For a university and its president, hiring a Vice President of Advancement isn't just another leadership search. A strong VP is an imperative, with budgets tight and the funding landscape extremely competitive in higher education. The right person can enable, or hinder, strategic initiatives critical to your institution and its goals.
We’ve seen the best colleges and universities struggle when hiring a vice president. On the other hand, those that approach the process with intention, preparation, and a proactive recruiting strategy are far more likely to identify and secure a truly difference‑making executive.
The following are best practices we've witnessed over many years and many searches. Allow us to frame this article with the help of a few great Motown artists whose songs echoed through our minds as we wrote:
- Get Ready (The Temptations)
- Reach Out (Four Tops)
- Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder)
An abbreviated version of this article was originally published in University Business. Permission to republish has been granted.
Get Ready
Before you begin reaching out, set the stage.
Know your fundraising priorities and goals. Conduct a needs assessment to inform the type of leader to look for. Consider hiring an outside consultant who can analyze some or hopefully all of the following components of your advancement program: your fundraising team and their effectiveness, your donor pipeline, overall productivity, peer institutions, market trends, campaign readiness, and technology. See these findings and goals as instructional rather than imperative—candidates will appreciate them as long as they can (if hired, and with the president) continue to shape them in the future.
Assemble a lean, mean search committee. Eye six or seven members, preferably a trustee or two, two cabinet members, one faculty member or dean (an academic representative), and one alum. You may wish to have one experienced member of the Advancement team serve on the committee. However, you will need to communicate very clearly that this person's perspective is valued as part of the process, but they will not be electing their boss.
Assemble a lean, mean search committee. Eye six or seven members, preferably a trustee or two, two cabinet members, one faculty member or dean (an academic representative), and one alum. You may wish to have one experienced member of the Advancement team serve on the committee. However, you will need to communicate very clearly that this person's perspective is valued as part of the process, but they will not be electing their boss.
Establish salary and compensation parameters. Salary negotiations often derail an Advancement leadership search late in the process. Be proactive and establish what you're willing to offer. Good advancement leaders carry a high price tag, making sticker shock a real possibility; even institutions who believe they present a "unique" opportunity still need to meet market expectations. Seek guidance from compensation experts to benchmark and build a competitive package for top candidates.
Craft a comprehensive leadership profile. Include the responsibilities and expectations for the role but also an overview of organizational structure, strategic planning, current or future campaign plans, and other key details. Good candidates want to know whether the role and timing are right for them.
Cast a wide net. Consider the range of candidates to target. This includes discussions of credentials but also mission alignment and affinity for the institution. Be open-minded and avoid painting yourself into a corner. For example, some search committees say, "We want an alum," which severely limits the applicant pool. We recommend against this limitation. (And, in our experience, being an alum is not a determinant of success in advancement leadership.)
Anticipate and formulate answers to questions leading candidates will ask. Some key questions include:
- What has and hasn't worked in past advancement and development efforts?
- What is the president's preferred role in fundraising? What are current strategic priorities and how will they be funded?
- What exciting new initiatives are underway that will drive a fundraising strategy?
- What are current Advancement resources, including human (the team) and monetary?
- Where is the institution in the campaign cycle?
Reach Out (They'll Be There)
Move quickly. Set a realistic but aggressive timeline and stick to it. In the fundraising world, top candidates often have multiple options or offers at the same time. Delay can mean missing out on the best person for the job.
Evaluate on proven success and potential impact rather than personality alone. Most Advancement leaders are people people, interview well, and can even dazzle a search committee. Look under the exterior and dig down into key performance indicators from previous roles ,and their expressed vision for what's possible at your institution. Focus on performance and substance, including:
- Have they expanded their donor base?
- Have they developed board relationships?
- Have they enhanced their team's productivity?
- What's the largest gift they've secured? Overall results?
Go beyond a candidate's reference list. Advancement leaders have robust networks and impressive references. It's critical to go further: we recommend off-list references, via interviews conducted by search consultants or experienced search committee members. It's critical to understand how a candidate's past colleagues and peers perceive them. But before you do this, always inform the candidate so that they can provide appropriate context. There are many reasons why a relationship with a former colleague may be less than perfect, and you should invite the candidate to provide some background.
Schedule campus visits for three or four candidates. The market reality is that a top candidate may decline your offer or accept a competing offer. Your institution should have several attractive finalists in the hope that more than one will be worthy of an offer.
Keep campus interviews limited and discreet. Expect visitors to meet with a few key administrators and search committee members. It may be pertinent to remind trustees, tactfully, that they're not to be involved in candidate visits except through their designated committee members. Assign a moderator to keep discussions with finalists moving and on track. Refrain from asking candidates to face an open forum or present to your Advancement team—news of their job hunt may find its way back to their home institution "through the grapevine" (note the Motown reference), a risk many candidates won't want to take.
Provide the president two to three viable options for a hire. Ultimately, the committee's charge should be to recommend a short list of acceptable candidates, leaving the final decision in the president's hands.
Higher Ground
Once you've hired the right VP of Advancement, set the table for their long-term success. (As Al Green sang, "Let's stay together.")
Get the president and Advancement leader on the same page. As we've written, the relationship between the two can make or break fundraising success. They don't need to be best friends but should be strategically aligned.
Allow the new leader grace and space. Advancement is a numbers game but focus on the new hire's long-range, aspirational goals rather than short-term successes.
Offer help in assessing and developing the fundraising team. Provide the VP resources and support for building the right fundraising team.
Engineer a few quick wins. Institutions can alleviate pressure on the new executive by helping get them in the win column. Leverage relationships with trusted donors to secure gifts to build early momentum.
Above all, embrace the opportunity. Hiring a new VP of Advancement can signal new possibilities for a campus, a chance to sing a new tune.
