Manager, Pipeline Development, VP Development and Alumni

Description

The Prospect Research Team within VP Development and Alumni is currently seeking a Full-time Regular Manager, Pipeline Development.

Located in Canada's most enterprising city, the University of Calgary (UCalgary) is a global intellectual hub for teaching and learning, research and scholarship, and deep engagement with the community.

UCalgary is one of Canada's top comprehensive research universities, with more than 7,500 graduate students and 30,500 undergraduate students, 1,800 academic staff, and over 4,000 non-academic staff in 14 faculties, across five campuses. As one of Canada's leading research-intensive universities, UCalgary is home to 146 research chairs (75 Canada Research Chairs), and more than 50 research institutes and centres. The university is bolstered by the incredible philanthropic support of the community, including more than $1.4B Billion raised during Energize: The Campaign for Eyes High (the third-largest fundraising campaign in Canadian history). UCalgary has the fastest growth rate in attracting research funding among the 10 largest universities in Canada and for three years in a row was been ranked the #1 start-up creator among Canadian research universities.

Through its strategic plan, Ahead of Tomorrow, UCalgary continues on its remarkable growth trajectory, striving for inimitable excellence through innovative teaching and learning, cutting-edge exploration, and community linkage, through. The strategy is a bold vision that reflects our ambition to increase access to future-focused education, to maximize the impact of our research and innovation, to put the community at the centre of all that we do, and to make our operational processes clearer, simpler and better than any other university.

The Development and Alumni team serves as a bridge between the University of Calgary and its champions, including donors, alumni and community members. Supporting engagement, volunteerism and partnerships, it creates opportunities for impact in Calgary and beyond. Within the office's Advancement Services division, the Prospect Research and Pipeline team guides the management and analysis of prospect portfolios of individual fundraisers to strengthen the pipeline of support for faculty, unit, and institutional priorities, and the team also ensures there are tools to evaluate progress for specific programs and with individual prospects.

This position, reporting to the Director of Prospect Research and Pipeline, contributes to the successful development of a stronger pipeline for the University of Calgary's fundraising priorities and the success of yearly strategy initiatives and planning. This position will lead a team of professionals in ensuring quality data, analysis, and actionable insights of prospect portfolios and the continuous improvement, growth, and management of the donor pipeline. The Manager, Pipeline Development, ensures the delivery of quality data by ensuring the effective use of data analytics, overseeing the development and deployment of a suite of reports, ensuring continuous process development and refinement that drives efficiency, and developing and managing policies and procedures for prospect management.

The Manager, Pipeline Development is involved in the strategic development of prospect management operations and has access to highly sensitive and confidential information. The function must accommodate the needs of numerous fundraisers, volunteers, and senior leadership staff at the University. The effectiveness of this portfolio is a critically important factor in ensuring the university's major gift efforts are strategic and productive.

The Manager is responsible for developing and maintaining processes, procedures and training documents on prospect management practices. This includes the training of staff within the Development and Alumni Office who are directly engaged in prospect management.

The role is expected to take a leadership role in identifying continuous improvement opportunities related to systems, reporting, and training. It also requires comfort navigating and resolving prospect assignment conflicts, influencing fundraising strategy through data insight, and leading full-scale projects from conception through implementation, including stakeholder consultation, business requirements gathering, and change management planning.

This role involves collaborations with other business units in Advancement Services and Development, alongside the Director, to ensure pipeline development activities are aligned with other key business operations.

The Manager will play a critical role in recommending and integrating new tools and technology, including business intelligence platforms that support analytics capacity building.

High volume of work with periodic requirement for work outside of normal business hours.

Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):

Prospective Development Strategy and Pipeline Build

• In collaboration with the Director, operationalize the annual work plan process to meet fundraising goals across teams and priorities.
• Oversee prospect strategy, portfolio review, and moves management meetings with fundraisers.
• Provide leadership and guidance related to industry best practices.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of prospect management initiatives, making recommendations for continuous improvement.
• Oversee the development and deployment of training for Development and Alumni team members that supports the accurate and effective use of the Prospect Management system.
• Work closely with the Director to manage the year-end and annual projections.
• Ensure that pipeline analysis and other prospect management related data is available to support data-driven analysis of the University's fundraising goals.
• Prospect Development Policy, Database Management, and Analytics
• Work in partnership with the Director on ongoing refinement, development and implementing  guidelines, metrics and key strategic initiatives
• Oversee a suite of reports that provide insight into the health of the institutional pipeline and the university's fundraising performance
• In partnership with Development, strengthen systems that allow individual fundraisers to use tools to manage and assess their own work and the Prospect Management team to provide feedback and insight into performance of the overall system.
• Work closely with the Development Data team to create, implement, oversee and monitor reporting that tracks and supports the performance and activity of major gifts and productivity.
• Ensure continuous process development and refinement that drives efficiency and supports prospect management best practices
• Develop and managing policies and procedures for Prospect Management, ensuring adherence to industry best practices
• Lead regular reviews of the Prospect Management system with a commitment to continuous improvement
• Collaborate frequently with the Advancement Services team on systems-related issues.

