Senior Analyst, Prospect Development

Department

ARD Prospect Management 1.1

About the Department

Alumni Relations and Development (ARD) engages alumni (~220k), current students, parents and friends of the University through intellectual, professional and social activities on campus, around the world and online. ARD raises $600 Million annually to support faculty and researchers, practitioners and patients, and students and programs across the University. Our work supports priorities in every division, school, department, and institute.

The Prospect Development and Decision Support (PDDS) team maximizes the value of fundraising data and systems to Alumni Relations and Development (ARD) staff and the University. We offer insight derived from analytics and qualitative research to drive fundraising strategy. We help staff members to work more effectively with data and technology through staff education programs, process and system design services, and change management planning. Working at the individual, team, and organizational level, we help make ARD staff informed, efficient, and successful in their efforts to maximize the University of Chicago’s fundraising and engagement potential.

Job Summary

This role conducts biographical and financial research on individuals, corporations, and/or foundations to support fundraising. Identifies prospective donors using research and analysis through use of standard procedures. Forecasts and measures the effectiveness of the fiscal year and overall campaign progress, which will help employees in the job acquire higher-level knowledge and skills.

Designs, manages, and executes development strategies and programs to maximize principal gift philanthropic support for the University’s priorities. Increases engagement and participation of the University’s worldwide community of alumni, parents, families and friends via diversified communication programs and activities.

Responsibilities

• Conducts in-depth research and prospect management analysis to identify, qualify, and track potential donors capable of making transformative gifts ($1M+, $10M+, and planned gifts), ensuring alignment with fundraising strategies.
• Develops and synthesizes reports, dashboards, and strategic insights to inform decision-making around transformative gift prospects, driving proactive engagement and pipeline development.
• Collaborates with ARD teams, including gift officers, donor relations, liaison analysts, and leadership, to develop tailored strategies for managing and advancing relationships with high-capacity donors.
• Manages the President and Vice President portfolio process, leading focused research and prospect management initiatives related to trustees and other high-level stakeholders.
• Monitors economic and wealth trends to identify shifts impacting transformative philanthropy, and develops educational resources and training to help staff integrate these insights into prospecting, cultivation, and solicitation strategies.
• Extracts, analyzes, and maintains data from Phoenix (the University’s Donor Relationship Management System) to create nuanced prospect profiles and inform cultivation strategies for transformative gifts.
• Designs and executes complex queries, creates custom variables, and performs data transformations with rigorous quality control to support strategic prospecting and portfolio optimization.
• Translates and contextualizes data insights into actionable recommendations for fundraisers, ensuring that research and management strategies are data-informed and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Stays current on industry trends and best practices in prospect development, with a focus on transformative and planned giving, to recommend improvements to UChicago’s strategies and processes.
• Pursues professional development opportunities to deepen expertise in principal and planned giving research, prospect management, and data analytics, while building networks within UChicago and with peers at other institutions.
• Contributes to the development and refinement of Business Intelligence (BI) tools and analytical applications, enhancing reporting capabilities specific to transformative giving strategies.
• Conducts prospect research, prospect management, strategic planning and market research on prospects and donors.
• Develops, maintains, and updates information on new and existing prospects, solving problems as they arise.
• Works with prospect management University-wide to design and execute strategies to grow the size of the prospect pool with a moderate level of guidance and direction.
• May provide guidance to analysts, train staff members on fundraising, report writing, and research.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education