Job Number: R0006422

At Wellesley, our mission is to deliver an outstanding liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world. Our collaborative community, comprising of faculty, students, staff, and alumnae, is guided by our shared commitment to educational excellence. Join us in this transformative journey!

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Job Description

Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with Wellesley College in the search for a Major Gift Officer.

The Major Gift Officer will manage a portfolio of high-capacity prospects rated $250,000 to $1,000,000 or more, including alumnae, parents, and friends of the College. The Major Gift Officer will be responsible for developing personalized strategies for engagement and solicitation that maximize each individual's philanthropic capacity and support for the College's funding priorities, as well as broad-based engagement, qualification, and cultivation strategies for pool segments as a whole. The Major Gift Officer will collaborate across the department to move prospects and donors through the pipeline and solicit gifts, working closely with frontline colleagues in The Wellesley Fund, Gift Planning, and the Principal Gifts team. In addition to managing an assigned portfolio of prospects, the Major Gift Officer will be responsible for a special assignment to a particular Friends, affinity group, or strategic priority, serving as the captain, both building support for and serving as liaison with campus partners and bringing back to the Department information and updates.

Wellesley College was founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant, who were passionate about the higher education of women. The first president, and nearly all the College's early faculty and staff were women. Today, Wellesley is still known as a unique community that continues to send accomplished women out into the world, committed to making a difference. Situated on a breathtaking campus in the quintessentially New England town of Wellesley, and home to over 2,400 of the highest-achieving female undergraduates in the world, Wellesley is a lively learning community dedicated to probing inquiry and creative, cross-disciplinary thinking. With a focus on collaboration, students are encouraged to question, debate, and refine their points of view with each other, and the world-class faculty. As a private, liberal arts institution, Wellesley places a great deal of importance on preparing its graduates for the real world in all senses. The College's full-engagement philosophy ensures that the student voice is central in decision-making with students serving on major committees of the Board of Trustees, participating in faculty searches, and contributing to strategic planning. Accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, Wellesley grants bachelor's degrees in more than 50 majors and boasts an 8:1 student to faculty ratio.

Over 90 percent of students participate in at least one internship during their time at the College, and several hundred students choose to spend a semester, or longer, abroad each year. With a commitment to the importance of experiences beyond the traditional classroom, Wellesley offers more than 150 student organizations and provides both cultural centers and multifaith life on campus.

The College also fields 13 athletic teams that compete in the NCAA Division III New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference, which includes the 2022 NCAA Division III rowing champions. With an alumnae base of more than 35,000, the women of Wellesley continue to support the institution, and one another, long after they leave the beautiful campus. This powerful network of alumnae helped the College raise a record breaking $514 million in its most recent campaign, The Wellesley Effect.

Wellesley's motto, Non Ministrari sed Ministrare (Not to be ministered unto, but to minister), is evident in the College's mission to provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world. This mission is advanced by working together as a community, focused on shared values of intellectual discovery and excellence; gender equality; diversity, equity, and inclusion; connection and community; empowerment and social change; and integrity and academic freedom.

Wellesley graduates are ready to make a difference in the world, evidenced by the fact that 98 percent of the most recent graduating class were in jobs, graduate education, the military, or service within six months of graduation. The 2024 US News and World Report ranks Wellesley College as the fourth best national liberal arts college in the nation, #20 in best undergraduate teaching, and sixth in best value schools. Wellesley received an A+ rating from NECHE (New England Commission of Higher Education). Wellesley is the only liberal arts college that consistently rates in the top 50 colleges and universities in producing the largest number of women Ph.D.s in STEM. Considered to have created the most powerful women's network, Wellesley College was ranked #57 in the top colleges and universities of 2023 by Forbes and #36 in private colleges. Not forgetting the beautiful setting of Wellesley, the College was voted first among the best river and lake colleges by College Consensus.

