Director for Philanthropy

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

UW Medicine Advancement has an outstanding opportunity for a Director for Philanthropy to join their team.

At UW Medicine, we work to improve health for all people through excellence in clinical, research, and education and training programs. As the only comprehensive clinical, research and learning health system in the five-state WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region, UW Medicine provides the most up-to-date care for each individual patient, leads one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive medical research programs, and provides innovative learning programs for students, trainees, and practitioners in the health professions.

The passionate, 70-person team at UW Medicine Advancement works collaboratively to connect donors with meaningful opportunities to enhance patient care, expand educational opportunities and advance research at UW Medicine. This inspiring, challenging and rewarding work provides team members an opportunity to grow their careers, while making a difference in people’s lives, in our community and around the world. In the 2022 fiscal year, UW Medicine Advancement raised $284 million in gifts and private grants (46 percent of the University of Washington’s total) from nearly 14,000 donors to support the mission of UW Medicine.  You can find out more about UW Medicine Advancement’s priorities and office culture on our career website: https://give.uwmedicine.org/careers/

The Director for Philanthropy (Director) focuses on securing major gifts ($75,000+) for UW Medicine and cultivating donors who have the capacity to give at that level. The Director will work with the Assistant Vice President of Development and Major Gifts and Senior Director for Philanthropy, other Advancement leadership, academic leaders, volunteers, and other Advancement staff to identify, cultivate, and solicit major gift prospective donors for gifts in support of UW Medicine. The Director reports to the Assistant Vice President of Development and Major Gifts.

The Director will be the lead staff member generating philanthropic support for UW Medicine with a focus on the Departments of Pain Medicine & Anesthesiology, Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, and The Sports Institute. In this capacity, the Director will have leadership responsibility for developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to increase gift and grant support for UW Medicine. In this role, the Director will work with department and institute leaders, administrators, and other academic leaders to develop fundraising strategies that support key programs in the Departments of Pain Medicine & Anesthesiology, Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, and The Sports Institute, and other beats as assigned.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Direct Fundraising Responsibilities:
• Develop a strategic major gifts plan for UW Medicine programs within the Department of Medicine within the context of the overall UW Medicine Advancement plan.
• Work with departmental leaders and advancement colleagues to develop fundraising priorities and to implement programs, if necessary, to sustain major gift ($75k+) support.
• Manage a portfolio of 100 to 150 major gift prospective donors (75k+) with a focus on those individuals with potential of $100,000 or more. Develop and present 12 to 15 major gift proposals each year with a target of securing an average of $1 million+ in new commitments.
• Maintain a “Top 25” pool of prospective major gift donors who will be solicited in the next 12-18 month period.
• Identify new major gift prospective donors, with emphasis on securing faculty referrals of grateful patients. Develop and implement a cultivation and solicitation strategy for each assigned major gift prospective donor.
• Record donor activity. Prepare written proposals, informational materials, endowment agreements, and other materials needed to secure major gifts. Develop appropriate stewardship plan.
• As appropriate, identify, recruit, train, and develop leadership roles for volunteers to assist with major gift fundraising activities. Staff volunteer fundraising partnerships and committees as assigned.
• As needed, coordinate major gift fundraising activities with UW Medicine colleagues, and UW colleagues in Gift Planning, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Principal Gifts, Regional Gifts, etc.

Activities in Support of Direct Fundraising:
• Encourage department chairs and faculty to actively and productively participate in the fundraising process.
• Work with UW and UW Medicine colleagues to develop special events, marketing materials, and donor relations activities to support major gift fundraising.
• Seek appropriate training opportunities, including training necessary for proficiency in the use of gift planning techniques.
• Prepare annual operating plan and progress reports as requested.
• Complete annual performance self-assessment as key component of Annual Review.
• Complete other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
• At least six years of progressively responsible experience in institutional advancement, with an emphasis on cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major gifts ($75k+).

Additional requirements:
• Values the UW’s commitment to inclusiveness and UW Medicine’s commitment to become an anti-racist organization. Demonstrates respect and commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity.
• Proven skill in developing a strategic vision and overall direction for complex advancement programs; ability to create, implement, and manage programs.
• Experience in recruiting and managing volunteers in the advancement process.
• Demonstrated ability to establish, cultivate and steward strong relationships with donors and friends to build lifelong partnerships and trust while aligning the donor’s passions and goals with the institution.
• Strong interpersonal skills and customer service. Ability to communicate in an open, direct and professional manner that engages dialog in a manner that resolves differences.
• Ability to make decisions in ambiguous situations, exercise good judgment based on information and analysis in a fast pace, dynamic, deadline drive environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Power Point, and Teams). Willingness and ability to learn how to use the UW donor CRM database system and other proprietary software products.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may substitute for stated requirements.

Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum requirements.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• At least six years of major and planned gift fundraising.
• Experience with grateful patient fundraising.
• Advancement experience in a health care, higher education or research settings.
• Experience in higher education or medicine.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
• Frequent local and regional travel, some national travel is required. Regular evening and weekend meetings and events.
• The successful candidate will be expected to have regular, reliable transportation for local travel and be willing to travel when necessary.