Adler University continues the pioneering work of the first community psychologist Alfred Adler by graduating socially responsible practitioners, engaging communities, and advancing social justice.
 
As a higher education institution, Adler University continues its founder’s work today through the production of three outcomes which are specified in the Mission:
 

• Socially Responsible Practitioners:  Socially responsible practitioners are educated to be effective personal and social change agents in the pursuit of justice.
• Community Engagement:  Community engagement is collaborative partnership that strengthens communities, provides service, and prepares students.
• Social Justice:  Social justice refers to equitable distribution of economic, political, civil, cultural, social, and other resources and opportunities in society in order to promote the optimal development of persons and communities.

 
The three outcomes of the Mission are interconnected conceptually as well as through the organization of Adler University.  The University's education and training prepares students to be socially responsible practitioners who engage communities and advance social justice, during both their course of study and their later professional lives.
The Vision is for Adler University to be the "leading" or premier higher education organization addressing socially responsible practice and its concomitants – locally, regionally, and globally – a unique resource for broadening relevant practice, effecting social justice, understanding policy, initiating advocacy, promoting academic reflection, and producing social action and change. 
 
Socially responsible practice is central to Adler University's Mission and Vision and is the extension of Alfred Adler's original ideas regarding the need for a more equal, cooperative, and just society, as well as his revolutionary ideas regarding the potential for activism among health professionals to address social challenges.  The University's faculty defined and operationalized the competency of socially responsible practice, with expected knowledge, attitudes, and skills acquired through specific curricular experiences and evaluated through milestones, for graduate programs in clinical psychology, counseling, family therapy, organizational consultation, art therapy, police psychology, and a number of related disciplines and applications of psychology. 
 
As of January 5, 2015, the Adler School of Professional Psychology officially became known as Adler University. This new name better reflects the breadth and depth of institutional, student and faculty work, and the institution’s aspirations for the future.  
 
Adler University directly engages communities through over 500 community partnerships in order to provide students with experience training in socially responsible practice and to advance social justice within those communities.   Adler University has campuses in Chicago, IL and Vancouver, BC Canada, as well as a Global (online) Campus for students residing in any location.
 
 
The Opportunity:  Associate Vice President for Leadership Giving
 
Reporting to the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, the Associate Vice President for Leadership Giving is a key role responsible for managing, growing and cultivating a portfolio of major donors and donor prospects, and, provide supervision for three Advancement professionals.   The expected time allocation of duties is 70 – 75% of external, major gifts work and 25 – 30% of internal, operational and staff management functions. 
 
The three direct reports to the Associate Vice President for Leadership Giving include a Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Director of Annual Giving, and Director of Alumni Relations.  The Associate Vice President will play a key role in helping to optimize the department’s fundraising methods by balancing best practices with a creative outlook to maximize philanthropic growth and operational efficiencies in order to make a lasting impact on how Adler University approaches philanthropy.  Experience with capital campaigns is key to this role as Adler University has just launched its first campaign.  In the 15 months since launching, 25% of the campaign’s $10M goal has been raised.
 
 
Performance Objectives
 
Leadership and Fundraising Management

• Work closely with the Vice President for Institutional Advancement and the Institutional Advancement team to create and implement strategies and departmental goals for the identification, solicitation and stewardship of an active portfolio of prospects and donors.
• Track all philanthropic revenue progress toward goals, and any variances, take action and make recommendations to enhance progress towards goals.
• Track key metrics and progress against strategic and tactical goals in an annual progress plan; i.e. number of solicitations, number of cultivation events, etc.
• Motivate, develop and retain a team of fundraising professionals (currently three direct reports) to deliver on specific components of the development pipeline. This includes providing strategic direction for Institutional Advancement team members and supervision of assigned Institutional Advancement team members, and driving accountability for achieving annual fundraising goals.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to actively promote the growth and development of team supervised, including opportunities to learn new skills and advance both personally and professionally.
• Develop and maintain collaborative and impactful relationships with Adler University colleagues, faculty, alumni, students, volunteers, donors, prospects, the philanthropic community and other partners.
• Play an integral role on the Institutional Advancement team, continually advancing the role and importance of philanthropy within the University’s culture. 

