Discovery Officer

Columbia University in the City of New York; New York (NY); On-site; USD 70,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Columbia University in the City of New York is seeking a Discovery Officer within University Development to identify, engage, and qualify prospects for major gifts. You will manage a dynamic portfolio of alumni, parents, and friends, conducting discovery conversations and documenting recommendations for next steps.

Reporting to the Global Development Officer, you will collaborate with portfolio managers, travel regionally, and participate in donor engagement events to expand Columbia's donor

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Two to four years of related experience required.
• Ability to work independently within priorities and procedures and build strong partnerships.
• High professionalism, discretion, sound judgment, and respect for confidential information.
• High energy, creativity, initiative, and adaptability in a dynamic role.
• Excellent listening, interviewing, presentation, oral, and written communication skills.
• Experience with Microsoft Office and strong Excel; Salesforce is a plus.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse constituencies and represent Columbia professionally.

Responsibilities

• Manage a strategic and dynamic portfolio of discovery prospects and provide qualification recommendations.
• Develop and execute personalized outreach strategies via email, phone, video meetings, in-person visits, events, and regional activity.
• Conduct discovery conversations to assess prospect connection, interests, engagement, capacity, readiness and alignment with priorities.
• Recommend whether prospects should be qualified, disqualified or moved to next steps.
• Identify prospects for major gift, principal gift, planned giving, or alumni engagement portfolios.
• Prepare concise qualification summaries to support portfolio assignments and next-stage cultivation.
• As appropriate, solicit a participatory gift.

Skills

Communication skills

Interviewing

Presentation skills

Written communication

Interpersonal skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Excel

Salesforce

Job description

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building: Columbia Alumni Center
• Salary Range: $70,000 - $75,000

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Position Summary

Columbia’s University Development team serves schools and units across the University and leads Columbia’s Discovery Initiative, a strategic effort to identify, engage, qualify, and convert more prospects into donors.

The Discovery Officer plays a critical role in strengthening the University’s leadership, major, and principal gift pipeline by identifying, engaging, and supporting the qualification of prospective donors with the capacity and inclination to make philanthropic commitments. This position focuses on alumni, parents, friends, and other constituents who are newly identified as major gift-rated prospects and are unassigned, under-engaged, or not yet fully qualified for cultivation.

Reporting to the Global Development Officer and working at the intersection of prospect development, leadership annual giving, alumni engagement, and major gifts, the Discovery Officer uses data, research, engagement history, and direct engagement to assess philanthropic potential and recommend qualification status within established discovery and portfolio management processes. The role requires curiosity, initiative, professionalism, strategic judgment, and the ability to build rapport quickly through meaningful conversations about the University’s mission, priorities, and opportunities for support.

The Discovery Officer will manage a dynamic portfolio of discovery prospects, conduct personalized outreach and qualification meetings, document findings, and prepare recommendations for review by the Global Development Officer regarding prospect qualification and next-step engagement. Because the discovery portfolio is continually replenished with new prospects, it is not intended to be static; prospects will move in and out of the portfolio as they are qualified, reassigned, or otherwise determined to be ready for next steps through an established review processes. As appropriate, the officer may solicit a participatory annual fund gift to help assess the prospect’s giving inclination.

This position is central to expanding the University’s donor base, improving the quality of the prospect pipeline, and supporting long–term fundraising growth.

Responsibilities

Prospect Discovery, Qualification and Participatory Solicitation

• Manage a strategic and dynamic portfolio of discovery prospects, including alumni, parents, friends, and other constituents with potential leadership, major, principal, or planned gift capacity. Use established outreach and qualification procedures to guide prospect activity and recommend next steps.
• Develop, prioritize, and execute personalized outreach strategies through email, phone, video meetings, in-person visits, events, and regional activity in consultation with the Global Development Officer and in alignment with established discovery priorities.
• Conduct discovery conversations to assess each prospect’s connection to the University, philanthropic interests, engagement history, giving motivations, capacity indicators, readiness, and alignment with institutional priorities.
• Recommend whether prospects should be qualified, disqualified or considered for next steps based on capacity, inclination, timing, and relationship potential.
• Identify prospects who may be ready for review and possible assignment to major gift, principal gift, planned giving, annual leadership giving, school-based development, or alumni engagement portfolios.
• Prepare concise qualification summaries that support portfolio assignment and next-stage cultivation by portfolio managers.
• As appropriate, the officer may solicit a participatory gift.

Donor Engagement and Relationship Building

• Represent the University’s mission, academic priorities, student experience, research strengths, institutional goals, and fundraising objectives in a compelling and authentic manner in meetings, events, and individual interactions with alumni, parents, volunteers and other key constituents. Serve as an early point of contact for assigned discovery prospects.
• Build and manage early-stage relationships with prospective donors by listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and identifying meaningful points of connection within established engagement guidelines.
• Identify and facilitate meaningful connections between prospective donors and appropriate University opportunities, events, communications, volunteer activities, campus visits, faculty engagement, or philanthropic conversations in coordination with the Global Development Officer and development colleagues.
• Support the relationship management for assigned discovery prospects and collaborate with development colleagues to ensure smooth transitions for qualified prospects entering active cultivation.
• Leverage and participate in donor engagement events, regional programs, reunions, campaign activity, and other advancement initiatives that create opportunities for prospect identification and relationship building.
• Represent Columbia independently during discovery visits, regional travel, virtual meetings and donor engagement activities with guidance from the Global Development Officer.
• Build relationships with academic and administrative partners to identify philanthropic opportunities and support appropriate introductions between prospective donors and University leadership.

Strategic Planning and Portfolio Management

• Monitor portfolio performance and recommend adjustments to improve prospect movement and pipeline development.
• Identify emerging donor opportunities and recommend strategic engagement opportunities to development leadership.
• Contribute to the continuous refinement of discovery strategies, cultivation standards, and portfolio management practices.
• Maintain accurate, timely, and comprehensive records of prospect activity, outreach, conversations, and recommend next steps in the advancement database.
• Prepare strategic qualification assessments, contact reports, visit notes, briefing materials, and recommendations that inform portfolio management, fundraising strategy.
• Escalate complex prospect situations, significant donor strategy questions, and high-potential engagement opportunities to the Global Development Officer.
• Ensure compliance with University policies, advancement procedures, confidentiality standards, and ethical fundraising practices.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Two (2) to four (4) years of related experience required.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently within established priorities and procedures and build strong partnerships across multiple departments.
• High degree of professionalism, discretion, sound judgment, and respect for confidential information.
• High levels of energy, creativity, initiative, and adaptability in a new, dynamic role with evolving priorities.
• Excellent listening, interviewing, presentation, oral, and written communication skills.
• Experience with current office technologies and software, including Microsoft Office and strong Excel proficiency; ability to adapt to future technologies. Experience with Salesforce is a plus.
• Experience producing, analyzing, and interpreting research data to drive actionable outreach strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse constituencies and develop relationships that advance development goals.
• Must have, or be eager to acquire, knowledge of and passion for Columbia University and represent Columbia professionally with alumni, donors, volunteers, and senior institutional leaders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional experience in fundraising, university advancement, alumni relations, nonprofit development, or another relationship-management field desired.

Other Requirements

• Willingness to travel and participate in occasional evening and weekend events.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.