Assistant Director of Development - OVCA

Position Summary The Assistant Director of Development plays a critical role in building a scalable and sustainable major gift pipeline across Advancement. Operating at the intersection of prospect research and frontline fundraising, this position converts wealth- and engagement-scored data into fully vetted, high-affinity major gift prospects. The ideal candidate specializes in early-stage discovery, conducting direct outreach to uncover donor affinity, philanthropic intent, and readiness for major-gift engagement, helping ensure major-gift portfolios are populated with high-yield opportunities. Duties Responsibilities Conduct proactive, strategic outreach (via phone, email, video, and targeted in-person visits) to major gift-rated prospects to evaluate philanthropic intent, affinity, and capacity. Evaluate donor alignment with the University's strategic priorities and readiness, systematically qualifying or disqualifying 150-200+ prospects annually to ensure viable candidates ($50K+) are advanced into active major gift portfolios. Partner with annual giving, alumni engagement, and unit-based teams to leverage events, programming, signature initiatives, and giving days as strategic touchpoints to engage, warm up, and qualify new prospects. Facilitate seamless, contextual handoffs of newly qualified prospects to frontline fundraisers, ensuring relationship continuity and protecting fundraiser capacity. Partner with Prospect Research and Portfolio Management to review and refine scoring methodologies, and provide qualitative feedback from discovery calls to improve prospect segmentation. Meet regularly with front-line gift officers to receive feedback on the process and quality of qualified prospects to continually improve the major gift pipeline. Maintain timely, high-quality documentation of qualification outcomes within the CRM to support institutional pipeline forecasting. Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned. Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.