WELLESLEY COLLEGE'S COMMITMENT TO INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE

Wellesley is committed to creating the conditions that make it possible for all students and all members of its community to excel. Inclusive excellence represents the strength of difference and the power this gives Wellesley to fulfill its mission.

Wellesley was founded on the radical idea that women have an equal right to the best education in the country. It still believes-in fact, it knows from experience-that the boldest ideas, the brightest solutions, and the healthiest communities draw on a range of voices, perspectives, and experiences. It is dedicated to ensuring that all members of the Wellesley community have an equal opportunity to flourish, no matter their race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, physical ability, or any other category that can be used to divide people.

Wellesley students come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. They hail from 87 countries of citizenship and 59 countries of residence. At least one language other than English is spoken in 47% percent of students' homes; over 30 languages are spoken on campus. 52 percent of the class of 2023 identified as students of color. 18 percent of students in the class of 2023 were the first generation in their families to graduate from college. The Office of Intercultural Inclusion and Engagement-whose mission is to promote cultural competence through intercultural programs and activities-equips students with the skills they need for life and leadership in a diverse, inter-dependent, and every-changing world. There are also a multitude of formal and informal advising and mentoring for students of color and LGBTQ+ students. 13 religious organizations serve students from agnostic to Zoroastrian and everything in between.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

The Major Gift Officer will report to the Director of Major Gifts and Leadership Annual Giving, Farrah Rubenstein.

FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT

Wellesley's mission is to provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world. The best and brightest students from around the world join our community to learn from brilliant faculty at the forefront of their fields, explore new interdisciplinary areas of study, and pursue their passions. A Wellesley education prepares students to reach their highest aspirations.

Our alumnae go on to live lives of service and leadership and are committed to ensuring today's students and faculty have the resources they need to thrive. Their unwavering support has enabled Wellesley to continue need-blind admission for all domestic applicants and to meet 100 percent of calculated financial need for admitted students, eliminating socioeconomic status as a barrier to education. Our alumnae helped Wellesley to build a brand-new Science Complex to provide students with access to a first-class STEM education and unique research opportunities unavailable at many undergraduate institutions.

Wellesley alumnae care deeply about the College, its mission and values, and its future. And so do we. The College is looking ahead to its next comprehensive campaign - an ambitious endeavor that will help us fulfill the brilliant promise and unlimited potential of students for generations to come. The Major Gifts team is critical to our success.

Wellesley was founded on the radical idea that educating women leads to progress for everyone. I believe in the vital role of women's education in shaping the leaders of tomorrow and am proud that Wellesley is a global leader in teaching and empowering women to change the world. Rarely does one have the opportunity to work at an institution where you can make a significant impact. I look forward to supporting an equally passionate and energized fundraiser who will help us lead Wellesley and the world toward an extraordinary future.

- Marisa Jaffe '95, Vice President for Development

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Major Gift Officer will

cultivate and solicit Wellesley alumnae, parents, and friends with the capacity to make gifts of $250,000 or more to support College priorities, employing appropriate strategies and tactics in prospect and portfolio management that meet donor interaction and dollar goals including traveling to meet with prospects and donors;
collaborate with other frontline colleagues in the department to identify prospects for The Wellesley Fund and Gift Planning, as well as those who might be principal gift prospects;
create and execute strategies and plans for an assigned portfolio of alumnae, parents, and friends of the College, traveling nationally and internationally across multiple geographic regions;
work with Donor Relations and Development Marketing to identify and create cultivation and stewardship collateral as needed; and
participate in events on campus, as well as other national and international events as scheduled throughout the year at which alumnae, parents, and friends are present, such as Family & Friends Weekend, Commencement, and Reunion.

