"Foundation Corporate & Individual Fundraising Development Manager"

Job Description

Aims Community College actively supports an environment that embraces the College's Mission, Vision, Values and a culture of innovation and care. The College embraces and seeks to hire individuals who want to be a part of this environment and have the skill sets necessary to be successful in this position.

The Foundation fosters and manages long-term, strategic relationships with individuals, businesses, and industry leaders throughout the Northern Colorado (NoCo) region, as well as with internal college departments. These partnerships are cultivated to align with and support each stakeholder's philanthropic goals, ultimately advancing student success. This role plays a key part in identifying and pursuing philanthropic opportunities that drive financial support for both the Foundation and the College. Utilizing a transformational, relationship-based approach, they are responsible for donor acquisition, engagement, and stewardship to ensure sustained, meaningful support.

The Foundation is seeking a strong individual who is interested in joining the Foundation team to help advance the Mission, Vision and Values of Aims Community College and the Foundation.

This role is responsible for developing, negotiating, and managing customized philanthropic proposals tailored to align donor interests with institutional priorities. The position collaborates closely with the Foundation Executive Director to cultivate, secure, and sustain a wide range of giving opportunities. Additionally, the role supports Foundation marketing initiatives and assists with event coordination to ensure high-quality program delivery and exceptional donor and stakeholder engagement.

The Development Manager assists the Foundation Executive Director (ED) with the daily departmental and program oversight including standard operating procedure development and implementation to meet fundraising goals. This role assists the Executive Director and Database Manager with maintaining all Foundation Customer Relationship Management systems information and will serve as the backup to the Foundation Executive Director when needed.

This role also engages in professional and personal skill development activities as they pertain to job responsibilities.

Flexibility in work hours is required, as daily schedules may vary to accommodate participation in internal and external events.

Foundation Administration Collaboration:

• Collaborates with the Executive Director on development and implementation of fundraising processes and procedures.
• Collaborates with the Database Manager on all customer relationship management system data capturing and report development.
• Collaborates with ED and Foundation team on outreach, fundraising plans, strategy, goals and assessment of all Foundation programs.
• Operationalizes these plans to align with individual and corporate donor cultivation in support of student success.
• Serves as back up to the Executive Director, when needed.

Donor Development, Proposals & Contract Creation:

• Develops and implements strategic fundraising initiatives-including systems, annual campaigns, and program plans-to identify, qualify, cultivate, and solicit current and prospective donors.
• Manages a portfolio of 50+ individual and corporate donors.
• Oversees direct mail campaigns, initiates cold calls, and engages prospective donors through in-person and virtual communication to secure gifts for the Foundation.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with donors, proactively following up to encourage continued or increased giving.
• Provides thoughtful and consistent stewardship to ensure donor satisfaction, recognition, and long-term engagement.
• Manages and develops gift opportunities and collaborates with the Foundation Executive Director to create the annual budget.
• Collaborates with Executive Director on annual fundraising program effectiveness and provides recommendations for continuous growth.
• Identifies, scopes, and prioritizes donor acquisition prospects throughout the Northern Colorado (NoCo) region. Focuses on direct donor engagement-primarily through external connections-to develop tailored gift opportunities and agreements.
• Employs a transformational relationship-building approach, aligned with the regional strategic economic activities, to target key industries and high-potential individuals in support of meeting defined fundraising goals.
• Identifies, scopes, and prioritizes donor acquisition prospects throughout the Northern Colorado (NoCo) region. Focuses on direct donor engagement-primarily through external connections-to develop tailored gift opportunities and agreements.
• Proactively researches and identifies additional funding opportunities to support and advance fundraising goals, including grants, sponsorships, and strategic partnerships.
• Partners with the Foundation team and college departments to "cross-pollinate" ideas and initiatives, fostering collaborative gift opportunities that serve multiple areas of impact.
• Provides regular reports and updates on fundraising activities, pipeline status and project outcomes.

