Williams College is pleased to announce an opening for a Development Officer, Director of Women’s Leadership Giving. Reporting to the Director of Alumni Fund Leadership Giving, this highly collaborative position will focus primarily on cultivating and stewarding existing members of — and inviting new members to join — a giving society for women-identifying alumni, parents and spouses making gifts of $100,000 or more. As opportunities arise over time the position may also support future special initiatives focusing on particular projects or populations. This is a fulltime, year-round, regular appointment.

With the encouragement and leadership of key alumnae volunteers, Williams has spent the past five years increasing women’s engagement at the highest levels of philanthropy through the annual giving and major giving programs. This position will take that work to the next level by building a women’s giving society, working toward representational parity within annual leadership giving, overseeing a collective goal for women’s giving in celebration of the 50 year milestone of women at Williams, and supporting other leadership giving initiatives for women-identifying alumni.

Williams is committed to enriching its educational experience and its culture through the diversity of its faculty, administration, and staff. As we build a diverse and inclusive community, we encourage applicants to highlight, in their cover letter, relevant experience with building, working with, and supporting a broadly diverse group of people.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, train and manage a cohort of highly driven, highly motivated volunteers
• Develop and oversee the Women’s Giving Society special fundraising program, with a goal of securing 100 women giving $100k by 2025.
• Develop a volunteer-driven stewardship program that values how women want to work with the College, hear from the College and be heard by the College.
• Secure and steward unrestricted gifts of $100k+ made by women (alumni, parents, and spouses) through the Alumni Fund and Parents Fund.
• Support volunteer and staff efforts to reach representational parity within annual leadership giving.
• Educate alumni and families about philanthropy and the case for supporting Williams; demonstrate success in motivating donors toward significant gifts.
• Collaborate extensively with the Director of Alumni Fund Leadership Giving, the Director of Annual Giving, Senior Development Officers, and the Parents Giving program.
• Document and report ROI for women’s philanthropy programs

Qualifications

• A minimum of two years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience (preferably in higher or secondary education) or other directly related experience, including recruiting, training and managing fundraising volunteers
• Experience working with leadership giving programs and donors
• Excellent organizational, oral and written communications skills
• Solid project management skills including the ability to collaboratively set goals, effectively plan for their achievement and evaluate outcomes
• Direct experience soliciting, negotiating and closing gifts of $25K-$100K
• The ability to work effectively both as part of a team and independently
• Competency in standard office software and excellent Excel skills
• Flexibility to creatively conceive and adapt different approaches to varied constituencies
• Some travel, evening, and weekend responsibilities are required
• Knowledge of the key issues facing higher education is desirable, as is professional experience or training in issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion