Director of Gift Planning

In alignment with the Accountability, Collaboration, Excellence, and Servant Leadership (ACES) pillars of

the Office of Advancement, this position provides mission-critical fundraising and administration for the

benefit of the Office of Gift Planning. Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Identification, Cultivation, Solicitation, and Stewardship of Planned Gifts: The Director of Gift Planning supports planned giving initiatives for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee Foundation, Inc. (UTFI) by developing and implementing strategies that result in planned gift commitments of $50,000 or more. These efforts include donor identification, assessment, cultivation, strategy, proposal development, solicitation, gift negotiation, stewardship, and donor engagement. The Executive Director of Gift Planning, in collaboration with the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Regional, Gift Planning, and Corporate Philanthropy, annually sets both individual goals for the Director of Gift Planning and team goals for the Office of Gift Planning.

Additional responsibilities of the Director of Gift Planning are as follows:

• Maintain and manage a portfolio that includes both prospective and current major gift or planned giving donors.

• Emphasize the discovery of new prospective major gift and planned giving donors.

• Work closely with prospective and current donors and their family, financial advisors, attorneys, CPAs, and other advisors, regarding the potential structure of outright, testamentary, and life income gifts.

• Articulate how philanthropic investments change lives at UT, and create and present, with an emphasis on both outright and deferred gifts, proposals for $50,000 or more that are donor-centric and align with the funding needs and priorities of the Knoxville campus.

• Provide suggested charitable bequest language to prospective donors interested in including UTFI in their estate plans.

• Follow-up with leads received via incoming correspondence, web-based services, etc.

• Ensure accurate recording and tracking of activity and gift commitments.

• Help promote gift planning concepts to Advancement colleagues and other internal partners so they may encourage philanthropic gift planning vehicles in their conversations.

• Other duties as assigned.

Partnership/Collaboration: The collaborative responsibilities of this position include interacting with college, unit, and regional Advancement staff, the Executive Director of Gift Planning, and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Regional, Gift Planning, and Corporate Philanthropy, plus other UTFI and UT colleagues, to meet the needs of the Advancement operation.

• Collaborate with Advancement colleagues in assigned academic units and geographic territories on gift conversations with associated constituents.

• Coordinate with the UTFI Office of Planned Giving on gifts-in-kind, real estate, tangible personal property, or life income gifts, including producing gift illustrations pertaining to charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities, and other planned gifts.

• Collaboratively serve as a technical advisor to development staff seeking expertise related to proposing and documenting outright, blended, planned, and other complex gifts by adding value to all gift conversations in which involved.

• Conduct meetings with internal stakeholders to develop identification, assessment, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.

• Formulate and implement donor-centric stewardship and donor engagement activities for existing planned giving donors.

• Collaborate with Advancement colleagues and UTFI staff on appropriate gift commitment documentation and the receipt of estate distributions to UTFI.

• Create monthly activity reports for the Executive Director of Gift Planning regarding the advancement of individual gift conversations and related strategies.

• Create individual forecasting projections and strategies pertaining to portfolio and proposal assignments. 

• Attend various internal meetings.

• Ensure timely and accurate entry of both data into CRM software and submission of files to appropriate UTFI parties.

• Other duties as assigned.

Professional Development: In coordination with the Executive Director of Gift Planning, pursue continuous professional improvement and excellence through relevant continuing education via training, webinars, conference attendance, presenting on aspects of gift planning to internal or external