Skidmore College

Assistant Vice President for Development

DEERFIELD ASSOCIATES has been retained by Skidmore College, located in scenic Saratoga Springs, New York, to conduct a national search for an Assistant Vice President for Development AVPD. The AVPD reports directly to Carey Anne Zucca, the Collyer Vice President for Advancement. This high visibility opportunity is available immediately and will be filled following a comprehensive national search and the candidate of choice is identified.

The Assistant Vice President for Development will lead and manage a major and principal giving program, including gift planning, in support of the college’s short and long-term strategic priorities including, but not limited to, preparing for their next campaign in excess of $300 million. The AVPD is responsible for this key, metric-driven individual giving program focused on fundraising and stewarding alumni, parents, and friends who have the capacity to make gifts at the level of $50K to $5 million+. Annual fundraising goals for this program range from $15 million to $25 million in new cash and commitments/pledges.

The new hire will manage a team of two direct reports and a total staff of eleven advancement professionals. The two direct reports include the Executive Director, Major Gifts and the Senior Executive Director, Principal Gifts, The Assistant Vice President for Development will serve as a ‘player/coach’ leading by example, managing a personal portfolio of select high-end prospects including Trustees in addition to their leadership and management responsibilities. The AVPD is responsible for setting metrics for the major gift, principal gift and planned giving teams cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship including number of contacts, visits, proposals, and commitments. The Assistant Vice President for Development coaches front-line advancement officers on a regular basis as they progress through their prospect work and towards established leadership giving goals based on strategic philanthropic initiatives.

Skidmore College, a highly-selective, nationally-ranked liberal arts college enrolls approximately 2,600 students in 44 degree programs, including programs in both traditional liberal arts and pre-professional disciplines. The College has 27,000 alumni and 5,000 parents that are reachable, an endowment of $498M and an FY25 Operating Budget $186 million, an FY25 Financial Aid Budget of $75 million. There are currently 283 full-time faculty, which includes 155 women and128 men, 90% highest degrees, 25% people of color or international. Average class size is 16 and a student-faculty ratio of 9 to 1. Consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the country’s Best National Liberal Arts Colleges, Skidmore’s curriculum balances a commitment to the liberal arts with an emphasis on interdisciplinarity along with preparation for professions, civic leadership, and lifelong learning.

The College’s curriculum reflects its credo Creative Thought Matters. For more information on the college, please visit www.skidmore.edu.

The Position

The AVPD is a member of Advancement’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT), which is composed of the Collyer Vice President for Advancement, Executive Director, Advancement Operations and Prospect Development, Executive Director, Alumni Engagement, Senior Director, Stewardship and College Events, Associate Vice President, Annual Fund and Chief of Staff, and Senior Executive Director, Principal Gifts. The ELT collaborates closely in partnership with their teams to achieve divisional fundraising and engagement goals.

Collaborates and works closely with the Collyer Vice President for Advancement and appropriate teammates to develop metric-driven strategy for a comprehensive fundraising program designed to raise gifts between $50K and $5 million+.
Directly manages and leads the Executive Director, Major Gifts and team offering mentorship for them and the entire team of fundraisers as-needed. Assists in setting annual fundraising goals, monitoring progress via metrics and goals, and helps to launch initiatives for reaching them. With the Collyer Vice President for Advancement, establishes aggressive and focused fundraising targets and strategies for achieving them.
Directly manages and leads the Senior Executive Director, Principal Gifts and team offering mentorship for them and the entire team as-needed. Assists in setting annual fundraising goals, monitoring progress via metrics and goals, and helps to launch initiatives for reaching them. With the Collyer Vice President for Advancement, establishes aggressive and focused fundraising targets and strategies for achieving them.
Manages a portfolio of top-capacity prospective and current donors with an individual fundraising goal comprised of annual giving, gifts and pledges, and planned giving.
Contributes to building and implementing the overall strategy for the Office of Advancement and to developing a positive, “can-do” culture of collaboration across the office.
Actively strategizes with the Collyer Vice President for Advancement in staffing members of the Board of Trustees.
Serves as a cultivation and solicitation partner to the senior leadership including the President, Cabinet members, faculty, and key staff members.
Approaches their work with a sense of inspiration and humor.

Skills and Qualifications

Demonstrated leadership skills and track record of success to be seen as an effective leader and collaborative partner in the Office of Advancement
Represents the College with the highest levels of professionalism and integrity
Demonstrated track record of successful experience of the following:
Securing six- and seven-figure gifts in higher education or similar not-for-profit organizations
Recruiting, managing, and retaining fundraising teams, both in-person and hybrid
Working successfully in a complex, fast-paced organization serving multiple stakeholders
Exceptional interpersonal communication skills and the ability to write persuasively and effectively for varied audiences
Ability and skill set to build consensus and handling sensitive matters with tact, discretion, and humanity
Stringent budget management
Strong commitment to DEI
Possess a high degree of tact and discretion, which will benefit interactions with colleagues across the division and the College, as well as with trustees, other leadership volunteers, and donors. The AVPD will interact directly and regularly with a broad array of internal and external stakeholders, including the President, President’s Cabinet, Trustees, leadership volunteers, faculty, staff, and donors
Be highly organized, adept at coordinating multiple tasks, and able to shift priorities with ease. Ability to display initiative, take a solutions-oriented approach to problem-solving, invite input from colleagues, and have the ability to make independent decisions. The new hire must be able to accomplish divisional goals according to set deadlines and within budgetary guidelines.

