Director of Prospect Research & Development

Job Title: Director of Prospect Research & Development

Position Summary: 
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (“the Foundation”) is seeking top talent for its Director of Prospect Research & Development position.  This position is focused on accelerating funding for better treatments for people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and their families. This role spearheads a new and growing prospecting function at the Foundation to identify top prospective donors for the Foundation’s mission. This position promotes a culture of growth and innovation, building and enhancing prospecting practices with an eye toward sustainability. This role leads a growing team with the opportunity to collaborate with Development and Foundation leadership.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive prospect development program, including policies and standards to scale cultivation and solicitation activity across all fundraising programs
• Develop a replicable and scalable identification system for major and transformational gift prospects in the Foundation’s database. Partner with the Fundraising Analytics team to build within existing systems
• Lead prospect research process; oversee quality deliverables that assess the capacity, inclination, and philanthropic history of Principal Giving and Transformational giving and prospects
• Align prospecting strategies with the fundraising campaign phases of the Foundation’s five-year comprehensive campaign
• Collaborate with Development leadership and relationship managers to build a prospect management system that ensures dynamic management of prospects from identification to qualification, discovery, cultivation and solicitation
• Oversee a growing team; foster professional development and growth for each team member
• Implement key performance indicators to track the prospecting team’s impact
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of prospect information and research findings in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Ensure prospect profiles are regularly updated for accurate tracking and reporting
• Partner with relationship managers and operations counterparts to prioritize new leads and maintain reasonable portfolio sizes
• Create standardized templates for reach requests, including full profiles, executive briefers, capacity ratings, event lookbooks and more
• Synthesize complex data to provide insights on prospect opportunities across geographic, demographic or philanthropic areas
• Partner with the Fundraising Enablement team on operational needs for the prospecting function, such as designating qualified prospects in the CRM, or enhancing digital tools for prospect identification

Qualifications and Skills: 

• Demonstrated success in growing a prospecting function in a nonprofit environment
• Demonstrated ability to lead through change and matrixed environments
• Track record of identifying quality prospects that went on to make major or transformational gifts
• Experience growing and scaling a function
• Experience leading a team of prospect researchers
• Experience in prospecting for a comprehensive or capital campaign preferred
• Experience in conducting quality prospect research for multiple audiences and stakeholders, including executive leadership
• Experience managing staff in matrixed environments, proven track record of supporting the professional development of staff
• Comfortable with both quantitative and qualitative analysis, specifically on donor capacity, intention and propensity to give
• Diplomatic approach to challenges, with experience in leadership settings
• Excellent communication abilities, written and verbal
• Detail orientated and with a dedication to quality control on deliverables
• Comfortable managing multiple projects with competing timelines and deliverables
• A champion of collaboration within and beyond individual teams

Salary and Benefits:
The salary range for this position is $130,000 - $150,000.  In addition to salary, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• 15 options for medical insurance (with the Foundation paying 90 percent of the premiums)
• Competitive dental and vision plans
• 401(k) plan with 6 percent employer contribution
• Flexible spending accounts
• Employer paid life and disability insurance
• 18 Vacation Days; 12 Well-Being (Sick) Days; 2 Personal Days; summer Fridays (office closure at 2pm) and a summer holiday week over July 4
• Two ways of working: hybrid-flex, or remote work.  We trust all employees to work closely with their manager and colleagues to determine when, where and how programs and projects get done
• Employees are also eligible for a discretionary bonus on an annual basis. The Foundation provides staff and leadership cultivation through regular training courses and events.  

How to Apply: 
Interested candidates should submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter describing through examples, their specific qualifications and interest in the position. If you think that your skills are transferable and can add value to this role, please apply. Applicants who best match the position’s needs will be contacted.

About Us:
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research was founded in 2000 with one clear objective: accelerating meaningful therapeutic advances and, ultimately, a cure for Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Foundation applies extraordinary scientific, business and media assets to this singular focus—thus creating a unique and dynamic organization. Since inception, MJFF has quickly grown into the largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s disease research, having funded over $2 billion in research projects in both academic and industry labs worldwide.

Visit www.michaeljfox.org for more information.

Vaccination Statement 
At The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the health and safety of our team and our community is a priority. MJFF has made the decision to require all staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment. Successful applicants for this position must be fully vaccinated by date of hire and proof of vaccine is required. Full vaccination is defined as two weeks after both doses of two-dose vaccine or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine has been administered. Anyone unable to be vaccinated, because of medical or religious reasons, can request a reasonable accommodation for consideration.

  Research has shown that people from marginalized communities apply to roles only when they meet 100% of the job requirements. If you think that your skills are transferable and can add value to this role, and you are someone who will contribute to our efforts to build and support a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce, we strongly encourage you to apply.

Salary : $130,000 - $150,000