Vice President of Development

Colorado State Univ Foundation; Fort Collins (CO); On-site; USD 250,000 - 315,000; Full time

Job summary

Colorado State University Foundation in Fort Collins seeks a Vice President of Development to lead major and principal gifts fundraising, align donor-centric strategies with university priorities, and guide a team of development professionals. Reporting to the President & CEO, you will shape the donor strategy across colleges and units and drive revenue through strategic campaigns.

You will oversee the development leadership team, manage budgets, and collaborate with university leaders to ensure

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years progressively responsible development leadership experience.
• Minimum of 8 years supervising professional staff, including hiring, training, and evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Supervise senior-level team responsible for major and principal gifts strategy, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Develop annual and multi-year fundraising strategies supporting university priorities.
• Lead collaboration with deans, VPs and unit leaders as liaison for CSU Foundation.
• Monitor gift pipeline and provide forecasts, reports and analysis.
• Manage portfolio of 25–50 prospects with $1,000,000+ gift potential.
• Oversee college-wide fundraising program and operating budget.

Skills

Leadership

Fundraising strategy

Major gifts

Donor relations

Budget management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

CRM software

Donor management systems

Job description

Description

Position Summary

The CSU Foundation is actively seeking highly-qualified candidates for our Vice President of Development position. This role oversees the major and principal gift fundraising activities in support of Colorado State University’s colleges, units, campus priorities and initiatives. The Vice President will provide leadership to the comprehensive development program and play a key role in revenue generation through donor centric strategy. Working in close collaboration with the CSU Foundation President & CEO, CSU Deans, Vice Presidents, Provost and other unit leads, the Vice President of Development ensures that major fundraising efforts address the Foundation’s goals and university priorities. The Vice President leads the annual fundraising planning process in collaboration with unit leadership to establish work plans that outline priorities and goals for individual development officers.

Reporting to the President & CEO, the Vice President of Development is a member of the Executive Leadership Team and leads the Development Leadership Team, with five direct reports overseeing 17 functional units.

Organizational Overview

Located in the beautiful town of Fort Collins, Colorado State University is a premier land-grant university with world-class programs in education, outreach, and research. CSU has a student body of over 34,000 students, 271,911 living alumni, and annual research expenditures exceeding $613 million.

The Colorado State University Foundation (CSUF) was founded in 1970 and is the official non-profit perpetuity partner for Colorado State University. The CSU Foundation is in the midst of exciting growth as the University Advancement division of CSU recently transitioned to the Foundation, growing the organization to 170 employees. This merger has allowed us to more effectively serve our donors, alumni, and stakeholders with a unified structure, strengthen accountability, and build the capacity to scale our fundraising enterprise. With one of the leading development teams in the country, we most recently achieved our highest fundraising year to date at $231 million.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Supervise a senior-level team responsible for the strategy, goal setting, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major and principal level gifts for colleges and units.
• Develop annual and multi-year fundraising strategies for colleges and units to support goals and advance key University priorities and initiatives.
• Develop strong partnerships and relationships with CSU deans, VPs and unit leaders, serving as a key liaison to the CSU Foundation.
• Maintain knowledge of all priorities within the University, utilizing best practices to lead strategy development for donor-centric solicitations.
• Collaborate with Prospect Management and Research to monitor the gift pipeline and provide quarterly, year-end and campaign forecasts, reports, and analysis.
• Participate as a key member of the CSUF Executive Leadership team. Assist in broader divisional and campaign planning, administration, and management.
• Carry a portfolio of 25-50 prospects capable of $1,000,000+ gifts utilizing the tenets of moves management.
• Responsible for the strategic visioning and ongoing development, management, coordination and administration of an effective college-wide fundraising program.
• Allocate, track, manage and deploy an operating budget.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Position Information

Position Title: Vice President of Development

Organization Name: Colorado State University Foundation

Reports To: President and CEO

Employment Type: Full-time

FLSA Status: Exempt

Location: Fort Collins

Salary Range: $250,000 - $315,000 annually

Priority Consideration Date: October 11, 2026

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in business, communications, marketing or related field
• Minimum of 10 years progressively responsible development leadership experience
• Minimum of 8 years of experience supervising and mentoring full-time, professional staff, including hiring, training, and evaluation of performance
• Demonstrated expertise and measurable success in conceptualizing, designing and implementing a dynamic fundraising program with emphasis on major and principal gifts
• Demonstrated success in acquiring gifts of $1,000,000 or more
• Must have a valid driver’s license or the ability to obtain a driver’s license by the employment start date
• Ability to work non-standard hours, including nights and/or weekends, as needed, and travel in and out of the state

Preferred Qualifications

• Advancement leadership experience and verifiable, demonstrated success in fundraising in support of an institution of higher education
• Highly developed organizational and leadership skills and extensive supervisory experience of professional staff with the ability to effectively manage performance
• Verified exceptional communication skills – both written and verbal – and the ability to effectively communicate the mission and vision of the CSU Foundation
• Experience in managing complex, multi-disciplinary fundraising projects
• Experience building successful, productive relationships with top university administrators, deans and leadership volunteers
• Demonstrated track record of being donor centric, building donor relationships, working collaboratively, strategically, and with integrity
• Possesses a strong knowledge of principles, ethics and practices of successful fundraising
• Demonstrated success as a senior leader in a collaborative work environment including; team building and motivating others through effective communication, modeling appropriate behavior, and optimism
• A strong fiscal acumen with experience working with budgets and financial processes
• Master’s Degree, Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) or other relevant professional certification
• Experience with CRM and donor management systems

As an employer of choice, the CSU Foundation offers a competitive benefits package including medical, dental and vision plans, CSUF-sponsored life insurance, an employee assistance program, a voluntary 403(b) tax deferred annuity retirement plan option and a 401(a) defined contribution retirement plan where 12% of the annual salary is contributed at no cost to the employee, with a two-year vesting schedule.

CSU Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) it is our policy to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless such accommodation would cause undue hardship.