Director of Development, School of Engineering

The Rutgers University Foundation seeks an energetic, resourceful and team-oriented advancement professional to serve as the Director of Development within the SOE development team. The Director will be joining the SOE during an exciting period as the School is growing in both size and prominence as a premier institution in the education and training of future engineers. Recently, the School has received the largest single gift in Rutgers history, a $10M gift towards undergraduate scholarships. The DOD will work with the SOE Development team to cultivate a high-potential prospect pool. In this role, the Director will work with the school’s faculty and department chairs, student organizations and development staff to identify and engage alumni and prospects to support the School and its initiatives.

The ideal candidate brings a minimum of five years of fundraising experience with a track record of success in identifying donors and establishing partnerships with individuals, corporations, and foundations. The incoming DOD thinks strategically and creatively in their efforts to build pipelines and relationships with cultural fluency, empathy, and high emotional intelligence. The candidate is a natural business builder with an approach that believes there are no dead ends but only new avenues to pursue; offers an authentic and collaborative approach that builds trust; and the professional maturity, respect, and intellectual curiosity to partner with multiple deans, faculty, and colleagues. They must be a self-starter and be able to handle complex organizational details while multitasking.

Essential Functions

• In partnership with the Senior Director and SOE Dean, contribute to the design and execution of a strategic development plan that results in increased philanthropic support for Rutgers University-School of Engineering both in the near term and for future support.
• Manage the Associate Director of Development; provide guidance and support to ensure the professional growth and success of the ADoD.
• Meet with current and prospective donors with the capacity to make gifts up to $100,000 ; hold 75-100 unique meetings with prospects/donors annually; shepherd donors/prospects through every step of the donor solicitation cycle (identify-qualify-engage-solicit-steward).
• Increase engagement and identify additional capacity from existing donors while simultaneously discovering, identifying, and soliciting new donors.
• Strategically organize the Dean's time and resources to achieve advancement priorities. Staff the Dean appropriately in School/University leadership meetings and conversations, at donor solicitations, and special events.
• Support the Dean and faculty in organizing and facilitating donor/prospect meetings, managing logistics for these meetings, and drafting briefing materials, follow-up reports, documents, and other external correspondence.
• Maintain information about donors/prospects in the development database; prepare meeting briefing memos for the dean and other campus partners; draft meeting call reports for the University’s files.
• Attend school, alumni, and campus functions to develop a strong understanding of the culture of the university, school, and alumni base.
• Other duties as assigned.
  
  

Competency Aptitudes

Leadership

• Demonstrate ability to successfully manage and lead a team (and/or staff volunteers) in a way that maximizes potential of each team member
• Lead a comprehensive unit or central development department/program
  
  

Autonomy

• Manage an implementation team and projects/program with moderate supervision from leadership
• Set goals, manage budgets and meet deadlines for themselves and the team
• Manage a personal major gift donor/prospect portfolio with a primary focus on securing gifts at or above the $100,000 level and a personal fundraising goal of $1M
  
  

Complexity

• Partner with other peer directors and department leads across the organization
• Effectively up managing your supervisor and University partners across the enterprise
• Able to devise and execute increasingly complex projects
• Set direction and approach in partnership with assigned RU leader’s vision
• Able to adapt to changing situations and different fundraising partners
  
  

Strategy

• Demonstrate an ability to set priorities and determine strategy for unit, including staffing and budgets
• Develop and submit written proposals, budgets and other collateral materials as needed for securing philanthropic investments
  
  

Education And/or Experience

Bachelor's degree and/or 6 years of professional experience in fundraising, alumni relations, non-profit organizations, event planning, higher education, or related fields.

Working Conditions

This position requires clarity of focus while juggling complex projects or deadlines with little physical effort. Will work evenings, weekends, or odd hours to meet resource-raising commitments. Typical working conditions with an absence of disagreeable elements. This position requires some early mornings and late evenings to accommodate meetings, travel, events, and external constituents’ schedules.

Workplace Arrangements

This is classified as an office-centric hybrid position. Colleagues working under an office-centric hybrid arrangement have a primary workstation in a university or foundation location and are in the office between one and five days a week. The frequency with which they are present in the office depends on their role and function and the interdependency of other functions.

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is Foundation policy to provide equal employment opportunity to all its employees and applicants. The Foundation prohibits discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, national origin, ancestry, marital status, familial status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, genetic information, and any other characteristics protected by applicable state, federal and/or local laws. Equal employment opportunity applies to hiring, placement, transfer, promotion, demotion, recruitment, advertising or solicitation for employment, treatment during employment, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, selection for training, layoff, or termination.