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Director, Philanthropy

Ottawa, ON
CA$115,781 - CA$144,726/annual
Senior Level
full_time

About the role

Job Type:

Employee

Duration in Months(for fixed-term jobs):

N/A

Job Family:

Advancement and Alumni Relations

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Telfer School of Management

Campus:

Desmarais Hall

Union Affiliation:

N/A

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2025/08/29

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2025/09/22

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

Non-Union Grade NM2

Salary Range:

$115 781,00 - $144 726,00About the Telfer School of Management

The Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa is located in the heart of Ottawa and is the proud academic home of some 4,300 students,200 faculty members, over 100 staff members, and over 30,000 alumni.

At Telfer, everything we do from teaching to research, to policy advice is firmly aligned with helping Canada reach its potential. We believe that better business practice means a better Canada and that a better Canada means a better world.

Position Purpose
With the objective of attracting significant philanthropic investments to the Telfer School of Management, this role will be integral to helping Telfer attain its long-term objectives. The position is accountable for the development of School's principal and major gifts, including the strategy, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations ranging from $500,000 to multimillion-dollar transformational donations. The incumbent will help design, implement, and manage principal gifts solicitations across the university and/or for faculties.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

  • Strategic Planning: Plays a leadership role in planning, implementing, coordinating, and managing the revenue strategies in support of the School with the clear objective of securing significant funding commitments from individuals and family foundations. This includes the creation of short-and long-range strategic plans with a primary focus on developing and expanding the major and principal level portfolio, for Telfer's priorities.
  • Account Development: Manages a portfolio of eventually up to 100 prospects at the principal ($1M+) and major gift level ($500K+) through the cultivation, engagement, proposal, solicitation and stewardship phases with donors. Meets expected revenue and activity targets annually. Identifies potential major gifts and planned giving donors for the School, to strengthen its financial capability.
  • Relationship Management: Proactively initiates and cultivates successful and profitable relationships with donors, potential donors and alumni with the objective to develop and maintain key long-term relationships. Partners with senior campus leaders to identify and capitalize on principal and major giving opportunities. Works closely with them to plan and execute solicitation and advancement activities that align with specific donor strategies.
  • Operational Planning: Provides strategic and operational leadership in the planning, development, implementation and ongoing review of effective and efficient fundraising plans. Together with senior colleagues, develops tailored action plans, solicitation strategies and proposals for prospective donors.
  • Expert-Advice: In collaboration with the senior leadership team, develops major funding proposals for attracting principal gift prospective donors. Ensures that senior management are adequately prepared and briefed for advancement related meetings, and, as part of overall principal and major pipeline management. Ensures that appropriate follow-up and debriefing is conducted after advancement activities.
  • Networking: As a senior University representative, acts as an ambassador of uOttawa and represents the University to external audiences on a local, national and international level. Builds, cultivates and maintains relationships with prominent alumni, donors, volunteers, friends, community and professional organizations to inspire philanthropic support for Telfer.
  • Issues Management: Evaluates and assesses potential issues of engaged stakeholders, makes suggestions and provides solutions to strengthen relationships with high-profile prospects. Ensure that stewardship and reporting requirements are met to sustain successful partnerships.
  • Performance evaluation and Reporting: In collaboration with Telfer Advancement Services, evaluates and makes recommendations to further the success of the corporate partnership programs. Prepares and submits progress reports and recommends solutions to improve performance where needed.
  • Human Resources Management: Hires, supervises and evaluates direct reports, and ensures that they have the training and tools needed to efficiently and effectively do their jobs. Applies human resources management procedures and regulations.

What you will bring:

  • Degree at the graduate level in business, management or related discipline or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Minimum of 10 years of progressive fundraising and/or sales experience with a proven track record of achievement and success with developing prospective donors and closing major gifts.
  • Certified Fund-Raising Executive (CFRE) is an asset.
  • Deep understanding of the principles of fundraising and sales best practices.
  • Extensive experience in developing and implementing strategic fundraising plans.
  • Knowledge of the not-for-profit sector, with preference for experience in a university or higher-education environment.
  • Strong relationship building skills, diplomacy and judgment.
  • Very strong listening skills.
  • A disciplined self-starter who sets ambitious work goals, with a demonstrated ability to think strategically and creatively when developing and closing solicitations.
  • Excellent analytical skills to interpret metrics for evidence-based decision-making.
  • Proven organizational, interpersonal, networking and negotiation skills.
  • Proven ability to work independently and within a team environment.
  • Experience using software and computer programs as well as fundraising databases; knowledge of Raiser’s Edge software is an asset.
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills in both official languages (French and English)
  • Ability to work flexible hours including evenings and weekends, and travel regularly on business.
  • Valid driver’s license and passport required.

#Li-MP1

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.

About University of Ottawa

Higher Education
1001-5000

À l’Université d’Ottawa, la plus grande université bilingue au monde, la population étudiante peut choisir d’étudier en français, en anglais, ou dans les deux langues. Située au cœur de la capitale du Canada, pays du G8, notre université jouit d’un accès direct aux plus grandes institutions du pays.

Ses avancées dans plusieurs disciplines attirent l’attention du monde entier, un reflet de sa passion pour la découverte et de la place qu’elle occupe parmi les 10 plus grandes universités de recherche du Canada.

The University of Ottawa is the largest bilingual university in the world, where it is possible for students to study in English, in French, or in both languages. Located in the capital of Canada, a G7 nation, we have ready access to the great institutions of our country.

Our breakthroughs in different disciplines attract global attention, reflecting our ranking among Canada’s top 10 research universities and our ongoing drive to discover.