The Advancement Officer in the Major Gifts Program is primarily responsible for the identification and qualification of major gift prospects.  The Prospect Research, Management and Analytics (PRMA) office has identified many prospects that are currently unmanaged and need to be qualified. Bridging the gap between the Annual Fund and Major Gifts, the Advancement Officer is essential to ongoing pipeline expansion for schools and units as well as university development.  In addition, Advancement Officers are responsible for making leadership annual fund solicitations and having preliminary planned giving conversations.

Essential Job Functions

Build a major gift pipeline for fundraisers across Duke.

• Identify new major gift prospects for all University schools and units.
• Develop initial strategies for qualification and solicitation.
• Meet with Duke prospects identified by PRMA, fieldwork, individual prospecting, and screenings to personally qualify their financial capacity and inclination to make gifts to Duke.
• Solicit, cultivate and secure leadership annual fund gifts for all schools and units at Duke University.
• Develop strategy following qualification visits for viable prospects, including next steps and moves. Refer prospects to fundraising colleagues in schools and units based on the prospect’s expressed interests.
• Maintain active communication with development officers throughout the University to coordinate prospect activity and to make and “take” referrals.
• Acquire and maintain a working knowledge of Duke’s regional volunteer and prospect base and regional activities.
• Acquire and maintain a working knowledge of University-wide funding priorities, and a general knowledge of school and unit funding priorities.
• Report on activity on a regular basis in accordance with the Major Gift team standards.
• Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

Required Behavioral Competencies

• Collaborating with others: Ability to work collaboratively, formally and informally within one’s team and across the organization.
• Listening: Be an “active listener”. Receptive to speaker. Is easy to talk to and gets people to open up. Picks up on underlying messages. ‘Hears between the lines”.
• Goal & Task Management: Prioritize and coordinate tasks with attention to deadlines, concurrent management of projects and ability to create and follow a set strategy to goals and objectives.
• Curiosity & Information Seeking: Expresses an underlying curiosity in people and an ability to go beyond questions that are routine to gain an understanding of the prospects capacity, affinity and inclination.
• Decisiveness & Judgment: Avoids making assumptions about the facts. Requires the consideration of multiple factors and influences in making decisions.
• Ability to Influence: Ability to move or persuade others to act in a desired way.
• Flexibility: The ability to adapt to and work effectively with a variety of situations, and with various individuals or groups.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Makes decisions and takes action with as much relevant information as possible
• Expressing ideas orally and in writing: Ability to effectively, and persuasively communicate ideas, thoughts, and facts orally and in writing.
• Organizational Awareness: Ability to learn and understand organizational relationships and dynamics and use them to achieve objectives and goals.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated successful experience and effectiveness in annual fund and/or major gift fundraising.
• Ability to think strategically about identifying prospects and connecting donors to Duke.
• Demonstrated ability to handle multiple fundraising activities simultaneously.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• High level of creativity, initiative, and motivation.
• Ability to travel frequently (making 20 – 22 trips annually to assigned region)
• Bachelors’ degree required.

Interested Applicants:

Please submit your cover letter and resume to [email protected]. Please put “Advancement Officer” in the subject line

Duke University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status.