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Associate Vice-President, Development

Date:

Established

July 2008
Reformat/Update
May 2014

Reports to (Job Title): Vice-President, Advancement
Jobs Reporting (Job Titles):

Associate Director, Annual Giving

Associate Director, Planned Giving

Associate Director, Leadership Giving

Administrative Assistant to the AVP, Development
Location: Main Campus
Office of Advancement
Grade: USG 18

Primary Purpose

Reporting to the Vice President, Advancement, the Associate Vice-President (AVP), Development is primarily responsible for leading and providing oversight to the Development unit within the Office of Advancement which is comprised of Annual Giving; Leadership Giving;and Planned Giving. As a senior member of the Advancement team, the AVP, Development provides leadership in developing and evaluating strategic fundraising approaches that complement and enhance programs within Advancement and across the university (for example, principal gifts, alumni relations, Faculty campaigns, etc.), as well as advancement service areas (including systems, gift processing, records,donor relations & stewardship, advancement communications and research).

A primary goal of the Development Team is to ensure an integrated approach to broad-based and specialized giving programs across the university, with a strategic emphasis on building capacity in the “pipeline” through the qualification, cultivation and stewardship of prospects up to a threshold of $100,000.

 

This position involves extensive consultation and collaboration with senior leadership across campus (Deans, University College Heads, Faculty Directors, etc.) and development officers representing each of these units, and other stakeholders across campus.

Description of general framework and environment

In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada’s Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada’s leading comprehensive universities with 30,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world’s largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For details, visit uwaterloo.ca.

The mission of the Office of Advancement is to inspire and engage people in philanthropy to advance the University of Waterloo as one of the world’s top innovation universities. Led by the Vice-President, Advancement, the Office is Advancement is comprised of four central units:  Development, Principal Gifts, Advancement Services and Alumni Affairs; and decentralized advancement teams in each of its six faculties. Together, the Office of Advancement teams (comprising a staff of approximately 100) seek out opportunities to build support for the university’s academic, research, and service goals, and advance the University’s Strategic Plan — A Distinguished Past, A Distinctive Future.

Currently, uWaterloo has 156,263 alumni living in 142 countries and is committed to fostering lifelong, mutually-beneficial relationships that preserve and promote uWaterloo’s mission and traditions. 

In 2008, uWaterloo moved into the final phase of its transition into an integrated advancement model with a coordinated decentralized advancement structure. In 2010, the University celebrated the completion of Campaign Waterloo: Building a Talent Trust with an incredible $613.2 million raised, making it one of the most successful university campaigns in the country.

For more information about Waterloo Advancement, including a directory of staff, please visit uwaterloo.ca/support.

Statistical Data

 

The Development unit is comprised of 11 full-time staff, augmented with 2 co-op students per team and an annual budget in the range of $1.6 million. In addition, the Development unit is the primary relationship manager for a third party partner engaged to manage the university call centre (on-site) and phone program, which employs Waterloo students and operates year-round.

In 2013-14, over 12,300 individuals made a gift to the University of Waterloo, including almost 7,700 alumni donors. There were more than 2,000 members of UW’s leadership giving groups as follows:

964 President’s Circle members

218 Governors’ Circle members

329 Chancellor’s Circle members

166 Leaders of Tomorrow Circle members

There are 424 members of the 1957 Society (lifetime giving of $100K or more from individuals and organizations), many of whom are also current leadership donors.

In the Planned Giving program there are 547 confirmed planned gifts (recognized as Laurel Society members) for an estimated $58 million. Average annual estate income is $1.3 million (based on 10 year average).

Key Accountabilities:

1.

Establishes the strategic direction, leadership and priority setting for university development activity:

  • provides oversight to the development of annual strategic plans across the development unit, including projections regarding dollars raised, visits, stewardship activities, and other performance metrics that may be developed
  • works closely with Associate Vice-President, Principal Gifts to ensure that programs are properly integrated and strategically aligned
  • ensures strategic alignment and business efficiencies between development unit processes and advancement services. Provides strategic input to advancement services concerning strategic business issues that affect development unit functionality (e.g. prospect clearance, research processes, datamining services, data-hygiene requirements, records processes, etc.)
  • Develops and maintains a good working knowledge of the university’s activities and priority projects
2. 

Responsible for development program implementation and oversight:

  • will develop strategies to encourage broad-based annual giving to the university from multiple constituencies, as well as development of the leadership giving pipeline up to a threshold of $100,000, in a highly collaborative and consultative environment across the campus
  • will ensure that effective and targeted stewardship and donor relations strategies are implemented including the development of event based opportunities and communication techniques
  • will provide oversight of the planned giving program, ensuring that as the university’s constituent base ages, commensurate increases to planned giving expectancies and estate gifts are realized
  • works closely with faculties, colleges, and units/departments in developing strategies, processes, and clearance procedures
  • provides functional direction to the Communications Officer, Development to ensure that communication activities within the unit are integrated, cost-effective, and targeted for specific audiences
  • provides direction to the Associate Director, Leadership Giving in the strategic development and implementation of this unit, including the development of performance benchmarks
  • provides direction to the Associate Director, Stewardship and Donor Relations to ensure that innovative, targeted, and personal strategies are developed to meet the specific needs of donors across different giving segments
  • provides direction to the Associate Director, Planned Giving to ensure that appropriate strategies are developed to increase planned giving expectancies and realized estates
  • provides direction to the Associate Director, Annual Giving to ensure that appropriate strategies and resources are utilized to maintain and grow a broad base of annual giving support;
  • utilizes tools available including the Raiser’s Edge database to identify and manage prospect relationships
  • provides leadership and sets priorities for the Development Analyst in order to provide more sophisticated donor modelling and analytical tools across the development unit

3. 

Establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships:

  • the AVP, Development is a position that is centralized within the Office of Advancement and significant strategic leadership and collaboration is required with all faculties and other organizational units on campus in the execution of specialized and interdisciplinary fundraising and stewardship programs including the development of customized strategies and clearance procedures that complement decentralized fundraising strategies
  • ensures collaboration and transparency for central development unit activities and initiatives so that stakeholders across campus are informed and involved
  • works closely with Associate Vice-President, Alumni Relations and alumni team to maximize leadership giving, stewardship, and alumni engagement opportunities including collaborative strategies in geographic regions as part their chapter programming
  • participates on numerous cross-functional standing committees including: PMT (Prospect Management & Tracking), Directors’ Senior Management Team, Development Team Leads, and the Stewardship Committee
4. 

Develops strategies and conducts personal visits to qualify, cultivate, solicit and steward an assigned pool of prospects

5. 

Ensures the effective utilization, deployment and development of people and capital resources

  • coaches and provides opportunities for team members
  • participates in the identification, recruitment, training, management and stewardship of volunteers associated with selected special projects

Position Requirements

Education:

Completion of a Bachelor’s degree

Experience:

10-12 years of progressive business experience with a proven track record of achievement and success within Advancement.  Competencies will include strategic thinking, people management, interpersonal, organizational and communication skills.

Technical:

MS Word Excel PowerPoint Other
Basic Basic Not required Not required

Nature and Scope

Interpersonal Skills:

Significant Internal Relationships

Significant External Relationships

Level of Responsibility:

The position is responsible and accountable for the overall results of the group or department.

Decision-Making Authority:

Responsible and accountable for establishing the priorities for the department and addressing the changes to strategic business plans by consulting directly with the President as appropriate.

Physical and Sensory Demands:

Minimal demands typical of a senior executive position operating within an office environment.

Working Environment:

Minimal exposure to disagreeable conditions typical of a senior executive position exposed to stress and pressure associated with senior level responsibilities.