Prospect Research Integration

• Provide operational support for all aspects of the Prospect Management integration with Prospect Research to drive stronger pipeline for the University's fundraisers and university priorities
• In collaboration with the Prospect Research team, support the design and implementation of enhanced prospect management strategies that serve to support coordination between fundraisers and identify major gift prospects
• Monitor and review prospect assignments; collaborate with Prospect Research on reaching solutions when conflicts about assignments arise
  Participate in mid-point and goal setting business planning meeting with the Manager, Prospect Research to provide insight

Project Management

• In coordination with The Director, leads full-scale initiatives from concept to implementation including planning, overseeing, and monitoring projects/programs to ensure progress and deliverables to the Director.
• Oversee project management cycle for assigned projects including project planning, establishment of key deliverables, identification of resource requirements, leading project planning meetings, tracking committee progress, implementation, and evaluation.
• Ensure the preparation of meeting materials, running/assisting in running the consultation process and meetings, and drafting reports and outcomes.
• Direct multiple stakeholders to collaborate on project/program scope, deliverables, goals, risks, blockers, success measures, and resources needed.
• Work collaboratively and respectfully with stakeholders, navigating through challenges, and gaining agreement to an outcome.
• Present project milestones and deliverables to the Director. Assess risk with projects looking at both short-term and long-term impact to gain leader insight as initiatives and priorities shift with changing business needs.

Human Resources Management

• Manage staff to ensure work is completed on schedule, standards and policies are followed, and that the quality of work meets required needs.
• Define roles and responsibilities of staff, based on understanding of individual skills and project requirements, and assign tasks based on needs and available resources.
• In consultation with the Director, implement changes to the organizational structure when required
• Hire staff based on assessment of candidates and understanding of team's needs.
• Discuss performance with employees to provide feedback as part of overall employee development and goals evaluations, which may include addressing performance-related issues.
• Enable staff growth by recommending training and professional development opportunities
• Provide leadership to develop and maintain strong team culture

Qualifications / Requirements:

• University degree or an acceptable equivalent combination of education and experience
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in prospect management or a related field, preferably within higher education or a nonprofit environment.
• Experience managing the complete prospect life cycle, prospect management principles, and support of a successful campaign. Experience adapting and customizing prospect strategy management, tracking, and reporting for various prospect segments (major gift and principal gift prospects).
• Experience working with Blackbaud CRM or another fundraising software.
• Experience with creating and customizing reports to support major fundraising activities. Knowledge of PowerBI is an asset.
• Experience conceiving, developing, and implementing successful strategies for operational efficiency and change management.
• Project Management Experience and experience initiating and implementing projects with teams and independently.
• Experience evaluating complex issues and identifying appropriate solutions.  Proven leadership experience supervising in a team setting.
• Experience developing and utilizing data analytics and predictive models in support of prospect management and to facilitate continuous improvement and innovation is considered an asset.
• Excellent planning skills and experience with the ability to identify, clarify and articulate project purpose, goals, and outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to present complex information in a clear and compelling manner.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders and work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Adherence to ethical guidelines, including Apra and the Donor Bill of Rights.
• Demonstrated commitment to the principles of EDI.

Application Deadline:  June 21, 2025.

We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.

This position is classified in the Management Career Band, Level M1 of the Management and Professional Staff Career Framework. 

For a listing of all management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary, view our Management and Staff Careers website. 

About the University of Calgary

UCalgary is Canada's entrepreneurial university, located in Canada's most enterprising city. It is a top research university and one of the highest-ranked universities of its age. Founded in 1966, its 36,000 students experience an innovative learning environment, made rich by research, hands-on experiences and entrepreneurial thinking. It is Canada's leader in the creation of start-ups. Start something today at the University of Calgary. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.

The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.

As an equitable and inclusive employer, the University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their academic and professional success while they are here. In particular, we encourage members of the designated groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible/racialized minorities, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identities) to apply. To ensure a fair and equitable assessment, we offer accommodation at any stage during the recruitment process to applicants with disabilities. Questions regarding [diversity] EDI at UCalgary can be sent to the Office of Institutional Commitments ([email protected]) and requests for accommodations can be sent to Human Resources ([email protected]).

Do you have most but not all the qualifications? Research show that women, racialized and visible minorities, and persons with disabilities are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At UCalgary we are committed to achieving equitable, diverse, inclusive and accessible employment practices and workplaces and encourage you to apply if you believe you are right for this role. 

We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.