Associate Director, Development, Physical Sciences Division

Department
 

ARD Physical Sciences Division

About the Department
 

The ARD team of the Physical Science Division (PSD) serves as part of the Sciences and Organizations fundraising team at the University of Chicago. Tasked with raising money for the Dean’s priorities in the PSD, as well as supporting departmental needs for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geophysical Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics. The team engages in alumni relations activities; manages a portfolio of donors and prospects to the Division; and works with colleagues across ARD to broaden the exposure of the PSD to the alumni and friends of the University of Chicago.

Job Summary
 

This position uses best practices and knowledge in the planning and implementation of development activities; typically within the undergraduate college, an academic department, a professional school, the central development office, or another University unit. Executes fundraising projects, cultivation programs for prospective donors and for visiting committees.

Responsibilities

• Under the leadership of the PSD Director of Development, works to develop strategy around Divisional and Departmental priorities, including persuasive writing, strategic events, and donor cultivation. Collaborates with faculty and departmental administrators to identify programmatic needs and develop strategy for funding opportunities.
• Manages the stewardship and acknowledgment process for principal and major gifts to the Division including timely reporting and stewardship event execution. Develops and implements compelling plans for stewardship and donor relations and seeks new and innovative ways to engage donors and prospective donors in order to increase fundraising. Leads the development team’s efforts in utilizing stewardship as a cultivation tool for existing and previous donor engagement.
• Leads development team’s efforts in identifying, cultivating, and securing bequest opportunities to the division. Collaborates with the Director of Development to identify and target key gaps in coverage among prospect segments with promising fundraising potential, including planned giving pipelines.
• Manages a portfolio of roughly 25 to 40 prospects; this includes a combination of major gift, annual giving, and bequest prospects. Provides support in lead discovery and prospect engagement activities with the goals of increasing contributed revenue, expanding the prospect pool, and growing the donor base to reflect the diversity and capacity of PSD’s audiences.
• Manages development communication programs for the Division in partnership with the PSD’S communications team. Assists in the PSD Annual Giving campaign strategy and story content. Collaborates and liases with PSD’s marketing department and central ARD strategic communications and direct response teams. Has a high level of authority in drafting donor content for print and digital publications, informational and marketing materials.
• Provides leadership,  strategic planning and administrative support in the development department and serves as project manager for key fundraising initiatives as assigned.
• Acts as the Phoenix database power user and in-house expert with an emphasis on extracting, organizing and analyzing data on engagement and cultivation activities, meetings and interactions to develop comprehensive strategies throughout donor lifecycle. . Maintains visit records as well as prepares custom and ad hoc reports, spreadsheets, graphs and charts.
• Plans, manages, and executes strategic events and programs, both in-person and virtually, designed to advance relationships with prospects and donors. including semi-annual PSD Council meetings
• Prepares confidential briefings for events and individual meetings for the PSD director of development, Dean, and other University leaders as needed.
• Develops PSD materials such as funding priorities talking points, department updates, proposal language, toolkits, pitches, gift opportunities, etc. for gift officers.
• Connects ARD generalist gift officers with PSD funding opportunities and leadership. Earns shared solicitation credit as a key partner for ARD generalists and fundraisers in other units as opportunities for collaborative solicitations arise.
• Seeks opportunities for professional development that will enhance job performance, including building networks within the University and with colleagues at peer institutions.
• Establishes fundraising goals and priorities based on department objectives, designs strategies to meet those goals, and monitors progress against goals.
• Identifies, analyzes, and qualifies donor interest to maximize giving. Helps with overall planning efforts for the University's most important prospects. Works independently to d