Director of Advancement Services and Prospect Development

Muskingum University invites applications for the Director of Advancement Services and Prospect Development. This position provides strategic and operational leadership for the systems, data, financial processes, research, and policies that enable the University's fundraising and engagement programs. The Director, along with the Assistant Director of Operations, are the primary managers of Slate, the University's advancement customer relationship management (CRM) platform, and ensures that donor and prospect information is accurate, secure, accessible, and actionable.

Serving as a collaborative partner to annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, foundation relations, and donor relations, the Director translates data into insight, strengthens prospect pipelines, and maintains effective gift administration and reconciliation practices. The Director supervises the Assistant Director of Operations and fosters a collaborative, service-oriented team culture grounded in a donor-centric model.

• Lead the administration, configuration, data governance, documentation, and continuous improvement of Slate for Advancement.
• Maintain data integrity through standards, audits, duplicate prevention and resolution, validation rules, and routine quality-control processes.
• Develop and maintain queries, in partnership with the assistant director of operations, reports, dashboards, workflows, forms, integrations, and user access appropriate to business needs and security requirements.
• Partner with campus technology and data stakeholders to support integrations, troubleshoot issues, plan upgrades, and improve system performance.
• Train and support Advancement staff in effective CRM use, reporting, data entry, and established business practices.

• Lead prospect identification, research, qualification, segmentation, portfolio analysis, and wealth-screening activities.
• Produce accurate, concise prospect profiles and briefings that synthesize capacity, affinity, engagement, relationships, interests, and philanthropic indicators.
• Develop analytics, dashboards, and reporting that inform fundraising strategy, resource allocation, and performance assessment.
• Partner with fundraisers to identify new prospects and recommend portfolio assignments, capacity ratings, and engagement strategies.
• Monitor emerging practices and tools in prospect development, research, and advancement analytics.

• Oversee, in partnership with the assistant director of operations, the accurate and timely recording, receipting, acknowledgment, adjustment, and documentation of gifts, pledges, matching gifts, and other charitable support.
• Ensure gift processing reflects donor intent, gift agreements, designation requirements, institutional policies, and applicable accounting and tax guidance.
• Establish quality controls, service standards, documentation, and cross-training to support consistent processing and strong donor service.
• Coordinate with donor relations, fundraising teams, and the business office to resolve questions and ensure donors receive accurate, timely communications.

• Design and administer prospect stages, moves-management standards, portfolio protocols, contact reporting expectations, and next-action tracking.
• Facilitate regular portfolio and pipeline reviews with annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, external relations (for Foundations), and donor relations colleagues.
• Provide reports and analysis on prospect movement, activity, pipeline health, solicitations, proposals, and outcomes.
• Promote consistent CRM adoption and accountability while serving as a solutions-oriented partner to frontline fundraisers.

• Coordinate with the assistant director of operations and the University's Business Office to reconcile gift activity between Slate and the general ledger and resolve discrepancies promptly.
• Oversee fund and designation setup, campaign and appeal coding, pledge receivables, month- and year-end close, audit requests, and financial reporting.
• Develop clear controls and documentation that support accurate reporting and an appropriate separation of duties.

• Develop, maintain, and apply policies and procedures related to gift acceptance and processing, data governance, prospect research, records retention, privacy, access, and…