Assistant Director of Major Gifts

NU USA Northeastern University; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 76,000 - 108,000; Full time

Job summary

Northeastern University in Boston seeks an Assistant Director of Major Gifts to manage a portfolio of 120+ prospects and lead major gift solicitations in a regionally focused role. You’ll collaborate with faculty, staff, and advancement colleagues to develop strategies and move donors through the engagement process.

The role requires 3–5 years fundraising experience with six- to seven-figure gifts, strong communication skills, and willingness to travel.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of professional fundraising experience with multiple six- and seven-figure gifts.
• Proven ability to cultivate, solicit, and steward alumni, parents, and friends.
• Superior communication skills, highly collaborative and entrepreneurial.
• Data- and metric-driven mindset with strong donor analytics.
• BA/BS degree required.

Responsibilities

• Maintain portfolio of 120+ prospects within a defined region.
• Cultivate, solicit, and steward alumni, parents, and friends.
• Travel to assigned region to build donor relationships.
• Collaborate with leadership and various advancement teams on donor strategies.
• Prepare progress reports and maintain donor data in Ascend.

Skills

Fundraising

Relationship building

Communication

Collaboration

Data-driven

Education

BA/BS degree

Tools

Ascend

Job description

About the Opportunity

About the Opportunity Summary: The Assistant Director of Major Gifts (ADMG) is a regionally focused major gift officer within the One Northeastern development structure. They partner with content specialists across the global university system to solicit major gifts in the $100K-$1M+ range. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Major Gifts, the ADMG collaborates with Advancement colleagues, faculty and staff across Northeastern’s global university system, to discover, identify, and build relationships with prospective donors—developing strategies for their cultivation and soliciting gifts. The ADMG, working with the Sr. Director of Major Gifts, executes an interdisciplinary major gifts fund-raising program for alumni, parents, and friends within one or more defined geographic regions. The AMDG will discover, build, and manage a portfolio of 120+ prospects who exhibit considerable promise for evolving to major gift capacity over time and whose philanthropic priorities match the education and research priorities of Northeastern. They will meet commensurate annual goals for fundraising and activity metrics. The ADMG must be a superb communicator—written and oral—who builds relationships and works well with external constituents and internal partners. They are well versed in moving prospects in their portfolio along the donor engagement process—from identification to stewardship—and engage faculty and leaders strategically in the process. They travel regularly to their assigned region for cultivating and soliciting prospective donors. The Assistant Director of Major Gifts coordinates efforts and works collaboratively, where appropriate, with Advancement colleagues in corporate & foundation relations, leadership giving, international advancement, athletics giving, gift planning, and family philanthropy, as well as with other major gift officers, on special cross-disciplinary projects. This position is Boston-based and is not available for remote work.

Responsibilities

• Active contributor to major gifts fund-raising effort for the global university.
• Cultivate, solicit, and steward alumni, parent, and friend relationships.
• Strategize with faculty and other colleagues on next steps with prospects.
• Travel to assigned region(s) as needed to build relationships with existing volunteers, prospects, and donors.
• Solicit gifts in the $100K – $1M+ range.
• Collaborate with the Sr. Director Major Gifts, advancement leadership and other advancement teams (corporate & foundation relations, leadership giving, international and regional giving, gift planning, and family philanthropy) to develop interdisciplinary strategies for donors, both within and external to the ADMG’s portfolio.
• Advise faculty, fund-raising colleagues, and administrators on alumni and parent areas of interest.
• Building Prospect Portfolio and Pipeline Discover new prospects and build pipeline to feed gifts at the major gift level.
• Work closely with the Sr. Director of Major Gifts to develop and manage a portfolio of prospects (approximately 120+) within a geographically defined region.
• Cultivate and solicit prospects to achieve annual fund-raising goals and activity (visits, video meetings, calls, proposals, etc.) metrics as assigned by the Sr. Director.
• Engage faculty strategically with prospects and keep the advancement leadership, faculty, and appropriate University administrators apprised of funding opportunities and trends.
• Act as a conduit for information between Northeastern and constituents.
• Travel as needed to assigned regions to support prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Maintain Prospect Portfolio Maintain high-quality development process for active alumni, parent, and friend prospects and donors.
• Create call reports and maintain database system.
• Maintain the data integrity of prospect portfolio using the Development Office data management systems (Ascend).
• Prepare regular progress prospect reports for Sr. Director and advancement leadership.
• Work across Advancement to ensure that past, present, and future donors are appropriately recognized, including their administration and accounting.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of professional experience with at least 3 years of demonstrated success in soliciting and closing six- and seven-figure gifts in support of a non-profit 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
• BA/BS degree required
• The College of Science maintains a strong culture of collaboration amongst our faculty and staff: successful candidates will demonstrate a respect for the work of their colleagues and a focus on achieving our shared goals in a highly collaborative manner.

Position Type

Advancement

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer. Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Compensation

Grade/Pay Type: 110S Expected Hiring Range: $76,335.00 - $107,823.75 With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and expertise, and skills as well as a pay comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to change.

Background on Northeastern

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experiential lifelong learning. Our approach of integrating real-world experience with education, research, and innovation empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create worldwide impact. Our global university system provides our community and academic, government, and industry partners with unique opportunities to think locally and act globally. The system—including 14 campuses across the U.S., U.K., and Canada, 300,000-plus alumni, and 3,000 partners worldwide—serves as a platform for scaling ideas, talent, and solutions. The university’s residential campuses for undergraduate and graduate degrees are located in Boston, London, and Oakland, California. Our research and graduate campuses are in the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant; Arlington, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami; Portland, Maine; Seattle; Silicon Valley, California; Toronto; and Vancouver. Northeastern’s personalized, experiential undergraduate and graduate programs lead to degrees through the doctorate in 10 colleges and schools across our campuses. Learning emphasizes the intersection of data, technology, and human literacies, uniquely preparing graduates for careers of the future and lives of fulfillment and accomplishment. Our research enterprise, with an R1 Carnegie classification, is solutions oriented and spans the world. Our faculty scholars and students work in teams that cross not just disciplines, but also sectors—aligned around solving today’s highly interconnected global challenges and focused on transformative impact for humankind.