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Director of Pipeline and Relationship Management

Categories: University Advancement

Position TitleDirector of Pipeline and Relationship Management

About the University

Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

About the Department

he Division of University Advancement supports Western's mission (https://president.wwu.edu/mission-strategic-plan) , which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. University Advancement works internally and with numerous colleagues across campus, and is actively engaged in moving forward the University’s mission through supporting core themes, specifically advancing inclusive success. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

The Division of University Advancement (https://foundation.wwu.edu/advancement-staff) is comprised of 60+ staff members who support the engagement, philanthropy, communications and marketing work of the University. The five leadership units are: communications and marketing; major giving, planned giving and corporate/foundation relations; advancement data services, research and annual giving; engagement including donor relations, alumni and constituent relations, and career services; finance, accounting and administration. Current fundraising efforts are focused on the university’s top priority, scholarships to support student recruitment and retention. University Advancement's main offices are on Western's campus in Bellingham.

The Foundation for WWU and Alumni (https://foundation.wwu.edu/) oversees assets of nearly $150 million and is responsible for the outreach and engagement to over 150,000 alumni and friends of the institution. The Foundation is governed by a board of over 30 volunteers who help set strategic direction and policy, raise friends and funds, and steward the community of donors and potential donors.

About the Position

The Director of Pipeline and Relationship Management (PRM) at Western Washington University reports directly to the Assistant Vice President of Advancement Services and holds a pivotal position in supporting the university's fundraising efforts. In this role, the Director takes charge of overseeing the institutional portfolio pipeline, leveraging cutting-edge relationship management best practices, and implementing innovative technologies to offer data-informed observations and recommendations to achieve revenue goals. Collaborating closely with the Associate Vice President of Development, the Director also assumes responsibility for managing protocols, data, and reporting, ensuring seamless coordination within the advancement team.

Major Duties:

50% Pipeline Optimization and Prospect Qualification

+ Identify opportunities to optimize gift officer portfolios and make data-informed recommendations to maximize performance and focus on high priority donors aligned with fundraising priorities.

+ Stay up to date on activities, initiatives, and programs to proactively target identification efforts and ensure the institutional donor pipeline is aligned with portfolio needs and revenue goals.

+ Lead UA's prospect qualification efforts, driving lead generation and establishing best practices and protocols for successful program implementation.

+ Undertake financial analysis of leads' and donors' known wealth indicators to assess potential philanthropic capacity.

30% Strategic Goal Setting

+ Partner with UA leadership to set short and long-term goals for the PRM program, ensuring alignment with UA's fundraising objectives.

+ Develop an analytical framework for PRM to understand fundraising activity and provide data-driven guidance and recommendations that support fundraising goals.

+ Use analytics and visual dashboards to provide UA leadership with key information and actionable recommendations on relationship management, campaign solicitation forecasting, and benchmarking using strategic data points.

20% Data-driven Fundraising and Oversight:

+ Provide data and analytics to evaluate the health of the pipeline, optimize fundraising efforts, and support the objectives and goals of pipeline development.

+ Accomplish department objectives by managing research department staff, establishing short-term and long-term plans and goals, and providing oversight of the PRM team.

+ Maintain awareness of best practices and current issues within the advancement profession and WWU's peer institutions to adapt the strategic vision of the Pipeline and Relationship Management team.

Measures of Success:

+ PRM has a framework that provides the development team with data-informed analysis and recommendations at all levels.

+ Gift Officers meet their baseline goals for visits and open proposals through a healthy and robust managed pipeline.

+ PRM focuses on impactful projects that support UA and individual gift officers in meeting their revenue goals.

+ Collaborates with the AVP to define a robust pool of leads, which is then refined and optimized to ensure UA meets its fundraising goals.

+ New potential donors are identified to support major gift, qualification, and mid-level giving efforts.

+ All development metric reports are accurate and completed in a timely manner.

Required Qualifications

+ Bachelor's degree and five years of experience in prospect research, targeted-based searches, or related fields.

+ Proficiency in data analytics, database usage, and fundraising analytics.

+ Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to express ideas clearly.

Preferred Qualifications

+ Experience in non-profit, higher education, legal, medical or other relevant setting with preference to direct experience in the advancement/development field.

+ Supervisory experience with management of direct reports.

Conditions of EmploymentAll employees must comply with our Immunization policies, includingProof of Rubeola Measles Immunity (https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U1300.01-Requiring-Proof-Of-Rubeola-Measles-Immunity) within 60-days of hire. Please reach out [email protected] you need information regarding medical or religious exemption and applicable accommodations.

Salary Hiring range is $88,935 - $102,277/year depending on qualifications and experience. Through longevity position tops out at $115,616/year.

Benefits Information

Benefits Overview for Administrative Professional Position (https://hr.wwu.edu/files/2022-01/Benefits%20-%20Professional%20Staff.pdf) .

Application Instructions

Application materials should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications.

Western Washington University is being assisted with this search by Another Source. To apply, please visit:Director of Pipeline and Relationship Management

Closing Date NotesPosition closes 11/07/2025 at 11:55 pm.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity employer. In compliance with applicable laws, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, age, citizenship or immigration status, pregnancy, use of protective leave, genetic status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, creed, religion, veteran or military status, disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal (including a service animal in training) by a person with a disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law, in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU’s Policies on Prohibiting Discrimination Based on A Protected Class (https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U1600.02-Prohibiting-Discrimination-Based-on-A-Protected-Class-Interim) andProhibiting Discrimination Based on Sex (https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U1600.04-Prohibiting-Discrimination-Based-on-Sex-Interim) . Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225;360.650.3307(voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); [email protected]

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services (https://hr.wwu.edu/workplace-accommodation) ,360.650.3751or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs [email protected]. The report can be found at:Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (https://studentaffairs.wwu.edu/annual-security-and-fire-safety-report) .

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires which includes asexual misconduct background check (https://hr.wwu.edu/sexual-misconduct-background-checks) .

Job no: 502685

Advertised: Oct 09 2025 08:00 Pacific Daylight Time

Applications close: Nov 07 2025 23:55 Pacific Standard Time