LEADERSHIP

Farrah R. Rubenstein

Director of Major Gifts and Leadership Annual Giving

Farrah R. Rubenstein is Wellesley's inaugural Director of Major Gifts and Leadership Annual Giving. In this role, she is building a new fundraising unit to provide deeper and broader coverage of Wellesley's robust alumnae and donor pool. Once fully staffed, the Major Gifts team will cover a portfolio of 2,200 prospects and donors rated $250,000 up to $5,000,000; and the Leadership Annual Giving team will cover a portion of the 6,500 prospects and donors rated between $10,000 up to $250,000. Rubenstein has spent more than two decades working in social change and education philanthropy, most recently at the Berklee College of Music and at Brandeis University. She delights in providing both sophisticated and budding philanthropists opportunities to support the enduring need to educate women to lead change in the world.

Marisa Jaffe '95

Vice President for Development

Marisa Jaffe '95 is Vice President for Development at Wellesley College. She serves as lead fundraiser, with responsibility for all development efforts, and as a senior officer of the College, where she is a strategic partner and contributor to developing and achieving institutional priorities.

Jaffe earned her B.A. magna cum laude from Wellesley and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. After working as a litigation associate at a Boston firm for corporate clients, Jaffe returned to her alma mater to begin what has become an 18-year career in development, mostly at Wellesley. Jaffe also worked at Harvard Medical School (HMS) as Director of Development, Principal and Major Gifts, supporting the departments of Global Health and Systems Biology. Jaffe returned to Wellesley from HMS to launch the principal gifts program ahead of the College's most recent record-breaking The Wellesley Effect campaign. She was promoted to Associate Vice President for Development in 2023 and was responsible for leading principal giving, leadership giving, corporate and foundation relations, and gift planning efforts. Jaffe has served as Interim Vice President for the Development Office twice.

A widow since 2019, Jaffe is raising her 16-year-old son who is immersing her in the worlds of Star Wars and Legos. They live in Needham, Massachusetts wherever they can find inhabitable space among the Stormtroopers and starships.

PREFERRED COMPETENCIES AND QUALIFICATIONS

Wellesley College seeks a Major Gift Officer with

a commitment to the mission of Wellesley College-to provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world-and a desire to embrace Wellesley's distinct traditions, values, and vision;
experience developing, closing, and stewarding prospects of high-net-worth;
experience working with a wide spectrum of volunteers and donors in an outward facing capacity; - excellent project management skills;
an ability to complete complex tasks and multiple projects simultaneously, working both independently and as a member of a team;
superior written and oral communication skills, including presentation skills appropriate for engaging prospects and members of the campus community;
strategic thinking and analytical skills, including an ability to draw informed conclusions from data;
an ability to adapt to changing circumstances;
comfort with ambiguity and an ability to pivot;
an innovative and creative temperament;
excellent interpersonal skills, an ability to work collaboratively, and an orientation toward customer service;
a commitment to confidentiality, professionalism, and discretion; and
the comfort with technology needed to communicate and share information confidently, as well as experience with a prospect database.

A bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience and at least five years of front-line fundraising or comparable experience, including conducting solicitations and closing gifts, familiarity with reunion giving and/or alumni/ae development, and management experience, preferably in an academic setting, is preferred for this position. Must possess a valid driver's license issued by the U.S. or its territories and obtain clearance per Wellesley College's Vehicle Use Policy. A Motor Vehicle Record check is required. Wellesley College will consider candidates with a broad range of backgrounds. If you are excited about this role and feel that you can contribute to the College, but your experience does not exactly align with every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The salary range for this position is $130,000 to $135,000 annually. Wellesley College offers a comprehensive package of benefits.

LOCATION

This position is in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Development staff are required to be in the office three days per week. The Major Gifts team is in office together on Mondays and Wednesdays, with at least one additional in-office day of each team member's choice. This role requires significant travel across the US and occasional international travel.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and resume. Cover letters should be responsive to the mission of Wellesley College as well as the responsibilities and qualifications stated in the prospectus.

To apply for this position, visit: Major Gift Officer, Wellesley College

To nominate a candidate, please contact Tonya Malik-Carson: tonyamc@aspenleadershipgroup.com.

All inquiries will be held in confidence

Wellesley College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals in hiring and advancement based on any legally protected status. Candidates who believe they can contribute to the College community are encouraged to apply.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

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