Northeastern University

Senior Director Major Gifts

Northeastern University$130K — $189K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience in major gifts fundraising, particularly with alumni, parents, and friends at $100K+
  • Strong communication skills with a collaborative and entrepreneurial approach
  • Proven ability to work independently and as part of a team
  • Data-driven with a focus on metrics and reporting
  • Understanding of Northeastern University's mission and values

Responsibilities

  • Lead a major gifts fundraising strategy for the College
  • Cultivate and solicit relationships with alumni, parents, and friends
  • Advise faculty and staff on donor interests and fundraising strategies
  • Build and manage a portfolio of over 80 prospective major gift donors
  • Travel to meet prospects and donors while ensuring strategic engagement
  • Mentor and develop a high-performing fundraising team
  • Ensure proper documentation and reporting of donor engagement activities

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
  • Generous paid time off policy
  • Tuition assistance programs for continuous learning
  • Wellness and life benefits
  • Retirement savings plan with employer contributions
  • Commuting and transportation support
Full Job Description
JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Director, Major Gifts will qualify, cultivate, and solicit major gift prospects ($250K-$1M) in a designated geographic region. Operating within the One Northeastern model, the Senior Director maintains a university-wide perspective, raising support for a broad range of institutional priorities spanning individual colleges, multidisciplinary programs, and strategic initiatives. While possessing a solid understanding of Northeastern University's overall academic enterprise, the Senior Director may also build deeper expertise/knowledge about a college, program or campus in order to serve as a content resource to other development colleagues and to strengthen collaborative fundraising efforts.

This position is Boston-based and is not available for remote work. Overnight travel and some evening and weekend work required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
  • Demonstrated experience cultivating and soliciting, alumni, parents, and friends at the $100K+ level, and maintaining positive relationships with donors
  • Superior communication skills-highly collaborative and entrepreneurial in approach and possessing interpersonal skills necessary for building relationships with various university constituents, both internal and external
  • Ability to work independently and collaboratively as a member of the Northeastern University Advancement team
  • Data- and metric-driven mindset
  • An appreciation and understanding of the mission of Northeastern University


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACCOUNTABILITIES

Lead major gifts fund-raising effort and serve as the content expert for Advancement for assigned College
  • Cultivate, solicit, and build alumni, parent, and friend relationships. Strategize with faculty and other colleagues on next steps with prospects within College and across disciplines.
  • Travel as needed to build relationships with existing volunteers, prospects, and donors. Solicit gifts in the $250K - $5M+ range. Work with the Senior Associate Vice President, Advancement and other advancement teams (corporate & foundation relations, leadership giving, international and regional giving, gift planning, and family philanthropy) to ensure the development goals of College are met.
  • Advise faculty, fund-raising colleagues, and administrators on alumni and parent areas of interest.
  • Partner with fund-raising colleagues (corporate & foundation relations, leadership giving, international and regional giving, gift planning, and family philanthropy) to develop interdisciplinary strategies for donors providing support across the university.


Build Prospect Portfolio and Pipeline
  • Discover new prospects and build pipeline to feed gifts at the major gift level. Work closely with the Senior Associate Vice President to create a strategic development plan for College and develop and manage a portfolio of prospects (approximately 80+).
  • Establish region-based plans for cultivating and soliciting alumni and current parents in targeted areas nationally.
  • Engage faculty strategically with prospects; maintain correspondence; and keep the Senior Associate Vice President, faculty, and appropriate University administrators apprised of funding opportunities and trends. Travel as needed to strategically identified regions to support prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
  • Achieve annual fund-raising goals and activity (visits, video meetings, calls, proposals, etc.) metrics set by the Senior Associate Vice President.


Staff Management
  • Mentor and develop a high functioning team.
  • Empower their efforts to manage their own prospect pools while also fostering collaborative, multi-unit strategies.
  • Provide strategic guidance and motivation that enables staff to achieve activity and dollar metrics.
  • Promote best professional practices via exemplary behavior, staff training, and professional development opportunities.


Maintain Prospect Portfolio
  • Maintain high-quality development process for active alumni, parent, and friend prospects, and donors.
  • Create call reports and maintain database system. Maintain the data integrity of prospect portfolio using the Development Office data management systems (Ascend).
  • Prepare monthly progress prospect reports for the Senior Associate Vice President. Work with Advancement's Stewardship team to ensure that past, present, and future donors are appropriately recognized, including their administration and accounting.


Position Type

Advancement

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.

Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information.

Compensation Grade/Pay Type:
114S

Expected Hiring Range:
$130,945.00 - $189,868.75

With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and expertise, and skills as well as a pay comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to change.

About Northeastern University

Northeastern University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus in Boston.
Learn more about Northeastern University
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2,700 employees
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