Since its founding in 1847, the City University of New York (CUNY) has worked to provide a high-quality, accessible education to students regardless of their background or means. The system offers dozens of academic programs taught by award-winning faculty, sports, internships, scholarships, and community service opportunities on campuses throughout New York City’s five boroughs.
The Craig Newmark School of Journalism (Newmark J-School) at CUNY strives to continue that mission by preparing the next generation of journalists for their careers. Founded in 2006 as the only publicly funded graduate school of journalism in the northeast, the School works to meet the demands of an ever-changing media industry by training its students in the latest storytelling, entrepreneurial, and technological skills along with foundational journalism skills.
To help continue this work, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark recently gave the School a historic $20 million endowment gift. The challenge now is to grow the School’s fundraising to allow it to offer more scholarships, hire additional faculty, expand course offerings, and upgrade campus facilities in the pursuit of creating the most inclusive journalism education community in the country.
The Opportunity
Reporting to the Dean, the Executive Director of Development at the Newmark J-School will design, implement, and manage fundraising efforts for the School and serve as a senior member of its leadership team. S/He will be responsible for managing a portfolio of donors and prospects, cultivating relationships that lead to the solicitation and closing of major, annual, and planned gifts. The Executive Director will also collaborate with the Dean and faculty members to develop and submit proposals, ensure appropriate scholarship matches, oversee subsequent communication between donors and students, and manage the budget and financial reporting for development activities. The ideal candidate has five to eight years of related experience and a track record of success in fundraising for major gifts. S/He should have outstanding relationship building, project management, and strategy-building skills along with creativity, entrepreneurship, and persuasion abilities.
