Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations

Primary Position Responsibilities

Foundation and Corporate Fundraising

• Portfolio Strategy: Develop and carry out cultivation and solicitation strategies for a portfolio of foundation and corporate prospects, with particular focus on the national and regional foundations whose priorities align most closely with Wellesley's.
• Proposals and Budgets: Write and submit letters of inquiry, concept papers, and full applications for institutional priorities, developing project budgets with faculty, academic administrators, and Finance.
• Presidential and Leadership Engagement: Prepare and staff the President and senior leadership for meetings with foundation leaders, on campus and at funders' offices, ensuring that each engagement is well planned and carefully followed up.
• Funder Relationships: Build and sustain relationships with foundation and corporate partners, including foundations that have established endowed funds at the College, and plan site visits that bring program officers together with faculty and students.
• Pipeline Development: Identify new prospects with the Director of Research and Prospect Management, drawing on funder announcements and peer networks, and collaborate with gift officers to surface alumnae connections to foundations, including family foundations.

Strategic Partnerships with Academic Leadership

• Academic Leadership: Serve as Development's partner to the Provost and the academic deans, participating in the Deans and Development group with the Vice President for Development and staying informed about academic priorities and emerging initiatives with potential for outside support.
• Collaborative Projects: Help faculty and departments with shared interests develop collaborative, institution-wide proposals with clear goals, budgets, and outcomes.
• Competitive Opportunities: Contribute, as College leadership requests, to institutional nominations and other competitive opportunities that align with academic priorities.

Grant Administration and Stewardship

• Proposal Review: Coordinate internal review of foundation and corporate proposals before submission, working with Finance and academic offices on budgets, matching requirements, and staffing implications.
• Grant Launch: Help new institutional awards begin well by bringing together principal investigators and faculty leads with Post Award Services and the other administrative offices that will support them, so that requirements and processes are clear from the outset.
• Funder Reporting: Collaborate with donor stewardship colleagues on reports to foundation and corporate partners, contributing program context and knowledge of each funder's expectations.
• Records and Program Teams: Work with Gifts and Records and Post Award Services so that grants are accurately recorded in Affinaquest and Workday, and serve on program teams for major grant-funded initiatives as appropriate.

Development Partnership, Planning, and Professional Practice

• Goals and Progress: Set, with the Assistant Vice President and Vice President, annual goals for foundation and corporate support, drawing on the College's fundraising analytics to track and report progress.
• Campus Resource: Serve as a resource for colleagues across the College with questions about foundation and corporate fundraising, and maintain the internal tracking that supports this work.
• Support for Gift Officers: Share program language and information about academic priorities with Development colleagues, and assist with proposal development and editing for individual and family foundation asks.
• Campaign Alignment: Ensure that foundation and corporate fundraising advances the priorities of the College's comprehensive campaign, in coordination with campaign leadership in Development.
• Professional Practice: Remain informed about trends in institutional philanthropy and represent the College at professional meetings and conferences.