Senior Director of Advancement

Senior Director of Advancement

Department: Advancement

Position Type: Full Time

Hourly or Salary: Salary

Overview

Newfields' Senior Director of Advancement will join a dynamic, supportive advancement team of fundraising professionals who share their commitment to creating a vibrant, innovative cultural campus for our community and dedication to serving donors. Providing strategic direction and leadership to a team of professional Philanthropy Officers, Membership professionals, and Advancement Services staff, they will have the satisfaction of ensuring the funding needed for today and for the future, continuing the fundraising momentum of the Newfields' Advancement program.

Reporting to the Chief Development Officer and working in partnership with the Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations and the Director of Donor Engagement, the Senior Director of Advancement will play a vital role in developing and implementing strategies to reach ambitious goals in individual and planned giving at Newfields. This is a unique opportunity to define the donor journey, creating an integrated program that moves donors and members into a deeper and more engaged relationship with the organization, and through repeated gift cycles.

The Senior Director of Advancement will provide leadership, direction, and mentorship to a team of full-time gift officers working with major and mid-level individual donors and overseeing strategies to grow membership, while also managing a portfolio of their own. They will exemplify fundraising best practices, leading to substantive ongoing philanthropic support for operations, programs, special projects, capital needs, and endowment growth from individuals.

In addition to leading the Philanthropy Officers, the successful candidate for this position will play a vital role in developing strategies to grow individual giving at all levels, overseeing the implementation of a qualification program, refining annual giving messaging, and assessing the individual donor pipeline in preparation for current fundraising initiatives and future campaigns.

Responsibilities

The following responsibilities describe the general nature of work for employees in this position, but this is not intended as an exclusive or all-inclusive inventory.

• Manage their own portfolio of high-level donors, averaging 6 substantive contacts per month to secure substantive philanthropic support, focused on annual gifts at the $10,000+ level and special project/campaign gifts at the $1 million+ level.
• Lead and inspire a team of philanthropy officers, whose portfolios include gifts at all levels, helping to sustain and increase meaningful engagement and philanthropic support. Presently, this includes two officers focused on major gifts and one focused on annual giving.
• Develop and implement a planned giving marketing strategy, preparing for the eventual addition of a planned gift officer.
• Serve as a member of the Advancement leadership team and as a valued strategic partner to the Chief Development Officer.
• Develop and manage strategies to meet individual annual and campaign fundraising goals.
• Work with senior leaders, curatorial and horticulture colleagues, and the marketing team to identify, prioritize, and package major gift and annual support opportunities.
• Provide leadership to the Manager of Advancement Services, developing tools and reports needed to assess team performance and track progress toward goals. Reporting to the Manager is a Database Specialist.
• Lead the Advancement Services team and function in designing and executing comprehensive member and donor engagement, recognition, and stewardship strategies to deepen relationships, maximize retention, and drive sustainable philanthropic growth.
• Provide visionary and data-driven leadership to the Membership Manager to design, implement, and continually enhance Newfields' multifaceted membership program, supporting the execution and evaluation of innovative engagement strategies, tiered benefits, and retention initiatives tailored to diverse audience segments. Actively foster collaboration with the Membership Specialist to ensure seamless day-to-day operations, member experience optimization, and ongoing assessment of program effectiveness through member feedback, retention metrics, and engagement analytics.
• Assist in budget development for the advancement program, projecting and tracking philanthropic and membership revenue and expenses.
• Maintain accurate and timely tracking of all member and donor activities using Raisers Edge NXT.

To perform the job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Required Skills

• Experience building and maintaining long-term relationships with high-level individual donors
• A passion for leading, managing, and inspiring a multidisciplinary team
• A deep love for philanthropy, as well as knowledge of current and evolving trends in giving, fundraising, and donor cultivation, solicitation and stewardship
• Self-motivated as well as committed to serving colleagues and building a strong team
• Experience in planning and delivering budgetary responsibilities
• Excellent writing skills; the ability to communicate and inspire via presentations, conversations, and documents
• Coursework or other training in current trends in principles, practices, and procedures of charitable giving and fundraising
• Understanding of the inner workings of cultural organizations

Education and/or Experience

• Undergraduate degree in relevant area of studies required; Graduate studies or Master's degree preferred
• Minimum of 7-10 years of fundraising experience and proven track record in securing substantive funding from individual donors and managing employees

Physical Demands of the Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Work environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the position. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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.