Regional Director of Development, Major Gifts, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

at  Harvard University

SUMMARY:

This full-time, exempt position is a member of the FAS Major Gifts team and reports to the Senior Director of Development, FAS Major Gifts. The incumbent will be charged with developing and executing sophisticated cultivation and solicitation strategies leading to the realization of five, six and seven-figure major gifts from an assigned portfolio of approximately 175 alumni and parent prospect households. The Regional Director will partner with colleagues in Donor Development team, Gift Planning, Harvard College Fund colleagues and volunteers, and others throughout AA&D to encourage major gift level support (beginning at $25,000 or in the form of $250,000+ multi-year pledges) across the FAS.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

• Manage a targeted portfolio of 175 households in an assigned region or regions. Responsible for meeting or exceeding assigned goals, including, but not limited to, goals for prospect visits, solicitations, successful gift closures, and dollars raised. Qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio.
• Acquire a deep understanding of assigned prospects’ philanthropic interests, capacity, and inclination through face-to-face and virtual meetings.
• Through the development of thoughtful strategies and intentional prioritization of prospects, ensure revenue goals are met by focusing on upgrading donors and through maintaining an active regional/territory presence.
• Adhere to all prospect management processes and policies around contact reports, proposals, stage codes etc. to ensure cross-departmental transparency and effectiveness.
• Serve as a partner to the Harvard College Fund team, Gift Planning, and Donor Development colleagues by identifying new prospects, volunteers, and supporting the goals of elevating unrestricted and flexibly restricted support at FAS.
• Actively seek to improve professional skills, knowledge, and understanding of Harvard by developing relationships with colleagues across campus, attending campus events and activities, and participating in training activities.
• Utilize knowledge of prospects’ interests, to develop and execute robust, multi-step prospect strategies. Strategically leverage academic leadership, faculty, and other members of the Harvard community leading to successful solicitation and closure of six and seven-figure gifts.
• Travel occasionally with senior academic and administrative leaders. Responsible for securing visits for all leaders and for constructing meetings to effectively leverage each leader’s time to advance prospect strategies. Responsible for communicating meeting strategies through written briefings and pre-visit briefing meetings or calls.
• Work closely with senior fundraising leaders within FAS Development, the University Development Office, and other Harvard Schools to coordinate strategies for prospects with multi-school affiliations and/or interests. Embrace collaboration with these partners to deepen each prospect’s relationship with the university to maximize giving potential through broad interests.
• Serve as a leader, resource, and mentor for other fundraisers in the organization by leveraging their fundraising experience, as well as their knowledge of FAS content acquired through their prospect work to inform prospect strategies. Will be expected to contribute productively to prospect strategy reviews and trainings.
• The above covers the most significant responsibilities of the position. It does not, however, exclude other duties, the inclusion of which would conform with the level of the position.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• BA/BS required.
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in development or directly related transferable experience. Experience received while in college may contribute to the required work experience minimum for this position, if the role was within the development field.
• Travel expectations of roughly 35% of working days spent on the road in specified territory/region.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

• Successful track record as a fundraiser or transferable experience, with a preference of 4+ years of direct solicitation/sales/relationship management experience.
• Knowledge of complex academic institutions and experience staffing academic leaders in development work is preferred.
• Strong active listening skills, including an ability to ask sensitive questions with tact. Demonstrated ability to uncover interests, motivations, and objections from prospective donors, clients, or others strongly preferred. Someone who is pleasantly persistent while exhibiting sound judgment.
• Comfortable making solicitations with a bias to asking during each initial prospect meeting.
• Ability to function at a high level within a complex organization, with prior university experience preferred.
• Experience working with fundraising volunteers preferred.
• Demonstrated experience of qualifying prospects during initial visits to determine inclination and capacity to make significant gifts to aid in the identification of new donors at the major gift level.
• Excellent interpersonal skills required to relate to donors, volunteers, and colleagues. Must be able to consistently display tact, diplomacy, discretion, and maintain confidentiality inside and outside of the organization.
• Must be a team player who understands individual success as part of a larger team’s success.
• Demonstrated ability to persuasively communicate the case for unrestricted and current use support strongly preferred.
• Must be a self-starter who is organized, detail-oriented, and able to prioritize and balance multiple tasks in a fast-paced complex environment.
• Must have a natural affinity for collaboration, leading through influence, and a high level of emotional intelligence. Must be drawn to a challenge and exhibit the patience necessary to advance solutions in a complex and collaborative organization. Demonstrates a personal commitment to excellence as well as an ability to admit mistakes and forgive faults in others.
• Experience with Advance or other fundraising systems or other relational CRM databases.
• Must be able to comfortably utilize Microsoft Office and other computer applications.

ABOUT US

• This position requires a 6 month orientation and review period.
• Please include a cover letter with your application.
  To learn more about the AA&D team, please visit our Careers site at https://alumni.harvard.edu/careers
  To learn more about how Harvard supports diversity and inclusion throughout the University please visit the Office for Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at https://dib.harvard.edu/.
  Accommodations: Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to apply for positions and participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please let your recruiter know.
  COVID 19 Vaccination Information: The health of our workforce is a priority for Harvard University. With that in mind, we strongly encourage all employees to be up to date on CDC-recommended vaccines.

Please refer the Job description for details