Senior Executive Director of Estate and Gift Planning

Position Information

Title: Senior Executive Director of Estate and Gift Planning

Department: Development

Status: Full-time, Exempt 

Reports To: Interim Senior Associate Vice President for Strategic Partnerships

Supervises: 

• Directors of Estate and Gift Planning
• Development Coordinator

Position Summary

The Senior Executive Director of the Office of Estate and Gift Planning (“Senior Executive Director”) will lead the Office of Estate and Gift Planning team (“OEGP”), and set the office’s strategic direction with a goal to expand the program as part of UH Foundation’s comprehensive fundraising effort for the University of Hawai'i System.  He or she will manage an office and staff which produce $15-20 million in new commitments annually and matured, realized gifts in the range of $10 million annually.

Essential Functions

Specific responsibilities and performance expectations include:

• Develop and administer long-range objectives for OEGP, ensuring that best practices in the field are adopted, implemented and maintained.
• Work closely with the Foundation’s Development Team leadership, OEGP Team and all unit major gift officersto close major gifts, planned gifts and “blended” gifts (outright and deferred in one gift plan) that will include but not be limited to life-income plans, bequest intentions, IRA qualified charitable distributions and retirement account death benefit designations, gifts of appreciated assets, charitable lead trusts, and gifts of real estate, both outright and with retained life estates.
• Work closely with the University’s unit major gift officers to ensure appropriate management and cultivation of prospects to close major, planned and blended gifts. Assist in the identification of those prospects.
• Personally manage a portfolio of 75 prospects.  Identify, cultivate and solicit prospects for planned, major and blended major and leadership gifts to benefit UH. 
• Provide technical expertise and gift planning assistance to unit development officers, donors and their advisors.
• Perform overall planning, coordination and staging of UH unit-based and OEGP educational and stewardship events for prospects, donors, development staff, and charitable gift planning education for professional advisors. Continue with follow-up activities necessary to maximize the benefits of these educational and/or cultivation events.
• Build and maintain relationships with allied professionals to inform and educate them about the mission and impact of the University of Hawaii, while introducing them to the gift planning tools, services and programs provided by OEGP to assist and support the advisors and their clients. 
• Maintain best practice expertise in the field of gift planning with an emphasis on current technical expertise in tax and legal aspects of philanthropic giving; utilize expertise clearly in discussions with donors, prospective donors, their advisors and colleagues.  
• Prepare and manage the OEGP budget and ensure that goals and objectives are met within the budget.
• Oversee, lead and/or delegate development and execution of the OEGP marketing plan.
• Oversee, lead and/or delegate development and execution of a stewardship plan for the Foundation’s planned gift donor recognition club, The Heritage Society. 
• Oversee, lead and/or delegate communication to, and requests from, the various intra-organizational teams, to ensure the effective collaboration necessary to facilitate outstanding performance by UHF as a whole.
• Generally manage and oversee the assignment of new prospect and donor leads to the OEGP team.
• Generally oversee, manage and ultimately be responsible for the receipt and proper designation of new estate realizations and the administration and settlement procedures necessary to see these realized gifts properly accepted by the university in accord with the donors’ requests, designations and/or specific restrictions on use. 
• Lead, mentor and manage OEGP team members, and provide professional development opportunities for them.  
• Lead the OEGP team in living the Foundation’s core values:  teamwork, integrity, trust, accountability, excellence, and service.

Evaluation

The Senior Executive Director will meet periodically with his/her supervisor to review ongoing progress within OEGP, and will meet with him or her annually to put in place a plan for the year.  This plan will include goals for each of the basic responsibility categories, as well as program and professional development goals.  At the end of each year, the Senior Executive Director and his/her supervisor will review progress toward the annual goals.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• A baccalaureate degree is required; a J.D., C.F.P, or C.P.A. is a plus. 
• Minimum 8 years of experience with proven success in development of planned, blended, major and leadership gift strategies, soliciting and closing gifts, and stimulating interest in charitable giving is desired; experience in higher education is preferred. 
• Will have documented experience in gift planning at a non-profit institution, and/or equivalent experience in the legal or financial services professions. 
• Advanced understanding of charitable gift vehicles and commitment to maintain expertise in the area.
• A commitment to discovering, developing and facilitating charitable intent. 
• Ability to deeply listen and respond to donor/prospect needs. 
• Skilled in writing, presentation and training. 
• Friendly and positive demeanor and enjoys working with others in a team environment.
• Campaign experience highly desirable.
• Proven experience managing staff. 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to build consensus and cohesion.
• The ability to work effectively in a large, complex and dynamic organization, balancing competing priorities.
• A strong sense of professional ethics, and commitment to the core values of trust, teamwork and excellence, accountability, and service. 

Working Conditions

Based at the First Interstate Building at 1314 S. King Street, Suite B, Honolulu, HI  96814, on the Island of Oahu, the Senior Executive Director of Estate and Gift Planning will work primarily in an office environment and will need to sit or stand for extended periods while either working at a computer, attending a meeting, or performing desk work.  The Senior Executive Director may need to visit areas of the University campus, as well as locations in and around the islands.  Employee must have a valid driver’s license and acceptable driving record or have an acceptable mode of transportation. The employee may need to work some evenings and weekends and must be able to work to the demands of the position, which may exceed a 40 hour work week. The employee must be able and willing to travel interisland or nationally upon request.

To Apply

Applicants should submit a letter of interest that provides evidence of the qualifications, a resume, and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least three professional references to: [email protected]

Mailing Address

University of Hawai‘i Foundation, Human Resources Department
P.O. Box 11270
Honolulu, HI  96828-0270

f: (808) 748-0727

Our application form is a fillable pdf, please download and save the application to your computer before filling it out.