Assistant Vice Chancellor, Seaver College

The Assistant Vice Chancellor will have primary responsibility for developing, organizing, leading, and implementing a comprehensive fundraising program and strategies for the Seaver College Advancement team, and plays an important front-line fundraising role. As a major gift officer, this position will be expected to personally raise major gifts in support of the dean’s fundraising priorities, focusing on donors with a capacity of $100,000 to $1M+.

The success of our mission to strengthen lives for purpose, service, and leadership depends in a large part on strong financial support from donors who enable us to provide the facilities, programs, faculty, and opportunities necessary to provide stellar, mission-driven programs for our students.

• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of approximately 100-120 major gift donors/prospects ($100K-$1M+ capacity) with added focus on pipeline development to meet increasingly aggressive annual fundraising goals. Identification of major gift prospects includes prospects for planned gifts and prospective Seaver board members.
• In conjunction with faculty and the Corporate and Foundation Relations Dept., identify opportunities with foundations and corporate prospects.
• Plan and execute 12-18 significant meetings with prospects each month.
• Participate in advancement activities and events, including dinners, receptions, alumni events & campus visits, board meetings, etc., some of which involve evening and weekend work hours and regional and national travel.
• Develop, organize, and oversee the fundraising strategy and programs for Seaver College.
• Collaborate with the Leadership Gift Officers who raise funds for Seaver College, the Parents Program, the Pepperdine Fund, the Seaver Alumni Relations office, and other colleagues to create effective strategies, inspire success, track and analyze fundraising metrics, and consistently meet or exceed individual and team key performance goals.
• Develop best practices and strengthen the pipeline of future donors.
• Conduct ongoing stewardship activities to further enhance the relationship between Seaver donors and Pepperdine University.
• Utilize the Pepperdine advancement database, The Raiser's Edge, to research historical records and communications with donors and prospects, and document new actions and proposals.
• Develop and manage annual travel and expense budget.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
• Uphold University mission through work performed.

The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Required:

• A bachelor’s degree and five or more years of progressively responsible major gift fundraising experience.
• Demonstrated successful track record working with, adding members to and soliciting gifts from active advisory boards comprised of prominent alumni, corporate and community volunteers.
• History of closing six and seven-figure gifts; preferably with experience securing significant planned gifts.
• Fluent in the language of planned giving and giving mechanisms (e.g. blended gifts, charitable trusts etc.).
• Consistent record of achieving business goals.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, persuasion and presentation skills.
• The ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals, including executives, university administrators, and others.
• Strong interpersonal skills as well as a high level of sophistication and maturity in social and professional settings.
• A general level of comfort dealing with high net worth individuals, an ability to maintain discretion, and a high level of confidentiality, when dealing with sensitive internal matters and with significant donors and benefactors.
• Ability to create strong relationships with key faculty and staff and gain a comprehensive understanding of their programs and opportunities for major gifts.
• Ability to work collaboratively with fundraising colleagues in central…