: Staff/Administrative

Funding/salary information:

• Compensation type: Annual Salary

• Hourly rate:

• Salary minimum: $140,000

• Salary hire maximum: $160,000

Working conditions:

Normal office environment

Job openings:

• Number of openings: 1

• Reposted position: No

• Reposted reason: None (New Requisition)

• Prior posting/requisition number:

Background check requirements:

University policy requires certain persons who are offered employment to undergo a background check, including a criminal history check, before starting work. If you are offered employment, the university will inform you if a background check is required.

Equal employment opportunity statement:

Wayne State University provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. The university encourages applications from women, people of color and other underrepresented people. Wayne State is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.