Prospect Research Manager

The Role and Department

The Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) is responsible for coordinating philanthropy, alumni and supporter engagement, and advancement communications on behalf of the University. DARO works with colleges, academic departments, research centres and institutes, wider student experience partners, and professional departments to engage over 215,000 alumni and supporters around the world.

Underpinning this global operation, the Advancement Services team are ultimately responsible for: maintaining the University’s central stakeholder database (Raiser’s Edge NXT); updating and maintaining all alumni and supporter data; completing all gift processing, reporting, and stewardship; overseeing the daily operation of governance, legal, fiscal, and other regulatory aspects of advancement; completing prospect and partnership research and analysis – including due diligence; and development/maintenance of all systems related to delivering the above.

The Prospect Research Manager will lead on the development and delivery of the philanthropy research strategy, supporting the identification of high-net-worth individuals both domestically and globally as we enter into a new phase of substantial growth for Durham University’s Development and Alumni Relations Office. This will involve developing systems and processes to support effective portfolio management and prospect identification from new and existing sources.

The post holder will work closely with senior fundraisers to support the cultivation of prospects and the allocation of new prospects to fundraisers. They will also be the main point of contact for all matters relating to the Gift Acceptance Panel, including leading on the due diligence of prospects and donors to manage reputational risk to the University.

They will lead and develop a team of Prospect Research Officers to implement and enhance policies and procedures relating to prospect identification, qualification and moves management.

Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.

Advert information