Company Profile

Company Overview

The Tufts University Advancement Division (UA) is a comprehensive development and alumni relations enterprise with a staff complement of approximately 160 FTEs. Functional units within UA include development/fundraising, alumni relations, stewardship and donor relations, special events, gift processing, research and prospect management, gift planning, corporate and foundation relations, and information systems and management. UA's mission is to build strong, lifelong relationships with Tufts University's constituents, match donors' interests with the university's needs and priorities, and secure the financial resources necessary for Tufts to achieve excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship.

Working with the VP of University Advancement and the Senior Management Team (SMT), the Office of Principal Gifts plays a critical role in Tufts’ major fundraising efforts. Working with SMT and the school-based Directors of Development, the Office facilitates top university prospect strategy meetings, tracks university top prospects, coordinates the president’s Advancement travel calendar, and cultivates and solicits many 6-7 figure fundraising prospects for presidential priorities. Select staff members oversee all cultivation and solicitation strategies for cross-school donors and key university programs such as the Institute for Global Leadership, the Tufts Financial Network, the International Board of Advisors and Tufts’ Asia Relations fundraising program.

In order to ensure strategic, meaningful and robust relationships with donors, UA must create effective communications that bring donors closer to the university, particularly as we embark on the upcoming comprehensive campaign. The Office of Principal Gifts maintains a number of high-level donor relationships across the division, and therefore, must effectively craft strategic cultivation, solicitation and stewardship vehicles that provide donors with an understanding of how their gifts impact the university and its constituents. As donors consider commitments and ultimately invest in the institution, the Office of Principal Gifts establishes and maintains a donor-centered communications program that acknowledges, celebrates, and strategically communicates with donors about their support, and ensures that such activities are aligned with institutional priorities and adhere to institutional protocols.