 
Fund Development Management and Implementation

• Work with the Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Institutional Advancement staff, Board of Directors and other key stakeholders to develop a targeted list of individual, corporate, foundation and government prospects, and strategies for engagement for each.
• Build an effective individual donor base and pipeline, including supporting team members in prospect identification, solicitation and stewardship processes.
• Manage a personal portfolio of individual, corporate and/or foundation donors and prospects.
• Supervise the generation of campaign-related prospect research reports.
• Refine and direct an inclusive strategy for identifying, tracking and monitoring cultivation-ask-stewardship processes for all key prospects and ensure follow-through.
• Work with and provide training and support for the Adler University’s Board and senior leadership team to enhance fundraising activities, an overall culture of philanthropy, and to solicit and close gifts. 
• Nurture partnerships and relationships with current and prospective funders through donor recognition programs and stewardship. Cultivate long-term relationships to ensure continued funding and funder engagement and involvement.
• Prepare the Adler University’s CEO, Board Members and the Development team for donor meetings and cultivation activities.
• Assign key participants to various donor and prospect relationship-building initiatives.
• Leverage Board Members and champion relationships, and maintain a personal portfolio of major donors and prospects while staffing and coaching the CEO and Board Members in managing their donor portfolios to increase support for Adler University.
• In collaboration with the Institutional Advancement team, edit and/or write powerful and inspiring letters and proposals and prepare dynamic presentations and materials customized for target audiences.
• Participate with the President, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the Board Development Committee and the Vice President for Institutional Advancement in forming the campaign’s volunteer leadership structure and identifying a cadre of potential volunteer leaders and workers, developing informed assessments of their capacities and talents and cultivating and involving these individuals in robust campaign participation.
• Oversee and ensure integrity of regular reporting on goal achievement to demonstrate progress, identify areas of concern, and revise major gift strategies as needed.
• Track industry trends, strategy and best practices, including educating others and evaluating opportunities for continuous improvement. Act as a resource for current practice and strategy particularly around current published materials on current industry trends.

 
External & Community Relations

• Serve as an articulate, passionate and visible spokesperson for Adler University, and as a prominent face of fundraising throughout the organization and in the community.
• Maintain active membership and a strong presence in professional organizations, community groups, and other spaces relevant to the work of Adler University and its mission.
• Provide a best practice approach to Adler University’s efforts to effectively communicate the mission, goals and accomplishments to donors, prospective donors and the broader community.
• Create and implement a plan to identify and build strong relationships with key donors, community leaders and volunteers, and engage organizations with which Adler University should partner.

 
The Qualified Candidate
 
Adler University seeks an accomplished and strategic professional with a minimum of seven years of fundraising experience with a recent concentration on managing a portfolio of Major Gift donors and prospects, and experience managing a team of fundraising professionals in a fast-paced culture.  She/he will have strong knowledge of fundraising best practices, a creative and enthusiastic viewpoint, and be passionate and committed to Adler University’s mission.  She/he will have a strong sense of accountability, take initiative, as well as be adaptable, highly organized, persuasive and detail-oriented, with the ability to build collaborative relationships and foster trust both internally and externally.   This person must be a good listener and equally comfortable and professional when interacting with volunteer leadership, colleagues, faculty, students, alumni and other stakeholders. The successful candidate will exhibit personal integrity, honesty, zeal and compassion.
 
Specific Requirements Include:

• Keen interest in Adler University’s mission and values of social interest, compassion, justice, respect for the individual, honors diversity and difference, intellectual rigor, optimism and collaboration.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate narratives that enhance fundraising effectiveness.
• A minimum of seven years of increasingly responsible fundraising experience, with recent documented success closing 5-6 figure gifts; familiarity with the Chicago philanthropic community preferred.
• A minimum of three years of experience managing a staff of fundraising professionals.
• Successful and progressive background in donor solicitation and stewardship processes with superb skills in motivating, engaging and interacting with Board and other key stakeholders.
• Best practice knowledge and experience in strategy development, systems and best practices and in the cultivation, solicitation and successful closing of gifts from donors.
• Proven ability to effectively motivate and manage staff teams, and to build unified, collaborative partnerships in a fast-paced, complex and deadline-driven environment.
• Exceptional leadership, critical thinking, planning, and organizational skills with the ability to translate strategy into operational plans.
• Strong ability to maintain attention to day-to-day details and translate them into achievement of organizational and team strategies/goal.
• Excellent verbal, written and presentation communication skills.
• Hands-on experience with Raiser’s Edge and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experience with planned giving and capital campaigns desired.
• Bachelor's degree required; Advanced degree and/or CFRE credential preferred.

 
This position offers a competitive salary with very competitive benefits. All inquiries will be held in strict confidence.  

To Apply
 
This search is being managed by Laura Weinman, Senior Consultant and Evette Simon, Vice President of Alford Executive Search, a division of KEES.  Questions may be addressed to lweinman@alfordexecutivesearch.com. 
 
To apply, candidates should submit their cover letter and resume to: https://alfordexecutivesearch.applicantstack.com/x/openings.  To assure confidential tracking no resumes will be accepted via email.
 
Alford Executive Search (www.alfordexecutivesearch.com), a division of KEES:  Kistner Eddy Executive Services, is a retained search firm dedicated to providing recruitment services of exceptional quality and strengthening the not-for-profit community through professional staffing solutions.