Head of Development

The Department of Development and Alumni Engagement (DDAE) connects with former Queen Mary University of London students and other prospective supporters to develop mutually beneficial relationships with the aim of building our reputation and securing philanthropic income that advances the strategic goals of the University.

We do this by providing thought-provoking, relevant and compelling communications, events and opportunities for involvement with the university, which attract alumni and prospective donors to engage with us in pursuit of shared interests. Those shared interests include access to education for students from under-represented backgrounds; globally important research and its impact; student employability; and the development of a strong global network of alumni, donors and partners.

Named as the UK’s top university for social mobility, Queen Mary aims to open the doors of opportunity to anyone with the potential to succeed. We combine this commitment to inclusion with world-leading research across disciplines: in the last UK Government exercise to measure research excellence, we ranked joint 7th for the quality of our research outputs. In the past.

Queen Mary is a global university with sites in Malta and Paris, and a transnational education portfolio in China. We have a vibrant, world-wide community of over 240,000 alumni in a vast range of professions and industries. We have alumni chapters in Beijing, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Delhi and New York, and in the last year c500 alumni volunteered and c650 alumni donated to support the University and its students.

Job purpose
We are seeking an exceptional fundraiser to continue building Queen Mary’s major gift programme.

The postholder will be responsible for developing, planning and overseeing major gift fundraising and donor management programmes from alumni, philanthropists, charitable trusts and foundations and corporations in support of the University’s philanthropic priorities.

The successful candidate will lead the Development Team to secure gifts from the £50,000 to 7 figure + level, in support of the university’s activities, whilst personally managing a portfolio of approximately 50 of our most significant prospective donors, developing relationships with these prospects, soliciting major gifts from them and stewarding them effectively to encourage lasting support.

The role sits within the Development Team and currently has line management responsibility for a team of five: Senior Development Manager (Trusts and Foundations), Senior Development Manager (Health), Senior Development Manager (Science and Engineering), Senior Development Manager (Humanities and Social Sciences), and Development Executive (Humanities and Social Sciences).

The postholder will work closely with the Regular Giving Team and Alumni Engagement Team to ensure that activities are complementary to each other and are mutually supportive.

The successful candidate will be a creative and proactive fundraising professional, with a strong track record of securing 7+ figure gifts from a variety of sources and extensive experience of creating successful fundraising strategies and supporting materials.

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