Advancement Associate, Prospect Research and Gift Compliance

The Advancement Associate, Prospect Research and Gift Compliance is responsible for supporting the FNIH Strategic Alliances and Advancement (SAA) team in identifying, researching, screening, and analyzing prospects for individual, corporate, foundation major gift and organizational cultivation and solicitation. Research and analysis serve as the foundation of SAA operations and directly contribute to the Foundation’s success. Reporting to the Director of Advancement Services, the Advancement Associate works closely with frontline fundraising staff to identify major donor prospects who have the propensity and capacity to support the FNIH’s initiatives and campaigns. Specifically, the Advancement Associate works with the SAA team to research individuals, corporations and foundations and compile data into meaningful categories; evaluate data for accuracy and relevance and prepare reports including detailed prospect profiles; screen donors and potential donors in compliance with FNIH’s due diligence processes; and assess based on known indicators of wealth and philanthropic giving capacity. The Advancement Associate is also involved in proactive prospect management and generating reports using the FNIH donor database and various research tools and methods.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provides the Chief Strategic Alliances and Advancement Officer, FNIH leadership and other SAA staff with the tools, reports and information required to plan and execute FNIH’s fundraising and program development initiatives, including research, prospect management, analysis of donor histories and reporting.
• Proactively and independently plans and executes industry best practice strategies to identify sources of support using established research methodologies to ensure that fundraising initiatives have sufficient prospects to meet fundraising goals.
• Using creative research techniques provides high-level information on individuals, corporations, and foundations using a wide variety of biographical, organizational, and financial sources, including online databases, websites, and other external repositories of public information to identify prospects.
• Analyzes and synthesizes research findings to assess financial capacity, philanthropic interest, giving propensity and connectivity of prospective gift donors. Evaluates research results to refine research strategies utilizing ethical intelligence-gathering techniques of the information profession. Identifies donor gift capacity through the analysis and clarification of complex information.
• Accurately and effectively compiles and summarizes research findings for fundraisers and leadership.
• Applies a variety of criteria to aid in determining the appropriateness of a gift or contribution to the FNIH or its programs, to avoid gifts that would reflect unfavorably on or compromise the integrity of the FNIH or the NIH.
• Regularly updates and maintains organizational prospect information in the donor database.
• Develops and maintains accurate, well-written reports, biographical profiles, and other materials, providing basic analyses of program trends for donor and prospect visits and other purposes.
• Assists others on the Advancement Services team with data quality and captures improvements within the donor database, especially for key prospect research data.
• Acts as resident prospect research expert and administrator for all research tools and subscriptions and offers training, guidance and troubleshooting support for SAA staff, as needed.
• Participates in staff activities, projects and assignments and assumes other duties as assigned.

Education, Experience, and Skills Required

• Bachelor’s degree, with a minimum of three years of nonprofit experience, preferably in a development, fundraising and/or prospect research role.
• Proficient with the Microsoft Office suite
• Experience using constituent relationship management systems (Raiser’s Edge preferred)
• Knowledge of the range of resources available to prospect researchers and the ability to apply those resources in an organized and purposeful manner, including wealth screening and prospect research tools.
• Ability to conceptualize and develop proactive prospecting methodologies to support organizational goals, including data mining and sophisticated constituent database queries.
• Ability to initiate and perform complex analyses, and to interpret and organize complex research findings to assess affinity, capacity, and propensity to give.
• Experience or interest in identifying philanthropic patterns, tendencies and relationships among individuals, corporations, and foundations preferred.
• Results-oriented, team player, collaborative and self-motivated.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills required.
• Discretion in handling confidential information relating to the giving history and backgrounds of donors/prospects.

At FNIH we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace. If you are excited about this role and the work of the Foundation, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with all the qualifications in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles at FNIH.