Associate Vice President of Advancement & Campaign Director

Located in Boston’s historic Fenway area, Simmons University has a strong tradition of empowering women and challenging traditional gender roles. Simmons was founded for equality 125 years ago as one of the first higher education institutions dedicated to helping women become leaders. Today, our university continues to grow and evolve and now offers Boston’s only women’s undergraduate program and graduate programs open to all. 

You’re joining our community at an especially exciting time as we continue to innovate for the future. Simmons recently launched a six-school academic structure that leverages our expert faculty and longstanding expertise in professions that make our communities stronger. In addition, we continue to highlight our high-value education proposition that is delivering greater ROI to students and putting them on the fast track to career growth and success. You’ll find that people who work here truly believe in our mission of preparing students to become social justice-oriented leaders who excel in their professions and their communities. This commitment and pride make for a dynamic workplace.

As a university that values diversity, equity, and inclusion, Simmons encourages applications from all under-represented groups. Simmons is committed to creating, developing, promoting, and enhancing inclusive hiring practices–at all levels, for all positions–ensuring diverse talent pools and the delivery of a consistent positive candidate experience. Simmons is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to continuing to develop a more diverse faculty, staff, student body, and curriculum.

JOB SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Vice President of Advancement in the Office of Advancement (“Advancement”), the Associate Vice President of Advancement & & Campaign Director (AVP/CD) is responsible for building a sophisticated culture of philanthropy at Simmons University (“University”) and amplifying  the extension of this culture across campus and in support of our academic vision, mission and values.  He/she will grow, diversify, and sustain fundraising revenue into the future. To that end, the AVP/CD will manage and mentor a team of fundraisers, the prospect management team, and campaign communications function to achieve success in advancing the University’s academic priorities as defined by the provost and the deans of the University’s six signature schools. 

In strategic partnership with the VP for Advancement, this person will manage the day to day aspects of a multi-year comprehensive capital campaign, including developing solicitation strategies, staffing the capital campaign committee and maintaining the administrative aspects of the campaign, including updating timelines, benchmarks, and progress reports, while leveraging data analytics to inform campaign strategies, working with the Advancement Services team. Working with the VP of Advancement, this person will develop strategic campaign objectives and the creation of campaign messaging materials to support the campaign working collaboratively with the Simmons marketing department. Serving as a key partner to institutional leadership and Deans, the Assistant Vice President/CD will regularly report on the campaign’s results and successes, offering insights for continued growth and refinement.

This position requires a strong desire to build strong philanthropic partnerships from the ground floor as well as to be a creative, strategic and agile professional who thrives in start-up environments and finds joy in creating breakthroughs and supporting ambitious academic leaders.  Simmons is a mission-centric organization so building passion and a sense of purpose to the prospect work is an important paradigm for the university. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

•  Work in close partnership with the VP, Advancement and Advancement leadership team to create a comprehensive strategy to engage, cultivate, solicit and steward donors from a variety of stakeholder groups to ensure a thriving philanthropic culture and gift revenue to support the needs and aspirations of the University as determined by the Board, President and University leadership team. 

• Plan, oversee and execute a Major and Principal Gift fundraising plan as part of a comprehensive capital campaign, that outlines annual goals, objectives, determining tactics, measuring benchmarks and evaluating outcomes in support of fundraising and relationship development.

• Manage, mentor and support a team of major, principal, and planned gift officers to support strategic relationship building work.  Support gift offi