ABOUT HOLY CROSS:

The College of the Holy Cross, (“Holy Cross”) seeks a dynamic, engaging and strategic leader to serve as its next Vice President for Advancement (‘VPA”) and report to the President. A highly selective liberal arts college, Holy Cross is one of 27 Jesuit Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States and the only one that is exclusively undergraduate. It offers an exceptionally rigorous academic experience defined by cura personalis, or “care for the whole person.” A college known for its singular identity, intellectual curiosity, academic excellence, and commitment to social justice, Holy Cross inspires and challenges its students to live and learn with meaning, purpose, and truth.
This is a time of tremendous momentum on campus. The College surpassed 10,000 student applications for the first time in our history. The record-setting applications set our admission rate at 18 percent for the Class of 2029. Just four years ago, it was 43 percent. While we enroll some of the most academically competitive classes in our history to our beautiful campus in Worcester, Massachusetts, we continue to welcome a wide range of students from all over the country and the world. Strong school spirit, and close and life-long bonds flourish at Holy Cross and create the larger Holy Cross community of over 40,000 passionate alumni.
With an endowment valued at over a billion dollars, Holy Cross entered fiscal year 2025 from a position of strength. A history of consistent, positive operating results combined with comprehensive financial and capital planning, and responsible stewardship of resources, has enabled the College to thrive. The College set an aggressive fundraising goal of $70M for FY25.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Authentic appreciation for the mission of Holy Cross and the Jesuit educational tradition.
• 10 or more years of successful leadership experience in an advancement role in a major academic, cultural, healthcare, or other not-for-profit institution with a sophisticated donor base.
• Demonstrated success identifying, cultivating and soliciting six to eight-figure gifts, and managing a personal portfolio of high-capacity donors.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to inspire confidence, build strong relationships, and represent the College’s mission with intelligence, empathy, and integrity.
• Strong record of success in comprehensive and endowment fundraising, campaign execution, and principal gift development. Experience leading campaigns is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to be a trusted advisor and build a strong working relationship with the president/institutional leader.
• Experience working with a highly engaged and dedicated board of trustees, and other key alumni/donor volunteers.
• Familiarity with the regional and national philanthropic communities.
• An inspirational, collaborative and transparent leadership style, with proven success in the development of high performance teams.
• Commitment to best practices in the advancement field and an understanding of the full range of fundraising strategies and tactics, both established and emerging.
• Strategic thinking and comfort working in complex, mission-driven institutions, especially through change.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.

• Provide visionary and strategic leadership for all advancement-related functions, including major, principal and planned giving, annual giving, alumni and parent engagement, donor relations, corporate and foundation relations, advancement communications, and advancement operations.
• Serve as a key leader—alongside the President and Board—in orchestrating and driving the success of the comprehensive campaign in support of Aspire, the College’s strategic plan.
• Personally manage a portfolio of the institution’s most generous, loyal, and influential donors and prospects, building lasting relationships that align donor interests with strategic priorities.
• Inspire, mentor, and lead a talented advancement division, fostering a culture of teamwork, collaboration, innovation, high performance, results orientation and mission alignment.
• Elevate systems, practices, and metrics to support an efficient, data-informed advancement enterprise, enabling sustained growth over time.
• Serve as a trusted and valuable member of the President’s leadership team to move strategic and organizational goals and priorities forward. Work collaboratively across College administrative divisions.
• Partner regularly with the Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance (“SVP for A&F”) and related team members to ensure employment of best practices and alignment including reporting fundraising results internally and externally. Meet regularly with the President and SVP for A&F.
• Work closely with the Vice President for Communications and Marketing, the chief communications strategist collegewide, to integrate Advancement into the College’s comprehensive communications plans and ensure proper alignment across the two divisions.
• Engage senior academic and administrative leaders across the College to identify compelling philanthropic opportunities and co-create strategies for donor engagement.
• Provide staff support to the Board of Trustees as needed.
• Serve as a key external ambassador for the College’s mission, impact, and vision.
• Uphold and articulate the values of Jesuit, Catholic higher education in all aspects of advancement work, ensuring alignment with the institution’s identity and commitment to inclusive excellence.
• Other duties as assigned.