Job Description
This position can be based in Washington, DC, Yarmouth, MA or US remote Staff may work a hybrid schedule with 2 days/week in the office; or full remote with expectation for occasional travel for conferences and training The Director of Prospect Research is an integral member of the major gifts/legacy team, and guides research and prospect intelligence to ensure a robust pipeline of high net worth prospects to advance IFAW's fundraising. The Director is a valued counselor and contributes to team-wide effective portfolio management, with strategic and timely insight on donors and solicitation strategies, a disciplined system for prioritizing donors and replenishing portfolios, and timely reporting and analysis. IFAW has bold growth goals for fundraising - to catalyze important work in conservation and rescue worldwide; and an emphasis on growth regions and the potential to grow individual major giving from $3M to $10-20M annually. A transition from the current donor database (Team Approach) is underway, with BBCRM - Raiser's Edge envisioned. The Director reports to the Deputy VP Development and supervises two staff: Development Coordinator for Prospect Research & Analytics; and Senior Development Coordinator for Prospect Management & Reporting.
Role and Responsibilities - Establishes and leads a top-performing prospect research function for IFAW.
- Oversees management of prospect/donor research, prospect pipeline, and gift officer portfolios.
- Ensures dynamic management of prospects from identification/qualification to discovery, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
- Prepares capacity/affinity reports and executive briefings.
- Leads selection, periodic review, and implementation of research tools, subscriptions, and systems to ensure GDPR compliant use of best-in-class prospect management globally.
- Plans and conducts regular prospect strategy meetings to co-create effective solicitation of priority donors and ensure ask/close targets are met.
- Serves as a trusted counselor to DVP and gift officers to optimize results.
- Tracks the progress of gift officers with their prospect portfolios and ensures appropriate portfolio hygiene.
- Continually refreshes portfolios and monitors pipeline, including recommendations for upgrades and referrals, to ensure a robust and sustainable pool of identified prospects.
- Actively collaborates with events to pinpoint new leads, recommend guest list criteria, and ensure appropriate follow up post-event,
- Consults with legacy, mid-level, and digital teams to ensure assignments that will optimize the donor experience and lifetime revenue for the organization
- Reviews and recommends updates to analytical and trend reports; creates dashboard for monitoring prospect research activities, workflow, and results.
- Supervises external vendor relationships (custom research and reports) to ensure quality and consistency standards are met.
- Stays current with prospect research tools and best practices; annually reviews all wealth research subscriptions and tools, recommends upgrades, and maintains an accessible list of software and research tools for global development.
- Creates professional growth plans for two direct reports to build in-house capacity and enhance the impact of research on fundraising.
Qualifications and Education Requirements - Bachelor's degree preferred
- Training through Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) seminars and workshops and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for prospect research and management is preferred.
- Minimum 3-5 years of professional experience is required, preferably in a hospital, university or international charity. Experience in prospect research and management experience in development required.
- Skills: Knowledge of fundraising data base management is required. Experience with Blackbaud BBCRM is preferred. Knowledge and understanding of fundraising prospect management principles and methods is required, together with awareness of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and international prospect research norms. Knowledge of data mining methodology and predictive modeling is required.
- Strong interpersonal skills, team work ethic, ability to handle confidential information, excellent judgment, diplomacy, and discretion
- Some travel may be required for team meetings and training
At IFAW, we aim to create and foster a workforce that reflects and contributes to the diverse, global community in which we work to improve the lives of both animals and people.We are dedicated to fostering justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion so we actively encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds.
Hiring range is $68,000 - $84,000ifaw
Job Tags
Remote job, Worldwide, 2 days per week,