Director for , Graduate School

Job Description

For over 160 years, the University of Washington has been a hub for learning, innovation, problem solving and community building. Supporting this legacy and important public mission—guided by the goal of making the UW the world’s greatest public university, as measured by positive impact—guides everything we do in University Advancement. Bringing together development; alumni and stakeholder engagement; marketing and communications; and advancement operations, we advance the UW’s impact by developing meaningful connections that foster pride, advocacy and philanthropic support.

The mission of the Development team is to facilitate private resources to enhance and protect the University’s reputation and support equitable community building and service. This starts with creating a culture of belonging within our organization that values the diverse experiences and expertise of our team members, allowing everyone to thrive and to contribute their unique talents as we strive to achieve our shared goals.

Graduate School has an exciting opening for a Director for Advancement. This is a full-time permanent position.

The Director for Advancement is a leadership-level role responsible for generating individual and organizational support, enhancing marketing and communications strategies and strengthening advocacy and engagement among alumni and community partners to advance graduate education at the University of Washington. The Director manages sophisticated fundraising initiatives and complex gift strategies, primarily involving high-capacity individual donors, and collaborates as needed on corporate and foundation engagement.

This role works with the Dean of the Graduate School and the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic & Student Affairs Advancement to help elevate the profile of graduate education and design and implement development programs to sustain donor identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.

In addition to supporting the Graduate School (GS), this role also serves on the executive leadership team for Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) Advancement to support the University’s commitment to educational excellence and opportunity by advancing strategies that attract, engage and foster the success of a diverse and talented student community.

• Direct the identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of individual prospects, alumni and corporate partners.
• Manage a portfolio of prospects, with an emphasis on high capacity-level donors.
• Create and execute strategies to build strong, long-term relationships between unit leaders and donor prospects.
• Utilize the University’s prospect management and tracking system to maintain accurate data.

• Work closely with the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic and Student Affairs Advancement and the Dean of the Graduate School to establish short- and long-term advancement goals, annual objectives, strategies and an operating plan aligned with institutional priorities.
• Develop and implement an integrated communications strategy to promote fundraising priorities, donor impact and engagement opportunities in support of graduate education.
• Partner with UW Retirement Association leadership to engage members as advocates and philanthropic supporters of graduate education through targeted outreach, stewardship and engagement strategies.
• Provide strategic oversight of the Graduate School Advancement budget, ensuring alignment of resources with fundraising priorities, engagement strategies and stewardship initiatives and advising leadership on adjustments that support advancement goals.
• Regularly review donor portfolio trends and giving histories to inform fundraising strategy, pipeline development and stewardship approaches, translating insights into actions that strengthen relationship management and philanthropic outcomes.

• Contribute to strategic planning by helping determine value-add funding needs and priorities for graduate student success, including fellowships, Top Scholar Program,…