Assistant Vice President of Advancement

Overview and Responsibilities

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota is seeking candidates who are eager to contribute to its Lasallian Catholic mission of awakening, nurturing, and empowering learners to ethical lives of service and leadership. We invite individuals to help transform lives through education, inspired by the Catholic Intellectual Tradition’s quest to understand the human experience through faith and reason and its embrace of all who are dedicated to learning from one another through authentic conversations in search of the truth. We are especially interested in and give preference to candidates who demonstrate a vision to create and nurture initiatives that will advance our mission within the scope of their duties and who will foster a culture of dialogue that, with respect for all people, supports the search for meaning and purpose in pursuit of excellence.

Job Summary

The Assistant Vice President of Advancement (AVP) serves as the senior operational leader for the Office of Advancement and is the principal deputy to the Vice President for University Relations. The AVP provides strategic leadership for the University’s comprehensive fundraising program while overseeing the daily operations, personnel, systems, and performance of the Office of Advancement.

Working in close partnership with the Vice President for University Relations, the Assistant Vice President advances Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota’s mission by building a culture of philanthropy, strengthening donor relationships, increasing major and planned gifts, and ensuring excellence in fundraising operations and donor stewardship. The AVP serves as a key member of the University Relations leadership team and collaborates with the Vice President for University Relations to achieve the University’s philanthropic priorities.

In the absence of the Vice President for University Relations, the Assistant Vice President may represent the division in internal and external meetings, provide leadership for Advancement operations, and serve as the Vice President’s designee on assigned committees and initiatives. The selected candidate will be based out of the Twin Cities, Rochester, or Winona.

In this role, you will forge lasting relationships and make a profound impact on our Catholic educational mission in the Lasallian tradition by aligning benefactor passions with institutional needs. Your dedication to securing major gifts will directly contribute to the enrichment of our academic programs, support for faculty and students, and the expansion of transformative educational experiences.

Salary Range: $100,000 - $130,000

Main Duties & Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership

  • Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Office of Advancement, ensuring alignment with the University’s strategic plan and fundraising priorities.
  • Partner with the Vice President for University Relations in developing and executing comprehensive fundraising strategies, annual operating plans, campaign initiatives, and long-range advancement goals.
  • Foster a collaborative, mission-centered culture focused on innovation, accountability, continuous improvement, and exceptional donor service.
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to the Vice President regarding fundraising opportunities, organizational effectiveness, staffing, and resource allocation.
  • Represent Advancement on university committees and institutional initiatives as assigned.
  • Serve as the Vice President’s designee when appropriate, providing leadership and decision-making authority for Advancement operations.

  Advancement Operations and Staff Leadership

  • Direct the day-to-day operations of the Office of Advancement.
  • Recruit, supervise, mentor, develop, and evaluate Advancement staff while promoting professional growth and high performance.
  • Establish departmental goals, performance expectations, and key performance indicators for fundraising activity and donor engagement.
  • Lead regular staff meetings, performance reviews, professional development efforts, and succession planning.
  • Develop and oversee departmental budgets in partnership with the Vice President.
  • Assess in an ongoing manner the operations and processes of the advancement office to maximize efficiencies and industry best practices to support fundraising success and excellent donor experience.

  Major Gifts Fundraising

  • Personally manage a portfolio of major gift prospects and donors capable of making transformational and leadership-level gifts.
  • Develop comprehensive cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for assigned prospects.
  • Conduct significant donor visits annually and prepare compelling gift proposals aligned with institutional priorities.
  • Partner with the President, Vice President for University Relations, trustees, deans, faculty, and volunteer leaders on major gift strategies.
  • Achieve annual fundraising goals for major gifts, proposals submitted, donor visits, and gift commitments.

  Planned Giving Leadership

  • Oversee the University’s planned giving program and provide work direction to ensure a robust and comprehensive planned giving strategy, integrating marketing, donor education, stewardship, and gift planning.
  • Create and oversee an annual communications plan that increases awareness of charitable gift planning opportunities among alumni and friends.
  • Design and deliver training programs that equip Advancement staff, academic leaders, and volunteer leadership to confidently identify and engage planned giving prospects.
  • Expand and improve planned giving resources, gift illustrations, marketing materials, donor recognition, and stewardship practices.
  • Evaluate and strengthen the University’s planned giving vehicles, policies, procedures, and documentation to ensure donors have accessible, flexible, and effective charitable gift planning options.
  • Collaborate with donors and their professional advisors to facilitate complex charitable gifts while ensuring compliance with institutional policies and applicable laws.