Corporate Partnership Development & Relationship Networking:

• Cultivation: Identify, establish, and nurture relationships with local corporate partners to support education-to-employment pathways and foster philanthropic investment in the College's mission, while recognizing opportunities for future donor engagement.
• Outreach: Partner with the Foundation Executive Director to develop and execute a comprehensive outreach and engagement plan targeting corporate partners. This includes researching local corporations-particularly those employing Aims alumni-and leveraging knowledge of economic development trends, regional networking opportunities, campus tours, internal collaboration, and attendance at sector partner meetings and events. Create tailored engagement proposals.
• Stewardship: Provide ongoing stewardship to corporate partners through invitations to Aims and Foundation events, potential sponsorship opportunities, campus tours, calling campaigns, hosting on-campus events to showcase partnerships, and promoting awareness via social media and newsletters.
• Engage in extensive internal and external networking, collaborate with college departments, attend Sector Partnership meetings, and stay informed on local economic development initiatives to align efforts with community growth and needs.
• Represents the Foundation's interests and expertise in workforce development and financial student support at community events, conferences, committees, boards and networking functions.

Strategy Development:

• Gathers fundraising market information, talent demand and skill requirements and translates data into meaningful information to create fundraising development strategies.
• Prioritizes segments of the NOCO economic landscape for development.
• Continually promotes community education and awareness related to training, employment issues and fundraising opportunities. Stays informed about industry trends and best practices in local economic development, educational and employment needs to position Aims as the preferred community college for economical, high quality education.
• Works closely with the Foundation team, outreach partners, college colleagues, community liaisons and the Foundation ED to organize and execute outreach and fundraising strategies.

Other Duties as Assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in nonprofit management, business, communications, or another related field; plus, three (3) years of extensive experience in fundraising, with a strong track record of securing annual, mid-level, and major gifts-including individual contributions of $25,000 or more and achieving annual fundraising totals of $300,000 or higher.
• This position may require the use of a company vehicle for business travel. The selected candidate must successfully pass a Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) check.

Knowledge of:

• Fundraising regulations, ethics, and compliance standards (e.g., CASE guidelines, IRS charitable giving laws, AFP Code of Ethics and Donor Bill of Rights)
• Annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, capital campaigns, and grant writing
• Marketing and communications strategies related to donor engagement
• Event planning and donor stewardship best practices.

Skills / Experience:

• Track record of meeting or exceeding fundraising goals as stated above
• Experience with donor segmentation and personalized solicitation strategies
• Experience analyzing and applying wealth analytics to guide individual donor conversations.
• Ability to analyze fundraising metrics and adapt strategies accordingly.
• Experience collaborating with boards, leadership teams, and/or volunteers, with a focus on fostering a supportive, team-oriented environment build on mutual respect and shared goals.
• Strong storytelling skills to articulate mission and impact to donors, with the ability to connect individual donor interests to broader initiatives.
• Demonstrated talent for engaging unfamiliar individuals with confidence and authenticity.
• Demonstrated ability to present to groups and speak at public or donor-facing events.
• Demonstrated ability to network effectively and represent the organization with professionalism and confidence at public events.
• Proven success in cultivating and soliciting support from a diverse donor base, including individuals, corporations, and foundations, through strategic relationship-building and targeted solicitation efforts.

Personal Attributes:

• High degree of professionalism, integrity, and discretion in handling confidential information.
• Self-starter who can work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Passion for education and community development, in alignment with the mission of Aims Community College and Foundation.

Required Documents:

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) designation, or willingness to pursue certification (optional but desirable)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Five (5) years of extensive experience in fundraising, with a strong track record of securing annual, mid-level, and major gifts-including individual contributions of $75,000 or more and achieving annual fundraising totals of $750,000 or higher.
• Customer Relationship Management system/database experience.
• Donor Acquisition Training or Certifications.
• Negotiation Training or Certifications.
• Customer Service Skills