The Office of Advancement in The Grainger College of Engineering seeks applicants for an Assistant Director of Leadership Annual Giving position. This position is responsible for responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding leadership annual giving prospects and donors to increase private giving in support of the college and the philanthropic interests of donors through digital outreach, phone calls, video conferencing and in-person meetings.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Donor Acquisition and Fundraising:

• Identify, assess, analyze and design appropriate strategies for approaching prospects and donors and connecting the donors’ philanthropic interests with the college’s programmatic and curricular priorities.
• Work with Prospect Development Analyst and advancement leadership to determine and prioritize lists of donor prospects, alumni and other stakeholders to be contacted for meetings and solicitations.
• Plan and implement effective outreach and cultivation activities to enhance prospect identification and move solicitation and stewardship processes forward.
• Qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of leadership annual giving prospects, with emphasis on gifts up to $25,000.
• Assist major gift officers in identifying any possible major gift donors and prospects.
• Frequently travel to events and conferences to meet with donors at various locations and durations. This may include evenings and weekends.
• Document all activities and interactions in the alumni/donor database.

Department and Advancement Team Collaboration:

• Develop and maintain close collaborative partnerships with faculty and staff to gain a strong knowledge of the academic and research programs within the college to identify and define priorities to be funded through private support.
• Partner closely with other advancement professionals, including gift officers, stewardship and donor relations, alumni relations and corporate relations professionals.
• Participate in and lead as requested initiatives within the Office of Advancement to help the team become more effective and innovative in achieving organizational goals.
• Work with departments to build donor pipeline and identify key donors for department engagement. Identify and share opportunities for donor stories with the marketing & communications team.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Two years of demonstrated experience in advancement or a similar field.
• Demonstrated experience working in a collaborative, team-oriented environment.
• Demonstrated experience with professional writing and conducting interviews.
• Demonstrated experience with data analysis.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Three years of demonstrated experience in advancement or a similar field.
• Documented success as a fundraiser.
• Demonstrated experience managing and creating innovative approaches to engage alumni and/or donors to financially support academic priorities.
• Demonstrated experience within a corporate or large public university setting.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to travel to events of varying durations and locations, including some evenings and weekends.
• Demonstrated excellence in oral and written communication skills and experience working in a collaborative, team-oriented environment.
• Skilled at building strong internal and external collaborative relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to represent an organization in visits with key constituents.
• Strong relationship management skills.
• Understanding of donor prospect qualification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.
• Knowledge of advancement strategies including best practices related to development at institutions of higher education.