Director of Prospect Development and Strategy

Candidates should apply on NIU's website using the following link: https://employment.niu.edu/postings/81035

Primary Function

This is a leadership position within NIU's area of Development Operations, providing essential support to the Gift Planning Team. The Director leads the overall Division’s strategies to utilize ethically gathered prospect and donor information required to identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit and steward engaged relationships in support of NIU. The primary responsibilities are to manage the information resources critical to best practice prospect research and management, and the team of researchers and analysts who conduct the work.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Prospect and Portfolio Management – 30%

1. Oversee all aspects of the prospect management system.
2. Lead monthly moves management meetings and quarterly portfolio reviews with all relationship managers and supporting coordinators to monitor performance metrics and ensure that actions, strategies, and revenue projections are being accurately uploaded to the database.
3. Manage the assignment (and reassignment, including prospect clearance) of prospects and partners in collaboration with the Executive Directors to ensure that fundraising activity is coordinated, and prospects are moved successfully through the fundraising cycle.
4. Establish prospect pipeline guidelines and workflows that ensure a steady flow of new prospects while holding portfolio managers accountable to moving all assignments through the donor cycle.
5. Customize pipeline strategies for principal giving prospects to better identify and strategize next steps while working in close collaboration with the Executive Director of Advancement.
6. Partner with Chief Development Officer to carry out comprehensive policies and procedures to ensure quality and consistency across all activities related to prospect management.
7. In coordination with Executive Director(s) of Development, assess and assign donors and prospects for 15 gift and engagement officers.

Prospect Identification and Research – 30%

1. Implement a comprehensive program of quality prospect research (biographic, financial, and philanthropic) to support cultivation and solicitation activity by advancement staff, campus partners (such as Deans) and campaign volunteers as appropriate.
2. Proactively manage alerts and other proactive research tools to keep fundraisers up to date on principal gifts prospects (changes to wealth, employment, philanthropy, and other news).
3. Assess current prospecting procedures and research queue and make recommendations to improve existing processes.
4. Ensure that current research activities are aligned with organizational priorities and revenue goals.
5. Create structures to better visualize network connections and relationships that will allow us to identify strong potential prospects with the help of volunteer engagement.
6. Guide and inform our annual external database screening and analysis in close collaboration with the Information Technology and Data Services departments.
7. Incorporate new data into current research systems in an effort to uncover new donors and update information on current prospects.

Prospect Strategy – 25%

1. Provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of pipeline activity and movement to drive strategic planning across University Advancement, including modeling and donor journey analytics.
2. Oversee annual strategic business plan for the unit.
3. Design and create reports and dashboards to help monitor and track fundraising performance and progress made towards goals.
4. Collaborate with Data Services and Information Technology to make recommendations for database modifications needed to support effective reporting and analysis.
5. Collaborate with members of the Information Technology and Reporting Services teams to develop reports, while also offering recommendations for other reporting tools and data visualizations.
6. Ensure highest quality standards and set team metrics based on expertise and industry best practices.
7. Mentor members of the research team so that they have the skills and training necessary to achieve these expectations.

Management and Budget – 15%

1. Manage and support all members of the prospect management and research team focused on creating development plans for each staff member, providing mentorship, and identifying professional training opportunities.
2. Oversee all hiring and onboarding for the team.
3. Monitor the budget for the prospect management and research team and inform recommendations to ensure that the organization is positioned for fundraising success.
4. Define long term vision for team structures and responsibilities that align with goals and priorities set by the senior leadership team.
5. Ensure that the team’s structure is able to support the constituent management and research needs across all revenue generating teams.