Senior Director, Events

The Senior Director of Events is responsible for overseeing a comprehensive and robust recognition, stewardship, and cultivation events program, including stewardship and celebration moments connected to 8-figure+ gifts, campaign priorities, and building milestones. This position works with the utmost professionalism, across multiple concurrent deadlines, to support the Division’s senior management and Dana‑Farber leadership, including by directly supporting the President and CEO during events.

In an environment where donor attention is increasingly fragmented and event attendance is not guaranteed, the Senior Director will provide strategic input into event programming, conceptualize innovative tactics to reach new audiences, and oversee new and ongoing event activities. Accountable for executing all events within budget, on time, and aligned with strategic goals, the Senior Director will lead a team tasked with securing the best value from vendors, collaborating with Dana‑Farber departments to execute events that cross functions and audiences (donors, workforce, community) and planning and executing a robust portfolio of high‑level, unique, and programmatically focused events for Trustees, donors, and prospective donors within the transformational gifts, principal gifts, major gifts, annual gifts, planned gifts, institutional, and Jimmy Fund portfolios.

The Senior Director will serve as a key member of the Donor Experience & Engagement management group and is responsible for assisting the entire Division with reaching financial goals. Reports to the Assistant Vice President of Donor Experience & Engagement.

This position's work location is fully remote with occasional time on‑campus in Brookline, MA. The selected candidate may only work remotely from a New England state (ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI).

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana‑Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life‑changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high‑risk and underserved populations.

We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School‑affiliated hospitals.

• Collaborate with the Office of the President, Senior Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Vice Presidents, and colleagues across Dana‑Farber to ensure all strategic and cross‑functional goals are accomplished through the execution of a robust portfolio of recognition, stewardship, and cultivation events. Serve as a trusted partner to senior leadership by providing clear options, recommendations, and decisions.
• Develop milestone‑based experiences tied to major initiatives (e.g., hospital and campaign moments) that celebrate, steward, and reinforce fundraising momentum and donor confidence. Lead event strategy in response to evolving donor/consumer behaviors and event‑market saturation; recommend what to stop, start, or redesign to maximize engagement and fundraising impact, with a focus on supporting the Division’s fundraising goals for the Future Cancer Hospital and other emerging campaign priorities.
• Own external vendor/agency strategy for the events portfolio: select partners, define scope and success metrics, and manage performance to protect quality, budget, and timelines. Leverage external partners to build internal capability.
• Design and oversee the consistent implementation of project management tools to aid in the successful planning and execution of all events.
• Manage all Division‑wide policies and procedures related to recognition, stewardship, and cultivation events.
• Manage the event‑related budget process for Donor Experience & Engagement; provide counsel to teams across the Division on their event budgets.
• Execute other new projects and perform additional…