Executive Director of the RISD Fund

Posted on 02/09/2021

Rhode Island School of Design

Providence, RI

Position Overview

The Executive Director leads the development of a holistic strategy of philanthropic engagement for alumni, parents, families, and friends that yields sustained participation and generosity in the RISD Fund. The RISD Fund includes all current-use unrestricted and restricted gifts to RISD, excluding gifts for capital projects. In this role you will forge relationships and collaborate with members of the Institutional Engagement team, such as Alumni + Family Relations, Advancement Services, and Stewardship, and with administrative and academic department leaders.

The Executive Director develops and implements a comprehensive multi-year plan and timeline with clear goals and metrics that incorporates a multi-channel strategy for solicitation and stewardship of RISD Fund donors, including more than 33,000 alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends. The Executive Director, through personal efforts and leadership of a team of (currently five) RISD Fund Officers, focuses on attracting leadership annual giving and expands giving to the 1877 Society ($2,500+) as a gateway for major gift support through comprehensive solicitation, programming, and personal gift solicitation.  In addition, the Executive Director and RISD Fund officers secure leadership annual giving ($5,000+) from parents and recruit donors to the Families Association Leadership Council. The Executive Director, in partnership with the Executive Director of Alumni + Family Relations and representatives from Student Affairs, provides staffing support to the Council including organization of Council meetings, report preparation, talking points, and other materials required by Council leadership to effectively inform and engage fellow members. The Executive Director will hire, train, supervise, and evaluate professional staff and will oversee the selection, management, and evaluation of any RISD Fund vendor partners.

Essential Functions/Duties: 

  • Plan and execute a current-use giving program, establishing segmented strategies to engage and encourage support from alumni, parents, and friends, setting dollar goals to meet or exceeds them while monitoring progress on an ongoing basis.
  • Devise and implement an appropriately weighted multi-channel strategy including, but not limited to: telemarketing, direct mail, social media/crowd funding, email, and text campaigns appropriate to each donor segment.
  • Manage vendor relations including for student calling, direct response and marketing. Work cooperatively with the Executive Director Campaign Planning + Strategy with marketing/advertising agency.
  • Recruit and grow a corps of volunteers to engage in donor cultivation and solicitation, especially for the 1877 Society leading to increased support at the $2,500+ level.
  • Responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding a limited pool of leadership annual giving prospects and donors, focusing on gifts of $10,000+. The individual will conduct at least 75 personal solicitations annually.
  • Lead a team of RISD Fund Officers in securing 1877 Society ($2,500+) and Families Association Leadership Council gifts ($5,000+), identifying donors with major gift potential ($100,000+) and working synergistically with philanthropy and planned giving officers to transition prospective donors to their portfolios for additional cultivation and solicitation.
  • Recruit donors to the Families Association Leadership Council. Provide lead staffing support to the Council including organization of meetings, report preparation, talking points, and other materials required by Council leadership to effectively inform and engage fellow members.
  • Partner with Executive Director Alumni + Family Relations and volunteers to develop and promote a program that engages and attracts current use gifts from RISD student families while identifying those with major gift capacity.
  • Partners with the Vice President of Institutional Engagement to ensure timely solicitations of trustees, emeriti trustees, and other leadership donors.
  • Work synergistically with Executive Director Alumni + Family Relations and team to engage 1877 Society donors and prospective donors as volunteer leaders, including through significant reunions.
  • Develop plan to engage faculty, staff, recent alumni, and students in philanthropy.
  • Ensure all administrative functions relating to the RISD Fund are carefully managed and processes completed in a thorough and timely basis, including, but not limited to: development and management of program budgets and projections; generation and coordination of direct response campaigns; planning and implementation of special events; management reports; acknowledgements of gifts; monitoring and processing of pledge reminders.
  • Hire, train, professionally develop, manage, and evaluate all RISD Fund staff.
  • Select, manage, and evaluate all RISD Fund service providers.
  • Work collaboratively and synergistically with the RISD Museum Deputy Director of Development and External Affairs and peers on the Institutional Engagement Senior Management Group (SMG) including: the Senior Executive Director of Development; Executive Director of Alumni + Family Relations; Executive Director of Advancement Services; and Executive Director of Campaign Planning + Strategy to achieve organizational goals and strategies.

Additional Functions: 

  • Perform related duties as requested.
  • Work collaboratively with other members of Institutional Engagement to support department initiatives, plans, and projects.
  • Serve as a representative of Institutional Engagement with other campus partners.

 Job Qualifications/Specifications/Knowledge/Skills/Experience Required: 

Bachelor’s degree in relevant field required. Master’s degree in relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience preferred. Ten years+ of fundraising experience devising and managing annual giving and/or membership programs, preferably in higher education. Proven ability to work and communicate effectively with a broad spectrum of divisional and institutional colleagues, within an environment that values diversity as defined by, race, color, religion, age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, national origin, veteran status,  or any other characteristic protected by law.

Demonstrated success in devising and executing comprehensive annual giving strategies and programs including digital direct marketing. Personal record of prospect solicitation and securing gifts at $50K+ level. Management experience and supervision of employees including hiring, training, and evaluating performance. Excellent oral and persuasive written communication and presentation skills. Strong organizational skills. Demonstrated effectiveness in outreach to volunteers and other fundraising partners. Interest/experience in art and design desirable.

Mental Demands: 

Ability to read and comprehend detailed documents and instruments and to perform detailed work using reasoning and problem-solving skills. Excellent oral and written communications and organizational abilities. Must be able to deal with confidential data. Excellent interpersonal skills. Capacity to keep up with current trends and training in this field. Ability to understand and work in diverse and foreign cultures.

Physical Demands: 

The job involves all of the following in various degrees, but no limited to only these physical demands: carrying, lifting, seeing, hearing sitting, attendance, speaking, writing, high energy level. Incumbent may be required to operate an automobile, travel by airplane or train.

Supervision and Scheduling Demands: 

Full-time, administrative position. Wok hours are not confined to weekdays but may also include evenings and weekends. National and international travel required.

Application and Nomination

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. A resume and cover letter explaining how the applicant meets the qualifications specified in this announcement may be submitted to [email protected], attention Maureen Pena.