Assistant Director, Individual Giving

Posted On: January 12, 2026

Hours: Full Time

Description:

JOB SUMMARY
The Assistant Director, Individual Giving conceives, advances, and delivers thoughtful and effective broad-based leadership giving solicitations as well as personalized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for individual donors with the capacity and inclination to contribute leadership ($2,500+) and major ($50,000+) gifts to The Cooper Union. Serving as a frontline fundraiser, this role maintains a defined portfolio, deepens existing relationships, identifies new donors, leading to successful fundraising outcomes. Reporting to the Senior Director of Alumni Affairs and Individual Giving, the Assistant Director collaborates with Alumni Affairs and Development colleagues and campus partners to strengthen the donor pipeline, support reunion and Giving Day efforts, and contribute to key case-based and affinity campaigns.
This position supports, through actions and conduct, The Cooper Union mission and vision, and helps to build a productive departmental culture and performance outcomes.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Discover, cultivate, engage, solicit, and steward individual donors with the capacity to give leadership ($2,500-$49,999) and major ($50,000-$499,999) gifts, exceeding $1 million in new commitments annually. Fundraising work to meet this performance metric should be performed independently or in direct partnership with College faculty, staff or administration.
• Conduct regular outreach through scheduled meetings (virtual and in-person), phone calls, email, and pre- and post-event engagement.
• Conceive, create, and deliver appropriate cultivation and stewardship engagement including personalized updates, donor recognition materials, and giving impact reports. Additionally, the Assistant Director will regularly produce and support donor and prospect small gatherings, campus visits, research briefings, volunteer-hosted events, and alumni/parent engagement designed to discover, qualify, cultivate, and steward new individual donors.
• Collaborate with the Senior Director on key giving initiatives—including Giving Day, Reunion Class fundraising campaigns, and strategic donor outreach—while

partnering with Development Operations to track activity and maintain accurate donor records, and serving as a liaison to internal partners (such as academic departments and student affairs) to gather impact stories and funding priorities.

• Produce major gift prospect strategies, create donor proposals with corresponding budgets, and maintain appropriate record keeping and activity reporting in the department’s CRMs and cloud-based files.
• Manage 2—3 reunion class fundraising efforts annually.
• Participate in key alumni affairs and fundraising events (e.g.; Reunion, Lifetime Giving Societies dinner, tours, workshops, etc.).
• Demonstrate excellent skill in persuasion through written and spoken communication skills.
• Other duties as assigned.

SKILLS/REQUIREMENTS

• 5-plus years of non-profit, education, or fundraising experience
• Experience in securing major ($50,000+) gift or grant commitments from individual donors and family foundations, with an annual yield of at least $250,000.
• Exceptional time management and organizational skills with sharp attention to detail.
• Excellent persuasive writing, proofreading, editing skills.
• Fluency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.
• Comfort in database research activities (Tessitura, Slate, Raiser’s Edge, Tableau, etc.)
• Propriety, thoughtfulness, and discretion.
• Understanding of fundraising and relationship management in a higher education context.
• Appreciation for The Cooper Union mission and ethos.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Master’s degree preferred.
• Rate - $80,000 - $83,000 annual salary

This is a unionized position.

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Email materials to: [email protected]