Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Function of Position

The Vice President for Institutional Advancement serves as the College’s chief advancement strategist and a key member of the President’s Senior Leadership Team. This role provides vision and direction for all advancement functions—including fundraising, development, constituent engagement, and alumni and parent relations—to ensure the College secures the resources, partnerships, and public visibility and support necessary to advance the mission, strategic priorities, and long-term institutional goals.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Advancement Leadership

• Serve as the chief architect of a comprehensive advancement strategy aligned with the College’s mission, values, and strategic plan.
• Lead the strategic oversight of all fundraising programs, including major and planned giving, annual giving, corporate/foundation relations, stewardship, and campaign planning and execution.
• Develop and execute strategies that strengthen external relationships and elevate the College’s visibility, reputation, and identity within the higher-education landscape.
• Serve as the principal advisor to the President on advancement and fundraising initiatives.
• Champion the modernization and integration of Wartburg’s advancement operations, including constituent relationship management (CRM) systems, data governance, and predictive analytics.

Team Leadership and Management

• Hire, supervise, coach, develop, and evaluate a diverse team of institutional advancement professionals.
• Foster a collaborative, data-informed, mission-focused, high-performing team culture.
• Set vision and alignment for advancement services operations including data management, prospect research, stewardship, communications workflow, and donor/alumni engagement strategies.

Fundraising Excellence

• Lead and mentor a high-performing major gifts and planned giving team.
• Develop a continuous learning model for optimizing fundraising activities.
• Manage a personal leadership portfolio of key current and prospective donors, including members of the Board of Regents.

Campus Leadership & Board Governance

• Shape the future of Wartburg College as a member of the President’s Senior Leadership Team.
• Provide regular updates, analytics, and strategic counsel to the Senior Leadership Team and the Board of Regents.
• Serve as the primary liaison to the Board’s Advancement Committee.
• Activate the Board of Regents as an integrated and strategically engaged node in Wartburg’s philanthropic network.

Institutional Collaboration

• Partner with academic and administrative leaders to ensure advancement initiatives effectively support student success, academic innovation, enrollment priorities, strategic initiatives, and institutional sustainability.

Additional Responsibilities

• Lead special initiatives, strategic projects, or emerging priorities at the direction of the President.
• Represent the College at campus, community, and professional events.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in advancement, higher education administration, nonprofit management, business, communications, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• Eight or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience and demonstrated success in fundraising.
• Proven track record in securing major gifts, developing donor pipelines, leading campaigns, building stakeholder relationships, and leading high‑performing teams.
• Experience in higher education preferred.
• Familiarity with data analytics, dashboard reporting, and predictive modeling as applied to prospect identification, portfolio management, or campaign strategy is strongly preferred.

Application Procedure

Please upload the following by visiting Wartburg Careers: 1) resume 2) a letter of interest including a statement regarding qualities within the context of the Wartburg College mission 3) contact information for three references