Columbia University · 2 months ago
Director, Prospect Development
Manhattanville, NY
Full-time
Onsite
Lead/Staff, Director/Executive
$110K/yr - $125K/yr
5+ years expColumbia University is a prestigious institution dedicated to developing leaders and advancing knowledge in management. The Director, Prospect Development will lead the prospect identification, research, and management efforts for the Development and Alumni Relations office, ensuring high-quality support for fundraising initiatives and cultivating team capabilities for enhanced performance.
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Responsibilities
In conjunction with the Director of Strategic Planning, defines and leads the strategic vision, policies and standards for the Prospect Development function to ensure there is consistent, high-quality support for the CBS fundraising team throughout the giving cycle
Develops, institutionalizes, and maintains a formal service model that clearly defines how Prospect Development partners with fundraisers at each stage of the donor cycle, including trip planning, first-visit research, ask-stage intelligence, and related support
Establishes and oversees the annual and multi-year goals, metrics, and operating cadences for research, ratings, portfolio health, and pipeline growth aligned to School and campaign priorities
Designs and executes proactive strategies to expand the prospect pool and build pipelines for School priorities at the principal, major, and leadership gift levels
Translates screening and external data into actionable intelligence by developing methodologies to verify ratings and communicate strategic implications
Oversees portfolio governance standards, assignment models, review cycles, and reporting to ensure data integrity and timely movement of prospects through the pipeline
Provides strategic guidance that improves the quality, velocity, and impact of fundraising activity
Leads continuous process improvement and change management across the function and partner teams
Serves as a strategic thought partner to fundraisers and School leadership
Develops briefing materials and prospect intelligence for the Dean and senior leaders in support of principal-gift and board-level engagement
Provides training and education for fundraisers on how to engage Prospect Development services and leverage data for strategy
Supports diversification of the School’s board and pipeline to reflect CBS’s alumni and student communities
Supervises the Assistant Director and student research staff, including hiring, training, goal setting, coaching, and performance evaluation
Builds team capacity through cross-training and professional development to ensure coverage and resilience
Fosters a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning
Aligns qualitative research with quantitative data models to create consistent and actionable insights
Develops shared data standards and consistent processes to ensure research insights and analytics findings are aligned and easily understood across teams
Owns data integrity standards and timely entry of research and ratings in the CRM system
Designs reporting that provides transparency into prospect activities, portfolio health, and pipeline outcomes
Delivers guidance and training to staff on data quality, reporting best practices, and CRM usage for prospect management
Evaluates and implements research tools, technologies, and subscriptions that enhance efficiency and value
Partners closely with the Advancement Services team to integrate modeling, scoring, and segmentation into prospecting and portfolio decisions
Represents CBS Prospect Development in collaboration with University Development, peer institutions, and industry networks
Exchanges best practices and maintains awareness of emerging trends in prospect development and data-driven philanthropy
Other duties as assigned/required
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree required
Minimum 5-7 years of experience in prospect development or related field required
Understanding of best practices in fundraising, research, prospect identification, and prospect management
Outstanding written and oral communication skills with the ability to translate complex information to different audiences
Preferred
Experience working in higher education or other complex institutions
Competency in data analysis, analytics, and modeling
Experience with Principal Gift prospecting and strategy development
Salesforce experience a plus
Company
Columbia University
Columbia University is a research institution and Ivy League school for undergraduate and graduate students across various fields
10001+ employees
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$21.84MKey Investors
ValeNational Institutes of HealthNational Science Foundation
2024-09-24Grant· $0.02M
2023-08-17Grant
2023-05-04Grant· $20M
Leadership Team
Jeannette Wing
Executive Vice President for Research and Professor of Computer Science
Asaf Cidon
Assistant Professor, EE and CS
Recent News
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