Director of Strategic Initiatives and Advancement Operations- Development and Alumni Relations

Summary

Reporting to the Vice President for University Advancement, theDirector of Strategic Initiatives and Advancement Operations servesas a senior leader within Midwestern University's advancementorganization. The Director provides leadership for strategicplanning, campaign readiness, advancement operations, prospectresearch, wealth screening, reporting and analytics, giftadministration, and donor agreement management.

This position accelerates philanthropic growth by translatinginstitutional priorities into integrated advancement strategies,strengthening operational infrastructure, expanding the major giftpipeline, and ensuring the effective administration of systems,processes, and resources that support fundraising, alumniengagement, donor stewardship, and campaign success acrossMidwestern University's Glendale and Downers Grove campuses.

The Director works closely with University leadership, deans,faculty, clinicians, advancement staff, and external partners toidentify philanthropic opportunities, advance institutionalpriorities, and foster a culture of data-informed decision-making,operational excellence, and donor-centered engagement.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Initiative Design

• Lead the development and implementation of multi-yearadvancement strategies that align with Midwestern University'smission and institutional priorities.
• Translate executive-level objectives into actionable projectplans, budgets, timelines, and measurable performanceindicators.
• Conduct environmental scans, benchmarking studies, andstrategic analyses to identify opportunities for growth andinnovation.
• Support the Vice President in advancing strategic priorities,special initiatives, and institutional fundraising goals.

Campaign Planning and Readiness

• Lead campaign planning, readiness assessments, casedevelopment, prospect segmentation, and fundraising strategy formajor institutional initiatives.
• Coordinate campaign infrastructure, policies, procedures, andreporting systems to support comprehensive and multi-campusfundraising efforts.
• Partner with academic and administrative leadership to developcompelling philanthropic priorities and cases for support.
• Monitor campaign performance and recommend strategicadjustments to maximize fundraising
• Prospect Research, Wealth Screening, and PipelineDevelopment
• Oversee prospect research, wealth screening, donor analytics,and prospect management programs to identify, qualify, andprioritize major, principal, planned, corporate, and foundationgiving
• Develop prospect profiles, briefing materials, capacityassessments, relationship mapping, and strategic recommendationsfor University leadership and frontline fundraisers.
• Monitor pipeline performance and establish metrics to assessprospect movement, portfolio health, and fundraisingeffectiveness.
• Support major, principal, planned, corporate, and foundationfundraising strategies through data- driven decision-making.

Advancement Operations and Services

• Provide leadership and oversight for advancement operations,including constituent records management, data governance, giftprocessing, reporting, advancement technologies, and operationaleffectiveness.
• Ensure the accuracy, security, integrity, and compliance ofadvancement data and records.
• Develop operational policies, procedures, and best practicesthat enhance efficiency, accountability, and serviceexcellence.
• Collaborate with Information Technology, Finance, and otherUniversity departments to strengthen advancement systems andreporting capabilities.

Reporting, Analytics, and Business Intelligence

• Lead the development and maintenance of dashboards, performancemetrics, fundraising reports, and key performance indicators.
• Provide strategic analysis of fundraising performance, donortrends, campaign progress, and pipeline activity to Universityleadership and the Board of Trustees.
• Leverage technology, automation, predictive modeling, andbusiness intelligence tools to improve fundraising outcomes andoperational efficiency.
• Champion a culture of data-informed decision-making andcontinuous improvement throughout University Advancement.

Gift Administration and Donor Agreement Management

• Oversee the accurate processing, acknowledgment, receipting,reconciliation, and reporting of all charitable contributions.
• Coordinate the preparation, review, execution, tracking, andmanagement of gift agreements, endowment agreements, memoranda ofunderstanding, and other philanthropic commitments.
• Ensure compliance with donor intent, institutional policies,accounting standards, IRS regulations, and applicable legalrequirements.
• Monitor restricted and endowed funds to ensure stewardshipobligations, reporting commitments, and donor expectations arefulfilled.
• Partner with Finance, Legal Affairs, and University leadershipto ensure proper administration of philanthropic funds anddonor-supported initiatives.

Cross-Campus and Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as a strategic liaison between University Advancement andacademic, clinical, and administrative leadership on bothcampuses.
• Facilitate collaboration among deans, faculty, clinicians, andexternal partners to identify and advance philanthropicopportunities.
• Support donor engagement strategies that align institutionalpriorities with donor interests and community needs.
• Represent University Advancement on institutional committees,task forces, and strategic initiatives.

Team Leadership and Organizational Capacity Building

• Develop and implement systems, processes, templates, andperformance metrics that strengthen organizationaleffectiveness.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability,and continuous improvement.
• Assist with budget development, resource allocation, andoperational planning for University
• Supervise assigned staff and provide leadership, coaching, andprofessional development

Other Duties

• Perform other duties as assigned in support of the mission,vision, and goals of Midwestern University and UniversityAdvancement.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has supervisory responsibilities.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able toperform each essential duty satisfactorily. Must be able to work ina constant state of alertness and safe manner and have regular,predictable, in-person attendance. Candidate must have very strongwritten and verbal communication skills.

