The Senior Director of Events is responsible for overseeing a comprehensive and robust recognition, stewardship, and cultivation events program, including stewardship and celebration moments connected to 8-figure+ gifts, campaign priorities, and building milestones. This position works with the utmost professionalism, across multiple concurrent deadlines, to support the Division’s senior management and Dana-Farber leadership, including by directly supporting the President and CEO during events. In an environment where donor attention is increasingly fragmented and event attendance is not guaranteed, the Senior Director will provide strategic input into event programming, conceptualize innovative tactics to reach new audiences, and oversee new and ongoing event activities. Accountable for executing all events within budget, on time, and aligned with strategic goals, the Senior Director will lead a team tasked with securing the best value from vendors, collaborating with Dana-Farber departments to execute events that cross functions and audiences (donors, workforce, community) and planning and executing a robust portfolio of high-level, unique, and programmatically focused events for Trustees, donors, and prospective donors within the transformational gifts, principal gifts, major gifts, annual gifts, planned gifts, institutional, and Jimmy Fund portfolios. The Senior Director will serve as a key member of the Donor Experience & Engagement management group. Responsible for assisting the entire Division with reaching financial goals. Reports to the Assistant Vice President of Donor Experience & Engagement.
This position's work location is fully remote with occasional time on-campus in Brookline, MA. The selected candidate may only work remotely from a New England state (ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI).
Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Collaborate with the Office of the President, Senior Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Vice Presidents, and colleagues across Dana-Farber to ensure all strategic and cross-functional goals are accomplished through the execution of a robust portfolio of recognition, stewardship, and cultivation events. Serve as a trusted partner to senior leadership by providing clear options, recommendations, and decisions.
- Develop milestone-based experiences tied to major initiatives (e.g., hospital and campaign moments) that celebrate, steward, and reinforce fundraising momentum and donor confidence. Lead event strategy in response to evolving donor/consumer behaviors and event-market saturation; recommend what to stop, start, or redesign to maximize engagement and fundraising impact, with a focus on supporting the Division’s fundraising goals for the Future Cancer Hospital and other emerging campaign priorities.
- Own external vendor/agency strategy for the events portfolio: select partners, define scope and success metrics, and manage performance to protect quality, budget, and timelines. Leverage external partners to build internal capability.
- Design and oversee the consistent implementation of project management tools to aid in the successful planning and execution of all events.
- Manage all Division-wide policies and procedures related to recognition, stewardship, and cultivation events.
- Manage the event-related budget process for Donor Experience & Engagement; provide counsel to teams across the Division on their event budgets.
- Execute other new projects and perform additional management duties, as necessary.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Leads a team of seven staff.
- Directly supervises three Senior/Associate Directors, and shared supervision of an Assistant.
MINIMUM JOB QUALIFICATIONS:
- High school diploma or equivalent required; bachelor’s degree preferred.
- 8+ years of relevant experience leading complex event portfolios, with progressively increasing strategic and people-management responsibility.
- Demonstrated experience planning and executing philanthropy/fundraising events, including managing budgets and external vendors, preferred.
- Experience working directly with donors, volunteer leaders, and frontline fundraising teams strongly preferred. Direct report management experience required.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:
- Proven ability to think strategically and with an “enterprise-wide” mindset.
- Superior people management, leadership, and project management skills.
- Exceptional executive presence. Demonstrated ability to conceptualize, draft, and present new event concepts to senior leadership and represent the events program across departments with authority.
- Sharp attention to detail with strong editing and review capabilities.
- Demonstrated ability to manage external consultants/agencies with clear scopes, budgets, and accountability.
- Exceptional organizational skills and ability to assess and improve processes and procedures.
- Effective in working with wide audiences, including highest level of Dana-Farber constituencies.
- Strong sense of client support and success.
- Mission-driven, desire to help meet the goals of the Division of Philanthropy.
At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are committed to having faculty and staff who offer multifaceted experiences. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and compassionate professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.
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Pay Transparency Statement
The hiring range is based on market pay structures, with individual salaries determined by factors such as business needs, market conditions, internal equity, and based on the candidate’s relevant experience, skills and qualifications.
For union positions, the pay range is determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
$146,500.00 - $177,500.00
