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Associate Director, Leadership Giving

Department: Office of Development & Alumni Affairs Effective Date: March, 2009
Grade: USG 12/13 Reports to: Associate Vice President, Development

General Accountability

Reporting to the Associate Vice President, Development, the Associate Director, Leadership Giving (ADLG)  is primarily responsible for the development and implementation of fundraising, donor stewardship plans and strategies focused on developing the major gifts “pipeline” of support including  the identification, qualification, cultivation , solicitation and stewardship of gifts up to $100,000 (major gift support threshold). This role will manage and devise strategies to build the overall leadership giving program, including UW’s leadership giving circle program. The ADLG will also provide strategic oversight of special appeals (e.g. targeted employee appeals) which may include prospects at various levels including annual gifts, leadership gifts, major gifts and organizational matching gift opportunities.

As a senior member of the central development team, the ADLG provides leadership in developing and evaluating strategic fundraising approaches that complement and enhance programs and initiatives in the central office (including stewardship, planned giving, principal gifts, annual giving, alumni affairs, and services areas including systems, gift processing, records, and research), as well as at the Faculty, College, and Department/unit level. This position involves extensive consultation and collaboration with senior officers representing each of these units, and others across campus including the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Awards Offices, etc.

Nature and Scope

Organizational Relationships

The incumbent reports to the Associate Vice President, Development who will:

-        Provide direction in establishing and clarifying Priority Projects,

-        Oversee the incumbent’s development & performance as a fundraising professional,

-        Assign special projects and supervisory duties as appropriate,

-        Provide resources to support the position.

Other positions reporting to the Associate Vice President, Development include: Associate Director, Planned Giving; Associate Director, Stewardship; Manager, Annual Giving; and, Development Analyst. The Development team works collaboratively with Faculties, Colleges and other units/Departments across campus.

The ADLG as recommended by the External Relations Transition Task Force, will build out the Leadership Giving team, including the hiring, training and supervision of three full-time Leadership Giving Development Officers between 2008-2009. The ADLG provides functional direction to the following positions as a portion of their job description relates to leadership giving: Associate Director, Special Projects; Administrative Assistant, Annual Giving; Development Analyst; and, Manager, Keystone Campaign. In addition, the ADLG works collaboratively with senior managers in the Office of Development & Alumni Affairs (ODAA); communication officers; Manager, Records; Manager, Gift Processing, and Manager, Research, and with Deans, Directors of Advancement, Development Officers and Alumni Officers in Faculties, Colleges, and other units/Departments.

 

Description of general framework and environment

The University of Waterloo is currently transitioning from a major fund-raising initiative, Campaign Waterloo: Building a Talent Trust which announced in October, 2007 $413M raised – exceeding its original campaign goal of $260M. As part of the university’s Sixth Decade Plan: Pursuing Global Excellence and Seizing Opportunities for Canada, a goal has been set to grow annual private sector fundraising revenue from $50M to $100M per year within the sixth decade (2007-2017). In order to accomplish this goal, the External Relations Transition Task Force made a number of strategic recommendations (October, 2007), including the creation of a “Principal Gifts” team (focussed on $1M+ donors), and a “Development team” including an expanded leadership giving team focused on developing a pipeline of prospects up to $100,000 threshold in order to support and focus major gift ($100K-$999K) activity within the Faculties, Colleges, and other units/Departments. A primary goal of the newly created Leadership Giving team will be to build capacity in the “pipeline” through the qualification, cultivation and stewardship of prospects up to a threshold of $100,000.

The ADLG will work within External Relations, which is comprised of Alumni Affairs, Development, and Communications and Public Affairs, and virtual team members in the Faculties, Departments, and Colleges. The ADLG is a position that is centralized within the External Relations Office and significant project management is required with all Faculties and other organizational units on campus in the execution of specialized and interdisciplinary fundraising programs including the development of customized strategies and clearance procedures that complement decentralized fundraising strategies.

The ADLG plays an important role within the Annual Giving team, including the management of a personal visits program that encourages identification, qualification, cultivation and stewardship of Leadership Giving prospects within the Annual Giving prospect pool. 