Education: Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s Preferred.
Experience: 10+ years in management and direct fundraising in higher-ed or other not-for-profit strongly preferred. Prior experience directly involved in managing a capital campaign preferred.
Salary range: $165,000-$180,000
Position based in Saratoga Springs, New York

College Leadership

Carey Anne Zucca was appointed the Collyer Vice President for Advancement in July 2021. She serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet and oversees the College’s Advancement team in their ongoing resource development and alumni engagement efforts. During her tenure the team has achieved a 20% increase in overall fundraising, completed a database conversion, established a formal gift acceptance policy, and launched fundraising initiatives such as the $45M McCaffery-Wagman Tennis and Wellness Center and $10M Sands Family Foundation Initiative for Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Skidmore, Ms. Zucca served as senior executive director of development and alumni affairs at University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering since 2015.

Marc C. Conner became Skidmore’s eighth president on July 1, 2020. An innovative leader of interdisciplinary academic programs, a longtime advocate of diversity and inclusion initiatives, and a widely published professor of English, Conner joined Skidmore College following 24 years at Washington and Lee University, a private liberal arts university in Lexington, Virginia, where he had most recently served as provost and chief academic officer from 2016 to 2020.

As president, Conner has steered the College through the many challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership, Skidmore has implemented comprehensive health and safety measures that have prioritized the well-being of the entire campus community while preserving the impactful experiences and programs that make Skidmore a leader in delivering an outstanding liberal arts education. Affirming his commitment to building a community of trust at Skidmore, Conner announced on his very first day in office the Racial Justice Initiative, a bold series of projects to address the realities of racial injustice locally, nationally, and globally. Accomplishments of the initiative include the creation of a Board of Trustees committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion; the hiring of key staff leadership positions that support student and College-wide DEI programming and efforts; ongoing programs, speakers, forums, and events to engage the campus community on a wide range of diversity topics; key trainings and workshops on DEI work; and the completion of Wyckoff Center, a central gathering space for courageous conversations on all topics.

Admissions Overview

The Entering Class. Skidmore received 12,000 applications for the Class of 2028. Six-hundred and seventy (670) students were drawn from the most selective applicant pool in the College’s history (21% admit rate). Students come from 34 different states, plus the District of Columbia, and 22 countries. Twenty-seven (27) students of the class are spending their first semester in London as part of a Skidmore academic program. Six (6) percent of Skidmore students are international. Half the entering class is enrolled through early decision. Thirty percent (30) of students identify as domestic students of color, the largest percentage in Skidmore’s history. Fifteen (15) percent are the first in their family to attend college. Thirteen (13) students are Davis United World scholars. Forty-nine (49) students are in the Opportunity Program. Fifty-eight percent 58% identify as female, 35% male, 6% non-binary or another expression of gender.

All Classes at a Glance. 2,591 students matriculating from 44 states and 60 countries. 27% identify as domestic students of color. 12% are the first in their family to attend college.

Welcome Class of 2027

College Support

Skidmore received gifts of nearly $37 million from alumni, parents, families, and friends during the 2023-24 giving year.
Almost $8.3 million in gifts through the Skidmore Fund (18% alumni participation)
$4.3 million in gifts from parents and families supported Skidmore, including $1.65 million through the Skidmore Fund. The Senior Family Project raised $708,032 to support the Class of 2024 Parent Scholarship Fund and the McCaffery-Wagman Tennis and Wellness Center.
1,234 alumni, parents, families, and friends generously supported Skidmore with a leadership gift as members of the President’s Society in the 2023-24 giving year.
Senior Gift fundraising for the Class of 2024 realized gifts from 50% of the class for a total of $3,631. 42 seniors joined the Young Alumni President’s Society with leadership gifts.
Reunion fundraising reached $22.4 million from 1,360 alumni (including $1.6 million through the Skidmore Fund and 28% participation)—breaking 17 class records and 7 Reunion records.

History of Skidmore College

The history of Skidmore reflects a tradition of dynamic leadership, high aspiration, and corresponding achievement. Founded in 1903 by Lucy Skidmore Scribner as the Young Women’s Industrial Club of Saratoga to provide a practical education for women that would also be infused with the liberal arts, the school rapidly developed into a thriving enterprise: it was chartered in 1911 by the New York Board of Regents as the Skidmore School of Arts and then in 1922 as Skidmore College. In 1971, Skidmore became one of the first women’s colleges to make a successful conversion to coeducation. During this time, the campus relocated from its downtown location to its current site on the former Greenlawn estate, enabling an expansive and purposeful modern campus situated in a beautiful natural setting.

EEO Statement

Skidmore College is committed to being an inclusive campus community and, as an Equal Opportunity Employer, does not discriminate in its hiring or employment practices on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, national or ethnic origin, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, predisposition or carrier status, domestic violence victim status, familial status, dating violence, or stalking, or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Employment at Skidmore College is contingent upon an acceptable background check result.

Benefits

Skidmore College offers a highly competitive benefits package that meets the needs of staff and faculty and their families. Click here for more benefits information:

Contact Information

To explore this superb career opportunity on a highly confidential basis, send your résumé and a letter of interest, along with a list of your top four (4) references (who will be contacted only if mutual interest is determined) to:

Doug Cooney, Executive Search Consultant, DEERFIELD ASSOCIATES Executive Search, Inc.
572 Washington Street, Suite 15, Wellesley, MA 02482 Telephone: 781-237-2800.
Email: [email protected]