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Dartmouth College

Assistant Vice President of Principal Gifts

5 day weekGenerous PTOHybrid · Lebanon, NH, USA

Scheduled hours per week: 40

Scheduled months per year: 12

Remote work eligibility: Hybrid

Position purpose

The Assistant Vice President of Principal Gifts (AVP-PG) in Medical & Healthcare Advancement (MHA) is responsible for the development and oversight of a coordinated and comprehensive principal giving (>$5M gifts) program spanning Dartmouth Health (DH) and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. While defined as gifts of $5M or more, of equal importance is the inherent complexity of gifts of this magnitude. As a result, the AVP requires a creative thinker, a tenacious fundraiser, a detailed tactician, and an individual who needs to be both an independent self-motivator as well as a consummate team player.

The AVP is responsible for leading MHA efforts to cultivate, solicit and close principal gifts, and will serve as a key resource to other staff managing principal gift prospects and as an advisor on principal gifts to the Chief Development Officer (CDO), to whom the position reports. The AVP will serve as a member of the CDO’s Senior Leadership team.

In addition to the oversight of the principal giving program, the AVP is charged with creating an ecosystem for transformational gifts to launch, power and sustain transformational ideas, including partnering with institutional leadership to support strategic initiatives across Geisel and DH. In the highly complex intersection of science, medicine and healthcare, this approach can galvanize donor and alumni communities to solve complex problems in health.

This role will be essential in identifying our best opportunities to employ this approach and then working with institutional leadership to implement and execute. Essential to this aspect of the role is serving as the liaison from the MHA and in partnership with the CDO, Dartmouth College’s principal gifts team.

Key accountabilities

We are seeking an accomplished fundraising leader to serve as the Assistant Vice President of Principal Gifts. This highly visible role will lead and expand a growing principal giving program, partnering with institutional leaders, faculty, researchers, clinicians, and volunteers to engage some of the most generous philanthropists at Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine. The successful candidate will drive strategy for transformational giving opportunities that advance groundbreaking research, exceptional patient care, medical education, and innovation.

Program Planning, Management and Leadership

  • In concert with the CDO and executive leadership, ultimately develops, builds and sustains a sophisticated principal gifts program to support key priorities at Dartmouth Health, the Geisel School of Medicine and healthcare at Dartmouth more broadly.
  • Serves as the manager to the Associate Director of Principal Gifts. In that capacity, leads a principal gifts team in service to the overall objectives of that team. Further, supports the typical managerial needs of a staff member.
  • In partnership with senior leadership, plays a lead role in developing long-term principal gift opportunities and gift strategies for principal gift donors and prospects.
  • The AVP reviews and updates existing policies, practices and systems to best support an environment for principal gift opportunities and gifts across Geisel and DH.
  • Coordinates with Dartmouth College’s principal gifts team ensuring effective and efficient management and where appropriate, joint prospect coordination.
  • Helps to set strategic direction for principal gifts fundraising in MHA, including benchmarks and program evaluation. Further, as a member of the senior leadership team, helps to inform the comprehensive goals set by MHA.
  • Identifies and prioritizes development communications and engagement needs for the program. Coordinates those needs with the respective senior leaders to ensure smooth prioritization and implementation of goals and objectives.
  • Works with the stewardship and pipeline teams to ensure consistency and continuity in the building and stewarding of relationships with the highest-level donors and prospects.

Fundraising and Portfolio Management

  • Manages a portfolio of principal gift level prospects; achieves annual funds raised targets and face-to-face visit metrics.
  • Works to identify, engage, cultivate and solicit high net-worth unaffiliated donors who are regional or national philanthropists in healthcare.
  • Exercises significant judgment, discretion and confidentiality in working with patients, prospective donors, alumni, volunteers and faculty and staff.
  • Develops a keen understanding for the priorities and funding needs for the programs, departments, centers and units of Geisel and Dartmouth Health, specifically those that present a philanthropic opportunity of $5M or more.
  • Partners closely with the Vice President of Development, Vice President of Advancement Administration and CDO on building out the systems and structures required to advance principal gifts strategies across both organizations.
  • Analyzes and reports on progress and outcomes.

Engagement

  • In partnership with the Executive Director of Development, Geisel, will work closely with Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth to focus on opportunities that leverage Geisel, Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Health’s contributions to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  • The AVP is most successful in this role by balancing “being in the know” on priorities vs. being “in the weeds.” As a result, it is essential to rely on and utilize the skills and talents of colleagues within the MHA and across Dartmouth.
  • Fosters a collegial, efficient, effective, productive and highly successful principal gifts fundraising environment, both by direct action and collaboration with the broader team.
  • Builds trust-based, respectful, collegial, and effective relationships with the most senior levels for Dartmouth Health and Geisel including, faculty, administrators, volunteers, and colleagues as part of a team in a large, complex, academic medical institution and university.
  • Recognizing that not all principal gift prospects will be directly managed by the AVP, the person in this role serves as a mentor, resource, role model and coach to MHA leadership (CDO, VP-Development) and staff on matters of prospect strategy and solicitation; regularly shares new approaches and techniques.
  • Support initiatives regarding diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging by thoughtfully and authentically engaging new constituents and communities, and by respecting the diversity of thought and personal experiences of current and new colleagues.

Required qualifications: education and experience

Bachelors or equivalent combination of education and experience

Required qualifications: skills, knowledge and abilities

  • Minimum 15 years of complex fundraising experience.
  • Ability to effectively manage, motivate and coach colleagues through influence and persuasion.
  • Ability to work with and command the respect of senior officers, faculty and administrators, and high-level volunteers.
  • Excellent oral, written, and project management skills. Excellent organizational skills.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and adept at collaboration, negotiating and listening. Ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously and to set priorities.
  • Expertise in operating database, spreadsheet, and Web-based software applications in a complex computer information system environment.
  • Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion.
  • Demonstrated ability to build trusting, effective relationships with individuals across a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and communities.
  • Demonstrated ability to craft creative, original strategies for cultivating and closing complex, high-value gifts.
  • Bring a sense of humor and joy to the workplace.

Preferred qualifications

  • Master’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
  • Experience in a principal gift capacity closing multiple seven- and eight-figure gifts, along with program management responsibilities, strongly preferred.
  • Previous capital campaign experience and experience fundraising in a complex college, university, or medical center development operation with a proven record of successful fundraising strongly preferred.
  • Writing and communications experience in higher education or non-profit environment desired.
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