Senior Director of Development, SOC

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Department:

Development - Schools & Colleges

Time Type:

Full time

Job Type:

Regular

FLSA Status:

Exempt

Work Modality:

Hybrid 01 (On Campus 3-4 Days/Week)

Union:

Job Description:

Summary:

Working in and reporting to the University Office of Advancement, the Senior Director of Development for the School of Communications (“SOC”) is the principal fundraiser for SOC at American University.  The Senior Director works on behalf of the Dean of SOC, shaping and executing plans for fundraising to advance the mission of SOC and fulfill the Dean’s academic priorities for the school.  The Senior Director of Development works primarily in major gift fundraising for SOC and participates in the Dean’s senior management team to understand fully and discuss implications of academic programs for development.  The Senior Director of Development plans, implements, and oversees the major gift fundraising program ($50,000 and higher) for SOC with emphasis on gifts of $100,000 to $1,000,000+.

The Senior Director serves as a key member of Dean’s management team and as an ambassador of SOC.  The Senior Director of Development supervises the activities of an additional fundraiser (Associate Director of Development, SOC), and they work as a collaborative team in support of donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, alumni programming, and planning of special events.  In coordination with the Dean, the SOC Development team strategically cultivates and recruit’s members for the SOC Dean’s Council.  The Senior Director of Development and SOC Development team strive to maximize the Council’s effectiveness, working closely with the Dean’s office to establish agendas and programs for meetings and communications.

Essential Functions:

• Work with the Dean of SOC to engage the Dean in donor/constituent specific Development strategies, secure dates and plan for the Dean’s development activities, including local and regional constituency events, travel for cultivation and solicitation, correspondence and regular contact with donors.

• Coordinate closely with the Annual Giving to ensure messages and priorities are consistent for the mail and phone programs; as well as with directors in other areas (Planned Giving, Regional Advancement, Strategic Partnerships, other units) on mutual interest prospects and programs.

• Management and strategy development of a portfolio of prospects generally rated $100,000-$1,000,000+.

• Meaningful contact or consistently demonstrated attempted contact of 100% of the assigned portfolio during any six month period;

• Regular maintenance of prospect pipeline (i.e., planned and executed solicitations) to reflect a minimum of 15 major gift solicitations per year.

• Work in concert with Advancement colleagues, including particularly close collaboration with the Principal Gifts Team, Planned Giving Team, and Office of Prospect Research & Management to conduct entrepreneurial prospect identification and qualification.

• The Senior Director of Development’s annual performance goals and financial objectives will be established collaboratively and with close review of the capacity and readiness indicators of the pipeline and in consultation with the Assistant Vice President of Advancement.

• Collaborating with Dean independently, aggressively work major and principal gifts portfolio, actively defining and executing strategies on assigned major and principal gift prospects, meeting or exceeding established benchmarks for proposal development, solicitations, and securing philanthropic investments that support the academic priorities of the Dean, other units, or the University as a whole.