 

Significant Internal Relationships

-      Associate Vice President, Development

       community

 Significant External Relationships

Statistical Data

As of November 2007, there are 2,048 members of UW’s Leadership Giving groups as follows:

702 President’s Circle members

131 Governors’ Circle members

255 Chancellor’s Circle members

591 Leaders of Tomorrow Circle members

313 Exclusive Laurel Society members (an additional 93 members are also a current Circle member for a total of 406 Laurel Society members)

 

There are 321 charter members of the new 1957 Society (lifetime giving of $100K or more from individuals and organizations), some of which are also a current leadership donor. 

 

In the first year (2006/07) of implementing the Named Circle Scholarship program, 19 Named Circle Scholarships were established and managed through the Leadership Giving Program, representing 40% of all new named awards across the university during this time period. It is expected that this number will continue to grow.

 

The ADLG will manage a budget for the Leadership Giving program, currently $14,500 as well as additional budget as approved for special project initiatives (e.g. recent budget of approximately $15,000 for 2007 launch of 1957 Society); however, this budget is expected to grow with the addition of full time leadership giving development officers, and expanded leadership giving program activity. The ADLG must manage and understand the costs and dollars raised towards assigned priority projects.

Specific Accountabilities

Develops strategies and conducts personal visits to qualify, cultivate, solicit and steward leadership    gifts ($1K-$5K) and major gifts up to $100,000.

Works closely with Faculties, Colleges, and units/Departments in developing leadership pipeline    strategies, processes, and clearance procedures.

Strategic development and oversight of corporate alumni employee campaigns, with fundraising objectives in the $100K to $500K range, leveraging corporate and Government matching opportunities where possible.

Develops strategies to identify and attain memberships in The 1957 Society.

Provides functional direction to the Associate Director, Special Projects regarding the strategic   development of the Leadership Giving program.

Works closely with Associate Director, Stewardship to evaluate appropriate recognition of leadership donors.

Works closely with Director, Alumni Affairs and alumni team to maximize leadership giving         opportunities and collaborative strategies in geographic regions as part their chapter programming.

Utilizes tools available including the Raiser’s Edge database to identify and manage prospect       relationships.

Evaluates, recommends and implements innovative, turnkey leadership giving fundraising strategies like the Named Circle Scholarship program (e.g. web-based team fundraising).

Provides functional direction to Manager, Keystone Campaign in developing leadership giving      capacity and strategies targeted at the internal UW community of Faculty, Staff, and Retirees.

Provides functional direction to the Development Analyst related to report requests and data mining activities required to generate leadership giving prospect leads, as well as reports to evaluate progress.

Provides functional direction to Administrative Assistant, Annual Giving regarding special mailings to leadership donors (e.g. Circle renewal solicitation mailings, Circle pledge payment reminders, Laurel Society Appeal, Matching Gift Company Challenge, Annual Calendar Mailing, Employee Campaign appeal and pledge reminder packages, etc.), Call Centre follow-up, tracking results, and applicable Ben updates (e.g. related to donor affiliation coding, write-offs, etc.)


Develops and maintains a good working knowledge of the university’s activities and priority projects i.e. Sixth Decade Plan: Pursuing Global Excellence and Seizing Opportunities for Canada


The ADLG may be assigned projects that cross multiple faculties, and will ensure that proposals are developed to meet the interests of the prospect and represent all relevant faculties across campus.  In      addition, the ADLG will ensure that the most appropriate volunteers and faculty-staff are well briefed and involved when appropriate in the solicitation and stewardship of the donors.


Participates in prospect identification, review, research, management and clearance.


Participates as a member of the following standing committees in External Relations: PMT (Prospect Management & Tracking), the Associate Directors’ group, and the Stewardship Committee.


Oversees and directs the strategic development of cultivation and solicitation plans for specific prospects. 

Tracks the progress of proposals and ongoing strategies for moves between submission and decision to ensure timely closure.

Manages stewardship plans for assigned prospects, including the appropriate publicity and recognition of gifts, the reporting of monies spent and progress, and the building of long term relationships.

Participates in the identification, recruitment, training, management and stewardship of volunteer teams associated with selected special projects.

Supervises three Leadership Giving Development Officers (to be hired 2008-2009), including:

clarifying priority projects, development & performance as a fundraising professional, assign special projects as appropriate, provide tools to support the position, tracking visits,  project and performance evaluations, etc.

Coaches and provides opportunities for other ODAA staff who may be interested in developing    their expertise in leadership giving personal visits (e.g. Manager, Keystone Campaign; Manager, Annual Giving).

Working Conditions