Main Work Location: Historic Stanford Campus
Schedule: Hybrid (at least 2 days per week on site)
Budgeted Salary: The expected pay range for this position is $145,539 to $168,544 per annum.
The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is Stanford's largest school, with 24 top-ranked academic departments and dozens of programs, centers, and institutes spanning the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. H&S teaches the majority of undergraduates in its majors, trains roughly 40% of Stanford PhDs, and produces knowledge that adds to humanity’s inheritance. The school sits at the intellectual core of the university, and its faculty and students drive discovery across expansive fields of inquiry.
The H&S Development team partners with the Dean's office, department chairs, center directors, and colleagues across University Development to secure philanthropic support for the school's most pressing priorities — from named professorships and graduate fellowships to research initiatives and capital projects. As H&S works toward an ambitious fundraising goal amid a competitive philanthropic landscape, the team is focused on building a robust pipeline of new donors and deepening relationships with existing supporters.
Position Summary:
The H&S development team is seeking candidates for an Associate Director of Development, reporting to the Director of Development. This fundraiser role will be responsible for identifying, cultivating, and soliciting new donors to H&S, with a primary focus on donor discovery. This is an excellent opportunity for a fundraiser who enjoys the front end of the philanthropic process — building relationships, uncovering giving capacity and interest, and helping shape a donor's philanthropic journey from the very first conversation.
This role will work from a robust pool of qualified prospects to build and manage a discovery-focused major gift portfolio across a range of academic clusters within H&S. The Associate Director will help manage the discovery pipeline across the team, working closely with fellow fundraisers and the Dean's office and supporting special projects that draw on fundraiser expertise.
We're looking for someone who is a naturally curious relationship-builder, comfortable initiating conversations with new prospects and confident in representing Stanford's academic priorities to a broad range of donors. Familiarity with fundraising databases and tools is a plus, as is prior experience in higher education or nonprofit fundraising — though we welcome candidates from adjacent client-facing or relationship-driven fields who are eager to grow into development work. Comfort with AI-enabled productivity tools is strongly encouraged.
Core Duties
- Develop solicitation goals, objectives, and strategies for development projects and/or specific donor populations or geographic regions. Cultivate and solicit gifts to the university.
- Manage an active portfolio, and track solicitation assignments and progress. Work with a portfolio of assigned prospects to cultivate, solicit, and steward their support.
- Take responsibility for a wide range of fundraising activities, including maintaining an active level of contacts, identifying new prospective donors and volunteers, providing stewardship, and coordinating volunteer fundraising efforts.
- Stay informed on current university initiatives and activities.
- Develop relationships leading to gifts in the $250,000 - $5,000,000 range.
- Enhance relationships between current and prospective major donors and the school or unit's faculty, students, dean, staff and volunteers.
- Work with staff, donors, volunteers, and other university staff to assist in establishing and maintaining relationships with all university constituencies.
- Design and manage appeals (e.g., direct mail, email, video, phone, and other channels) to target key populations to maximize fundraising potential.
- Establish ongoing relationships with individual alumni through personal visits, phone calls, and meaningful contacts.
- Prioritize prospects, prepare background information, make volunteer assignments as appropriate, and follow up with volunteers to ensure completion of assigned solicitations.
- Work closely with other colleagues in development to align program goals with the overall giving goals of the university’s development organization.
Minimum Education and Experience
Bachelor’s degree and five years of relevant experience or combination of education and relevant experience.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated effectiveness in prospect identification, relationship building, and solicitation.
- Demonstrated experience mentoring and working with volunteers, faculty, and staff.
- Superior written and oral communication skills, with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to articulate a compelling case for philanthropic support programs.
- Ability to translate complex concepts into compelling development proposals.
- Demonstrate a commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace culture where all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered.
Drivers License Requirements
- Must possess and maintain a valid California non-commercial Class C Driver's License.
- Ability to drive day or night.
- When conducting university business, must comply with the California Vehicle Code and Stanford University driving requirements.