Position Overview

The Associate Director of Gift Planning is a frontline fundraising professional responsible for cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding planned and blended gifts in support of The College of New Jersey’s philanthropic priorities. Reporting to the Senior Director of Gift Planning, this role contributes to the continued growth and success of the College’s gift planning program.

Responsibilities

Manage a portfolio of approximately 100 planned giving prospects and donors, executing strategies to cultivate, solicit, and steward legacy commitments. Conduct ~100 donor visits annually to advance prospects through the pipeline. Achieve annual goals by managing approximately $1.5M in solicitations and securing $500,000 in planned and blended gift commitments, focused on gifts of $25,000+. Build relationships with alumni, parents, faculty, friends of TCNJ, and their advisors. Serve as a resource to donors and colleagues on charitable gift planning strategies, including bequests, beneficiary designations, and life-income vehicles. Assist in structuring planned and blended gifts through preparation of illustrations, proposals, and documentation. Collaborate with donors’ professional advisors as appropriate and maintain current knowledge of gift planning strategies, tax considerations, and industry best practices. Support the growth and stewardship of the College’s planned giving recognition society through donor engagement, communications, and membership welcome activities. Implement strategies to expand the planned giving pipeline and increase society membership, including adding approximately 10 new members annually. Ensure appropriate recognition of donors and support stewardship of realized planned gifts in partnership with Sr Dir of Gift Planning & Advancement Services. Partner with frontline fundraisers and advancement colleagues to identify and pursue planned gift opportunities through joint visits, strategy discussions, and training. Collaborate with Sr. Dir of Gift Planning on marketing and communications to support planned giving outreach and engagement. Represent the Office of Advancement at alumni events and College programs, as necessary, to strengthen relationships and increase awareness of planned giving. Maintain accurate records of donor interactions, planned gift commitments, and prospect activity in the advancement database. Partner with advancement services to track prospects, evaluate donor trends, and prioritize leads. Assist in refining workflows related to planned giving inquiries, pipeline movement, and reporting.

Qualifications

Required: Bachelor's degree required. 4-7 years of experience working in higher education advancement or nonprofit fundraising environments. Familiarity with charitable gift planning vehicles such as bequests, beneficiary designations, charitable gift annuities, or other life-income gifts. Experience working with donor databases and advancement systems (e.g., Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT) and using donor data to inform prospect identification and pipeline development. Exposure to planned giving tools or resources, such as gift illustration software (e.g., PGCalc), or similar platforms used to model charitable gift scenarios. Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated success in relationship-building, donor engagement, and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituents including alumni, parents, professional advisors, faculty, staff, and senior leadership. Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities, with sound judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to navigate complex or sensitive conversations with tact, diplomacy, and emotional intelligence. Highly organized with strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and maintain exceptional attention to detail in reviewing technical materials such as gift illustrations, proposals, and agreements. Ability to learn and apply charitable gift planning concepts, including bequests, beneficiary designations, and life-income gifts, with an interest in developing deeper expertise in philanthropic planning strategies. Professionalism and discretion, including the ability to handle sensitive and confidential information, along with a willingness and ability to travel for donor visits, alumni events, and advancement-related activities as needed.