Regional Director of Development, Major Gifts

This full-time, exempt position is a member of the FAS Major Gifts team and reports to the Deputy Director of Development, FAS Major Gifts. The incumbent will be charged with developing and executing sophisticated cultivation and solicitation strategies leading to the realization of six and seven-figure major gifts from an assigned portfolio of approximately 100+ alumni and parent prospect households on the West Coast.

The Regional Director will partner with colleagues in the Principal Gifts, Major Gifts, Gift Planning, and Harvard College Fund teams, and with volunteers and others throughout AA&D to encourage major gift level support (beginning at $25,000 annually or in the form of $250,000+ multi-year pledges) across the FAS. At maturity, this role will generate $5 million+ per year.

• Manage a targeted portfolio of 100+ households in the West Coast region.
• Responsible for meeting or exceeding assigned goals, including, but not limited to, goals for prospect visits, solicitations, successful gift closures, and dollars raised. Qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio.
• Acquire a deep understanding of assigned prospects' philanthropic interests, capacity, and inclination through face-to-face and virtual meetings.
• Through the development of thoughtful strategies and intentional prioritization of prospects, ensure revenue goals are met by focusing on upgrading donors and through maintaining an active regional presence.
• Utilize knowledge of prospects' interests, to develop and execute robust, multi-step prospect strategies. Strategically leverage academic leadership, faculty, and other members of the Harvard community leading to successful solicitation and closure of six and seven-figure gifts.
• Adhere to all prospect management processes and policies around contact reports, proposals, stage codes etc. to ensure cross-departmental transparency and effectiveness.
• Serve as a partner to Harvard College Fund, Gift Planning, Major Gift, and Principal Gift colleagues by identifying new prospects, volunteers, and supporting the goals of elevating unrestricted and flexibly restricted support at FAS.
• Actively seek to improve professional skills, knowledge, and understanding of Harvard by developing relationships with colleagues across campus, attending campus events and activities, and participating in training activities.
• Travel occasionally with senior academic and administrative leaders. Responsible for securing visits for all leaders and for constructing meetings to effectively leverage each leader's time to advance prospect strategies. Responsible for communicating meeting strategies through written briefings and pre-visit briefing meetings or calls.
• Work closely with senior fundraising leaders within FAS Development, the University Development Office, and other Harvard Schools to coordinate strategies for prospects with multi-school affiliations and/or interests. Embrace collaboration with these partners to deepen each prospect's relationship with the university to maximize giving potential through broad interests.
• Serve as a leader, resource, and mentor for other fundraisers in the organization by leveraging their fundraising experience, as well as their knowledge of FAS content acquired through their prospect work to inform prospect strategies. Will be expected to contribute productively to prospect strategy reviews and trainings.

The above covers the most significant responsibilities of the position. It does not, however, exclude other duties, the inclusion of which would conform with the level of the position.

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in university fundraising or relevant transferable experience required.
• Ability to travel approximately 35% of working days.
• You will be expected to work certain events/campus activities, such as reunions each Spring, and participate in department retreats that are taking place on campus in Cambridge, MA.

• Successful track record as a fundraiser or transferable experience, with a preference of 5+ years' of direct solicitation/sales/relationship management experience.
• Knowledge of complex academic institutions and experience staffing academic leaders in development work strongly preferred.
• Sophisticated and comprehensive understanding of fundraising best- practices.
• Proven track record of significant gift closures and/or relevant transferable experience strongly preferred.…