The Opportunity

Dana Hall School is an independent school committed to fostering excellence in academics, the arts, and athletics within a vibrant, caring community. Dana Hall provides more than 450 day and boarding students from grades 5-12 with a unique opportunity to prepare themselves for the challenges and choices they will face as women and citizens of the world. The school is seeking a self-motivated and ambitious fundraiser who is able to build effective relationships with donors seeking to make a significant impact and leave a legacy through their support of Dana Hall.

Reporting to the Chief Advancement Officer, the Director of Major and Planned Gifts will be responsible for the plans, goals, and objectives to increase giving at Dana Hall School while managing a portfolio of major gift prospects, including discovery and cultivation. The director also develops and manages relationships with planned giving prospects, solicits planned gifts, and conceives and implements new planned giving strategies. While working collaboratively with the entire Advancement team, the director is responsible for the professional development and support of the Assistant Director of Alumnae Giving and the Major Gifts Officer. The school benefits from a well-resourced, philanthropically inclined prospect pool willing to invest in the school. Please click to learn more about current projects, the strategic plan, and the school community.

The Candidate

The successful candidate will take an entrepreneurial approach to the work, implement best practices in major and planned giving, and embrace the community values that make Dana Hall a special place in the hearts and minds of its supporters. This position requires superb organization and interpersonal skills, and an action bias. An ideal candidate will bring a genuine sense of joy to the work, successfully and consistently building purposeful and strategic relationships that benefit Dana Hall. The director will possess superior communications skills, a high degree of emotional intelligence, and a strategic mindset. The director will demonstrate personal accountability, embody the values of the school, and operate with integrity, humility, and professionalism.

Responsibilities

• Build a strong and effective major gifts program and create goals, timetables and metrics to benchmark growth.
• Manage a portfolio of donors and prospects with an emphasis on individual donor relationships, cultivation and solicitation activities, and stewardship.
• Supervise the Assistant Director of Alumnae Giving and the Major Gifts Officer in establishing and achieving goals, timetables, and appropriate strategies for assigned prospects and projects. Hire, train, and evaluate people in these positions.
• Work collaboratively in close coordination with the Advancement directors and team.
• Conduct regular prospect visits with the goal of qualifying and soliciting major prospects for Dana Fund, capital, or planned (Helen Temple Cooke Society) gifts.
• Acquire timely and relevant institutional information to create and execute solicitation and stewardship strategies for each prospect, as appropriate.
• Track activity within Raiser’s Edge/RENXT and generate reports to track the progress of each prospect’s cultivation/solicitation/stewardship plan.
• Establish a plan, including specific goals and timetable, to cultivate and solicit prospective planned gifts.
• Serve as a planned giving resource and maintain up-to-date planned giving knowledge.
• Work in cooperation with the Business Office, financial estate planners and attorneys to set up and steward major and planned gifts.
• Manage the Alumnae Fundraising Committee.
• Attend key Dana Hall events and volunteer committee meetings as necessary.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to strategize, implement, and build major gift programs and activities, along with a talent for motivating a team and volunteers.
• Flexibility and initiative, as well as the ability to work independently, combined with the skills for thriving in a team environment.
• High professional and ethical standards for handling confidential information.
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks simultaneously with close attention to detail and prioritization to meet deadlines.
• Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal skills; demonstrated personal solicitation experience.
• Strong computer skills and knowledge of database research and maintenance.
• Ability to work with students, as well as volunteers of all ages.
• Must be able to travel and work evenings and weekends as needed.

Dana Hall School is an Equal Opportunity Employer and seeks to reflect in its faculty and staff the diversity present within its student body. The school invites candidates to join in this process who bring a substantive and varied combination of educational pursuits and lived experiences that demonstrate the capacity to make a meaningful contribution.

Interested candidates, please contact Narwhal Talent Partners:

Peter G. Hamilton | (617) 620-9268
Christian G. Henry | (857) 285-3364

search@narwhaltalent.com

All inquiries are treated as confidential.