Jobs UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

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Managing Senior Director, Foundation Relations

Requisition Number:

65561

Location:

Boulder, Colorado

City

Boulder

State

Colorado

Employment Type:

University Staff

Schedule:

Full-Time

Posting Close Date:

03-Aug-2025

Date Posted:

01-Jul-2025
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Job Summary

The Office of Advancement at CU Boulder encourages applications for the position of Managing Senior Director, Foundation Relations! Reporting to the Executive Director of Industry and Foundation Relations, this position is a key member of the Industry and Foundation Relations (IFR) leadership team.

The ideal candidate should have experience as a collaborative leader who has successfully built positive relationships with national foundations and secured substantial funding. Working closely with the Executive Director, this position will develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to enhance foundation giving and drive revenue growth by deepening and expanding foundation support for CU Boulder.

As a strategic partner within the university community, the Managing Senior Director will lead efforts to cultivate and sustain comprehensive, long-term relationships with key external foundation partners. This role will emphasize a partner-centric model designed to generate impactful revenue through strategic foundation partnerships, while also playing a central role in creating unique, public-private funding collaborations. The position involves a significant externally facing component, driving high-level engagement and fostering opportunities for large, transformative gifts.

The Managing Senior Director will supervise a high-performing foundation relations team of four staff members. This leader will also manage a personal portfolio of high-value foundation prospects, focusing on cultivating relationships with foundations capable of making substantial investments in support of CU Boulder’s mission and strategic goals. Additionally, the Managing Senior Director will guide the team in strengthening relationships with foundation representatives, faculty, and campus partners, while creating opportunities for large gifts and leading conceptualization for sophisticated proposal development—especially for cross-disciplinary projects that align with the broader goals of potential funders.

The Foundation Relations team collaborates with faculty and staff across all colleges, schools, units, and institutes at CU Boulder. The Managing Senior Director will facilitate coordination with the Office of Advancement and the Research & Innovation Office, working strategically across campus to support foundation relations initiatives. Key internal partners include the University of Colorado Foundation, the Office of Contracts & Grants, the Office of Government & Community Engagement, and the Research and Innovation Office, among others.

CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Who We Are

At CU Boulder Advancement, we are committed to fostering an environment where everyone matters and all can thrive. This dedication is rooted in our core values and our mission to drive impactful fundraising and engagement. Our team actively engages in learning, reflection, and the transformation of systems, policies, and practices that perpetuate oppressive ideologies—including racism, sexism, ableism, and heterosexism. We recognize our responsibility to lead by example in building a supportive and inclusive culture for both internal colleagues and external partners. We hold ourselves accountable through individual and divisional goals that continuously assess our progress, growth, and outcomes—ensuring alignment with our mission and values every step of the way.

What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be

Partnership Development and Strategy
  • Lead the development and execution of comprehensive strategies to engage local, national, and international foundations, aligning their interests with CU Boulder’s mission and priorities. Establish clear goals to sustain and build revenue and expand the foundation pipeline.
  • Guide and help prioritize areas of the greatest impact. Drive effectiveness through productive faculty and donor visits, pipeline development, engagement activity, and stewardship. Set and meet metrics for personal and team success.
  • Personally manage a portfolio of high-value foundation prospects.
  • Actively engage in external relationship-building activity that leads to gift opportunities.
  • Establish annual performance goals for the foundation relations team in consultation with, and approved by, the Executive Director of Industry and Foundation Relations.
Leadership and Supervision
  • Direct, mentor, and inspire a high-performing team–inclusive of fundraising, scientific proposal development, and grant management—while fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and professional growth.
  • Ensures the development and implementation of foundation team’s fundraising/ business development strategies including prospect identification and evaluation of new top prospects, solicitation, and stewardship of corporate partners.
  • Ensures the foundation team’s timely, accurate completion of contact reports, proposals, gift and grant agreements, program and stewardship reporting.
  • Establishes team standard processes in cultivating major foundation partner prospects.
  • Manages four (+) employees including hiring, training, motivating, and coaching as they provide efficient service to internal and external collaborators, assessing employee performance, and providing thought leadership and training opportunities.
  • Participates as a member of the Advancement Management Team and attends numerous cross-campus monthly meetings.
Strategic Planning and Collaboration
  • Works closely with the Executive Director of Industry and Foundation Relations and campus leadership to arrange and prioritize competing responsibilities and initiatives across campus in the solicitation of foundation partners.
  • Develops strong relationships and knowledge of the research areas at CU and the foundations funding those sectors.
  • Coordinates sponsored research activities in close collaboration with the Office of Contracts and Grants.
  • Represents the Foundation Relations team at key university events.
  • Represents CU Boulder at targeted foundation/community events.
Other Special Projects and Duties as Assigned