The requirements listedbelow are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or abilityrequired. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enableindividuals with disabilities to perform the essentialfunctions.

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in BusinessAdministration, Nonprofit Management, Public Administration,Communications, or a related field required.
• Minimum of seven (7) to ten (10) years of progressivelyresponsible leadership experience in advancement, development,fundraising operations, sales, advancement services, alumnirelations, or related fields, preferably within higher education,academic medicine, healthcare, or other complex nonprofit.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing strategicfundraising initiatives, campaign planning, prospect managementsystems, and organizational effectiveness strategies.
• Experience overseeing or working closely with advancementoperations, prospect research, wealth screening, giftadministration, donor stewardship, reporting, and constituentrelationship management (CRM) systems.
• Proven ability to analyze and leverage data to supportfundraising strategy, pipeline development, performancemeasurement, and organizational decision-making.
• Experience managing projects, budgets, timelines, andcross-functional initiatives involving multiple stakeholders anddepartments.
• Demonstrated success building collaborative relationships withexecutive leadership, faculty, deans, trustees, volunteers, donors,and community partners.
• Strong supervisory experience with a demonstrated ability tolead, mentor, and develop professional staff while fostering aculture of accountability, collaboration, and continuousimprovement.
• Exceptional written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentationcommunication skills, including the ability to prepareexecutive-level reports, donor communications, and strategicplanning documents.
• High degree of professionalism, discretion, judgment, andintegrity when handling confidential donor, financial, andinstitutional information.
• Demonstrated commitment to customer service, relationshipbuilding, and advancing mission-driven philanthropic outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Higher Education Administration, BusinessAdministration, Nonprofit Management, Public Administration,Communications, or a related field.
• Experience supporting comprehensive fundraising campaigns,campaign readiness assessments, or capital campaigns.
• Experience in prospect research, wealth screening, donoranalytics, fundraising reporting, and business intelligencetools.
• Experience with advancement CRM systems, fundraising databases,and reporting platforms.
• Experience in higher education, academic health centers,healthcare systems, alumni relations, community engagement, publicrelations, or philanthropic organizations.

Computer Skills

Computer proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook,PowerPoint). Fundraising Database experience required.

Language Skills

Intermediate skills: Ability to read and interpret documents suchas safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions andprocedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports andcorrespondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups ofcustomers or employees of organization.

Reasoning Ability

Intermediate skills: Ability to apply common sense understanding tocarry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form.Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variablesin standardized situations.

Mathematical Ability

Basic skills: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide allunits of measure using whole numbers, common fractions, anddecimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and tointerpret bar graphs.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of thosethat must be met by an employee to successfully perform theessential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may bemade to enable individuals with disabilities to perform theessential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee isoccasionally required to stand, walk, use hands to handle or feeland reach with hands and arms. The employee is frequently requiredto sit, talk and hear. The employee must occasionally lift and /ormove up to 10 pounds.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here arerepresentative of those an employee encounters while performing theessential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may bemade to enable individuals with disabilities to perform theessential functions. The noise level in the work environment isusually moderate.

Midwestern University is a private, not-for-profit organizationthat provides graduate and post-graduate education in the healthsciences. The University has two campuses, one in Downers Grove,Illinois and the other in Glendale, Arizona. More than 6,000full-time students are enrolled in graduate programs in osteopathicmedicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistant studies,physical therapy, occupational therapy, nurse anesthesia,cardiovascular perfusion, podiatry, optometry, clinical psychology,speech language pathology, biomedical sciences and veterinarymedicine.

Over 500 full-time faculty members and 400 staff membersare dedicated to the education and development of our students inan environment that encourages learning, respect for all members ofthe health care team, service, interdisciplinary scholarlyactivity, and personal growth.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical,dental, and vision insurance plans as well as life insurance,short/long term disability and pet insurance. We offer flexiblespending accounts including healthcare reimbursement andchild/dependent care account. We offer a work life balance withcompetitive time off package including paid holiday’s, sick/flexdays, personal days and vacation days.

We offer a 403(b) retirementplan, tuition reimbursement, child care subsidy reimbursementprogram, identity theft protection and an employee assistanceprogram. Wellness is important to us and we offer a wellnessfacility on-site with a fully equipped fitness facility.

Midwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Actionemployer that does not discriminate against an employee orapplicant based upon race; color; religion; creed; national originor ancestry; ethnicity; sex (including pregnancy); gender(including gender expressions, gender identity; and sexualorientation); marital status; age; disability; citizenship; past,current, or prospective service in the uniformed services; geneticinformation; or any other protected class, in accord with allfederal, state and local laws and regulations. MidwesternUniversity complies with the Smoke-Free Arizona Act (A.R.S.36-601.01) and the Smoke Free Illinois Act (410 ILCS 82/).Midwestern University complies with the Illinois Equal Pay Act of2003 and Arizona Equal Pay Acts.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals withDisabilities

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information,please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.