  Campaign Leadership

  • Assist in planning, implementing, and managing comprehensive fundraising campaigns and strategic fundraising initiatives.
  • Coordinate campaign planning, volunteer engagement, fundraising priorities, and campaign reporting.
  • Monitor campaign progress and recommend adjustments to maximize fundraising success.
  • Support campaign cabinet activities and trustee engagement in fundraising.

  Advancement Services and Data Strategy

  • Provide strategic oversight for Advancement Services, ensuring accurate donor records, gift processing, prospect management, reporting, and data integrity.
  • Promote effective utilization of the University’s constituent relationship management (CRM) system and fundraising analytics.
  • Ensure compliance with applicable reporting requirements, gift acceptance policies, CASE standards, and ethical fundraising practices.
  • Utilize data and performance metrics to inform fundraising strategy and organizational decision-making.

  Board and Volunteer Engagement

  • Support the Vice President and President in working with the Board of Trustees and board committees related to advancement and philanthropy.
  • Prepare reports, presentations, and fundraising analyses for trustees and senior leadership.
  • Recruit, engage, and support fundraising volunteers and advisory councils.
  • Strengthen relationships with alumni leaders, donors, foundations, corporations, and community partners.

  Donor Stewardship

  • Champion a comprehensive stewardship philosophy that emphasizes meaningful recognition, transparency, accountability, and long-term relationship building.
  • Ensure donors receive timely acknowledgment, impact reporting, and personalized stewardship experiences.
  • Continuously evaluate stewardship practices to strengthen donor retention and lifetime engagement.
  • Complete 175 visits per year of meaningful, strategic, personal interactions with assigned prospects.
  • Achieve or exceed dollar goals determined on an annual basis in collaboration with the Vice President of University Relations.
  • Manage a major gift portfolio of prospects including identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major outright and planned gifts.
  • Coordinate cultivation activities and solicitations with other University representatives, including the president, senior staff, advancement professionals, key faculty, and volunteers.
  • Maintain strategic cultivation plans for a select group of assigned prospects scheduled for solicitation within the coming 12–18-month period, projecting gift amount, area of Benefactor passion, and a step-by-step cultivation schedule.
  • Provide timely, written reports regarding the outcome of cultivation and solicitation actions in the form of contact reports, stage updates, and strategy statement updates within Raiser’s Edge NXT.

Qualifications

Experience and Education Requirements

Required

• Bachelor’s degree required. Experience deemed equivalent and relevant will also be considered.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in fundraising, with a proven track record of raising major and principal gifts, outright and planned gifts, and/or complex gifts.

• Familiarity with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT or comparable advancement CRM platforms.
• A career history of trusted discretion and ability to maintain confidentiality.

Preferred

• Master’s degree.
• Experience leading comprehensive fundraising campaigns.
• Experience overseeing Advancement Services or fundraising operations.
• Knowledge of charitable gift planning and deferred giving vehicles.

Essential Knowledge & Skills

• A deep familiarity and embrace of the Catholic mission of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and its Lasallian charism.
• Executive proficiency in managing multiple tasks simultaneously with attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently, with a team, and with volunteers.
• Ability to take advice and guidance in a positive and productive manner.
• Excellent communication skills, including diplomacy, among all constituencies.
• Capacity to develop prospect strategy, portfolio management, and tracking processes.
• Knowledge of best practices and ethical standards in the field.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and work with sensitive information.
• Ability to meet performance goals while working in a remote environment.
• Demonstrate competency and respect for the dignity of each person.

Physical Demands

• Sedentary work. Sedentary work involves lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like docket files, ledgers, and small tools. Although a sedentary job is defined as one which involves sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required occasionally and other sedentary criteria are met.

Physical Hazards – Health and Safety Concerns

• General office environments

Application Requirements

Apply online at https://www.smumn.edu/about/offices-services/human-resources/employment-opportunities/ and include a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three professional references.

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota believes inclusion and human dignity contributes to a robust academic and work environment and is critical to achieving the University's mission in an increasingly diverse society. Individuals with expertise and diverse skills from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. The successful candidate must support, respect, and advance the mission of Saint Mary's University as a Lasallian Catholic institution.

Saint Mary’s offers a comprehensive benefit package including health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, flexible spending, retirement pension plan, and both undergraduate and graduate tuition remission plans.

All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a criminal background check.