What You Should Know

  • This role is in a hybrid work situation, working a mix of days on campus and remotely each week.
  • This position will require some evening and weekend work for events and will be required to travel locally, regionally and nationally.

What We Can Offer

The salary range is $150,000-$175,000 annually. Relocation assistance and/or a signing bonus may be available within Advancement guidelines.

Benefits

The University of Colorado offers excellent benefits, including medical, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefit and ECO Pass. The University of Colorado Boulder is one of the largest employers in Boulder County and offers an inspiring higher education environment. Learn more about the University of Colorado Boulder.

Be Statements

Be impactful. Be strategic. Be Boulder.

What We Require

  • Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience or equivalent combination of education and experience may substitute.
  • Experience: 5+ years of job-related experience, including 1+ years of team lead or supervision experience.
    • Progressive experience in business development and/or fundraising roles with quantifiable outcomes working with foundations.

What You Will Need

  • Ability to lead, inspire and empower a fundraising team towards achieving individualized goals and metrics.
  • Ability to strategize plans for employee retention and satisfaction.
  • Ability to practice situational leadership and discover what motivates individual team members to achieve goals.
  • Ability to understand and properly fit the right investment vehicle (gift, grant, etc.) based on the prospective foundation partner’s needs or desired outcomes and navigate the University’s contracts and grants rules.
  • Expert knowledge of foundation-focused fundraising techniques.
  • Solid knowledge of the funding landscape and giving climate for foundation partners.
  • Expert knowledge in grant writing.
  • Solid knowledge of applicable laws, regulations, and professional standards governing foundation grant-making.
  • Understanding of foundation-university contract, grant, and gift fundamentals.
  • Expert ability to communicate verbally and in writing.
  • Strong interpersonal skills.
  • Strong ability to analyze information/situations and solve problems.
  • Solid ability to handle sensitive information discretely and maintain confidentiality.
  • Solid ability to organize and manage multiple projects/tasks simultaneously (project management experience a plus – specifically in technical arenas such as engineering or science); ability to work independently and on a team and adapt to changing priorities.
  • Solid knowledge of current issues facing public universities and interests/projects of assigned school, students, faculty, and alumni.
  • Demonstrates a strong dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion.

What We Would Like You to Have

  • Demonstrated experience in securing foundation funding in both philanthropic gifts and sponsored research at $100,000 or greater.
  • 8+ years of dynamic management experience in business development and/ or fundraising roles with quantifiable outcomes partnering with foundations.
  • Experience at an R-1 university.
  • Software Used: Microsoft Office products: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Special Instructions

To apply, please submit the following materials: 
  1. A current resume. 
  2. A cover letter that specifically tells us how your background and experience align with the requirements, qualifications, and responsibilities of the position. 
We may request references at a later time.

Please apply by August 3, 2025 for consideration.

Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, please apply through CU Boulder Jobs.

In compliance with the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act, in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Posting Contact Information

Posting Contact Name: Boulder Campus Human Resources

Posting Contact Email: Recruiting@colorado.edu