Prospect Discovery & Donor Qualification Lead

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

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