Associate Vice President, Institutional Advancement

Southwestern Law School seeks an Associate Vice President of Institutional Advancement who will provide strategic leadership for Southwestern’s leadership and major gifts program and will play a central role in planning and launching a comprehensive fundraising campaign. Reporting to the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, the Associate Vice President leads the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of leadership-level prospects and donors; advances relationships with alumni and friends; and collaborates with the Vice President to elevate fundraising and alumni engagement across the law school. The Associate Vice President also helps align the Alumni Association, Nickel Club, and Friends of Bullocks Wilshire with the law school’s philanthropic priorities and serves as acting department head when the Vice President is out of the office.

Primary Responsibilities 

Leadership giving and portfolio management

  • Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward leadership and major gift prospects and donors in support of Southwestern’s priorities.
  • Manage a personal portfolio of approximately 100 major and leadership gift prospects and donors, developing and implementing individualized cultivation and solicitation strategies.
  • Recommend and implement cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for prospects and donors, and meet or exceed assigned fundraising metrics and goals.
  • Collaborate with the Vice President to establish and monitor portfolios for frontline fundraisers and align prospect assignments with institutional priorities. 

Campaign planning and strategy

  • Collaborate with the Vice President to design the framework for a comprehensive fundraising campaign, including case development, prospect pipeline analysis, goal setting, and volunteer structures.
  • Prepare strategy documents, proposals, gift agreements, briefing materials, and other campaign-related materials as needed.
  • Assist with publicity and recognition plans for significant leadership and major gifts. 

Data, systems, and moves management

  • Create and maintain a robust moves-management tracking system within the database to manage prospects and monitor progress.
  • Track and update major gift solicitations and outcomes using the current CRM or tracking platform, and use reporting and analytics to inform strategy and to communicate results to leadership.

Collaboration, writing, and proposal development

  • Meet and work with prospects, donors, faculty, and volunteers to secure philanthropic funding.
  • Assist faculty and academic leaders in identifying, prioritizing, and articulating philanthropic needs.
  • Write or assist with drafting proposals, grants, letters, newsletters, brochures, and other development materials.
  • Collaborate with the Vice President to create proposals for foundation support.

Volunteer and constituent leadership

  • In collaboration with the Director of Alumni Engagement & Stewardship, provide guidance and assistance to the Alumni Association Board of Directors, Nickel Board, and Friends of Bullocks Wilshire, with a focus on their roles in leadership giving and campaign success.
  • Assist with planning and directing donor and prospect cultivation and stewardship events or programs, providing leadership on specific fundraising events or programs as needed.

Advancement operations and departmental leadership

  • Partner with  the Director of Major Gifts and provide day-to-day leadership and support for assigned staff.
  • Partner with Advancement Services to ensure accurate gift processing, reporting, and prospect management, and to review gift entry and related operations at an appropriate oversight level.
  • Assist the Vice President of Institutional Advancement with special projects and serve as acting department head when requested.
  • Perform other duties as assigned by the Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

Minimum Job Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
  • At least 5 years of managing direct reports.
  • At least 10 years of progressively responsible and fundraising experience and a proven record of successful cultivation and solicitation of major gifts.
  • Experience in campaign planning and management.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required

  • Demonstrated working knowledge of all areas of fundraising including identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship, with a particular emphasis on major gift acquisition
  • Ability to set goals strategically and proven record of achieving these goals.
  • Familiarity with fundraising analytics.
  • Proven success in fundraising proposal writing - including correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.
  • Knowledge of office procedures and records management as it pertains to prospect management.
  • High level of judgment, discretion, integrity, and confidentiality.
  • Accuracy and meticulous attention to detail.
  • Excellent critical thinking and listening skills.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment, meet concurrent deadlines, organize time and priorities, and to do so in collaboration with diverse stakeholders.
  • Ability to apply creative problem-solving skills to develop solutions within established policies and guidelines.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications especially Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, and constituent relationship management systems.
  • Ability to work independently, to be flexible, and to work as a positive team member.
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively and diplomatically with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.
  • Must be willing and available to work evenings and weekends according to event-related scheduling.
  • Some travel required. 

Salary: $190,000/YR. 

To Apply: Send a cover letter and resume to jobs16@swlaw.edu.

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