Assistant Director, Major Gifts, Family Philanthropy

PURPOSE STATEMENT

Northeastern University seeks a motivated and relationship-driven Assistant Director of Major Gifts, Family Philanthropy to support and expand family engagement and philanthropy. The Assistant Director will manage a portfolio of parents and families, identify new prospects, and implement strategic fundraising initiatives to increase philanthropic support. This role is an opportunity to contribute to a growing program within a dynamic, global research university and play a key part in strengthening the university’s connections with families who are passionate about Northeastern’s mission.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Assistant Director of Major Gifts, Family Philanthropy Program reports to the Senior Director, Major Gifts for Family Philanthropy. They are responsible for the creation and implementation of strategic fundraising initiatives that support the Family Philanthropy Program engaging parents and families who have the capacity to make significant gifts to the institution in support of a wide range of priorities across the university.

The Assistant Director will:

• Manage a portfolio of 120 parents with a focus on soliciting leadership and major gifts of $100K+.
• Work with the Senior Director and colleagues in Development Research to identify new parent prospects.
• Make discovery and qualification calls, establish cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
• Perform a minimum of 120+ in-person and virtual meetings maintaining a regular travel schedule to visit identified parent prospects and meet or exceed annual strategic goals.
• Support fundraising programming, specifically the Family Fellows.
• Create and coordinate fundraising activities related to key programming and initiatives, recruit and steward volunteer leaders, and enhance program visibility.
• Communicate efforts and collaborate with college and program content experts in the Advancement division.
• Recommend and implement new initiatives that will provide meaningful and substantive engagement opportunities for parent and family prospects.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Parent and Family Engagement

• Identify, qualify, visit, and solicit an assigned pool of approximately 120 non-alumni parents and families.
• Assess their interest in the university and their capacity to make leadership, major and principal gifts.
• Establish, cultivate and maintain a substantive relationship with major gift rated parents regionally as assigned.
• Discover, cultivate and solicit parent and family prospects. Actively solicit at $100k+ major gifts level.
• Travel as needed to qualify new parent and family prospects and to build relationships with existing parent prospects and donors.
• Achieve a high level of engagement and financial support from these parents.
• Utilize Advancement data management system (Ascend) to log activity, create call reports and progress reports, and maintain data integrity of parent prospect portfolio. Create reports that reflect parent giving activity and use them to support the launching of new initiatives.

Program and Content Sharing for the Global University

• Develop and disseminate parent and family programming to college and program content partners
• Work within geographic territories with college and program partners to develop opportunities and solicitations that benefit the global university system, as well as colleges and programs when possible.

QUALIFICATIONS & CHARACTERISTICS

• Past experience working within a family philanthropy program preferred.
• 2+ years of professional experience with preferably at least 2 years of demonstrated success in soliciting and closing leadership and major gifts in support of a nonprofit institution.
• Demonstrated experience cultivating and soliciting, alumni, parents, and friends, and maintaining positive relationships with donors.
• Superior communication skills; highly collaborative and entrepreneurial in approach and possessing interpersonal skills necessary for building relationships with various university constituents, both internal and external.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as a member of the Northeastern University Advancement team.
• Data- and metric-driven mindset.
• An appreciation and understanding of the mission of Northeastern University.
• Overnight travel and some evening and weekend work required.
• Bachelor's degree.

ABOUT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

Northeastern University, a global, experiential, research university built on a tradition of engagement with the world and creating a distinctive approach to education and research, is forming the world’s first true global university system. Under the leadership of President Joseph Aoun, Northeastern has redefined the global university by expanding its hallmark co-op program and other experiential learning opportunities to 128+ countries and creating new educational and research partnerships that align with the increasingly global nature of higher education.

Classified as a top-tier research institution and listed at #44 according to the U.S. News & World Report 2022-2023 Best National Universities Rankings and one of the top universities for international students, Northeastern has elevated itself to a powerhouse on par with the nation’s elite research colleges and universities. These achievements build upon Northeastern’s unprecedented momentum, which includes continued investments in research and faculty recruitment, record-high student applications, and momentous fundraising success.

The university’s global network of campuses includes the Boston flagship campus, which offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools, as well as regional campuses in Arlington, Burlington, Charlotte, Miami, Nahant, Portland, Oakland, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and London.

The Office of University Advancement plays an integral role in furthering Northeastern’s gamechanging vision of transforming the University into diverse networks of learners and innovators, empowering members of its global community to succeed in an era of extraordinary technological and cultural change. Maintaining a staff of approximately 200, the Office of University Advancement is a thriving environment with an engaged, dedicated, and generous donor universe assuring a sustainable future for Northeastern.

In October 2022, Northeastern launched its major fundraising campaign, Experience Powered by Northeastern, while excitement builds for the next stage of the university’s evolution as a global, experiential research institution. With emphasis on empowering a global network of students, parents, faculty and alumni changemakers, Experience Powered by Northeastern will support the vision set out in the academic plan, Experience Unleashed. The Campaign’s six fundraising priorities (Student Opportunities, Faculty Excellence, Research, Diversity Across Communities, Entrepreneurship, Global Exploration) are designed to continue building on the university’s strengths while launching it into the future.