Vice President, Development

March 2025 | Hybrid / New York, NY
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The New Schools seeks a Vice President of Development to lead and grow all aspects of individual giving as the institution enters the next chapter of its history. 

About The New School

The New School is a new kind of university in New York City, one where scholars, artists, and designers come together to challenge convention and create positive change.

Since their founding in 1919, The New School has redrawn and redefined the boundaries of intellectual and creative thought as a preeminent academic center. With a rigorous, multidimensional approach to education, the university dissolves walls between disciplines and helps nurture progressive minds. Students have the academic freedom to shape their unique, individual paths for a complex and rapidly changing world. The New School’s mission is to prepare students to understand, contribute to, and succeed in a rapidly changing society, thus making the world a better and more just place. As a university where design and social research drive approaches to studying issues of our time, The New School seeks to provide students with the tools needed to grapple with complex problems facing society and to pursue more fluid and flexible career pathways.

With leading-edge faculty and world-renowned alumni, The New School is committed to developing students who will have an impact on the world and address the most pressing social issues of our time. A legacy of commitment to creating a more equitable, inclusive, and socially just environment continues to drive their mission and work today. 

The university, with its main campus in the heart of Greenwich Village, takes full advantage of its location in one of the most vibrant and diverse cities in the world. The New School’s colleges and graduate schools include Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, the College of Performing Arts, The New School for Social Research, the Schools of Public Engagement, and Parsons Paris.

About Philanthropy at The New School

Philanthropy plays an important role at The New School, with approximately $30m raised annually.  These donations support a wide variety of University priorities with a focus on those that affect student-facing efforts, including scholarships and fellowships, internship aid and accessibility, health and wellness, and emergency needs. The New School believes that when students feel supported and have their basic needs met, they can shift their focus to their passions and better immerse themselves in the university’s vibrant community, sparking lifelong connections and rewarding collaborations. Key funding areas include:

• Scholarship and Fellowships Funds: The New School’s diverse, engaged community is among its greatest strengths. The students are true changemakers, dedicated to using their intellect, skills, and interdisciplinary understanding of the world to make a difference both locally and globally. These extraordinary individuals are integral to The New School’s institutional health, and the university is deeply committed to welcoming all qualified candidates who seek a unique, rigorous academic experience, regardless of their economic circumstances.
• Scholarships and fellowships play a critical role in allowing the university to fulfill this commitment, as many students in their community would not be able to attend without substantial financial aid packages. These awards also give students peace of mind, allowing them to focus on and progress in their studies and reducing the debt burden they face upon graduation.

• Professorships and Faculty Research: The New School’s faculty consists of prominent, globally respected artists, scholars, and researchers who affect countless lives through their teaching, mentorship, and professional pursuits. Through their efforts both in and outside of the classroom, New School faculty members catalyze innovation on campus and around the world.
• Increasing the number of professorships and available research funds at The New School is essential for supporting faculty. Professorships recognize the contributions of outstanding educators and sustain their teaching and research, enabling them to convey knowledge to the next generation and develop creative solutions to improve the world.

• Interdisciplinary Centers and Institutes: Scholarly exploration and intellectual discourse have never been more vital to our society; asking complex questions is essential to unlocking global change. The New School’s centers and institutes carry forward our tradition of academic inquiry and transcend the confines of single disciplines to develop scalable solutions to many of the world’s most urgent problems.
• Members of our community collaborate to meet the challenges of the present and future, addressing topics including global migration, democracy, capitalism, and more. The New School’s centers and institutes build on the work of faculty, sponsor a variety of lectures and events, and enrich students’ educational experience by promoting bold creativity and groundbreaking scholarship. These centers and institutes provide a space for research, policy debate, and discussion among activists, artists, and innovators in all fields.

About the Position

Reporting to the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Development and Alumni Engagement (DAE), the Vice President of Development (VP) will lead efforts to increase private individual support through strategic planning and execution. Overseeing individual giving at all levels—including annual, leadership, major, and planned giving—the VP will play an active role in identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors while effectively communicating the university’s mission and values.

With a deep understanding of best practices in fundraising, the VP will foster strong, collaborative relationships within DAE and across the university. They will serve as the primary fundraising partner to the provost and other key leaders of the institution as needed.

The VP manages a dynamic fundraising team and will have five direct reports which include: the Senior Director of Development, Parsons; the Senior Director of Development, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, New School for Social Research, and School of Public Engagement; the Director of Development;  the Director of Annual Giving; and Development Associate. Additionally, they will partner with the SVP to plan team growth and will be responsible for recruiting, training, and mentoring new and existing members of the VP team.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the development of a robust individual giving program and significantly grow the pipeline of individual gifts, including annual, leadership, major, and documented planned gifts.
• Provide thought partnership to the SVP in strategizing and advancing the department’s reach and capacity, including growing the principal giving portfolio and strengthening the donor cycle for the entire department.
• Under the supervision of the SVP, design and lead Department-level initiatives and strategies that focus on improving efficiencies and outcomes across team units.
• Maintain a dynamic portfolio of high-net-worth individuals in order to secure major, capital, and planned gifts, as well as advanced annual gifts and endowment support.
• Foster an environment that cultivates trusting relationships and actively frame and communicate a clear strategic vision and fundraising plan that addresses new donor acquisition, pipeline development, cultivation of donors, and increased annual giving participation.
• Provide guidance and information on ways that fundraising can support academic development priorities and initiatives to the Provost, Deans, Center Directors, and faculty as needed.
• Partner with the Senior Director of Donor Relations to optimize the donor cycle and provide the individual giving team a robust pool of new prospects and stewardship strategy for existing donors.
• Provide decisive, innovative and forward-looking direction for a committed and talented fundraising team, ensuring through mentorship, support, tools, and clear direction that they are meeting defined expectations and metrics designed to help grow the university’s fundraising results.

Key Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressively responsible development experience at institutions of similar size, scope and complexity to the New School.
• At least five years of experience managing frontline fundraising staff.
• Experience soliciting and closing gifts at the 6-figure level with 7-figure experience preferred
• Ability to develop and articulate an aspirational philanthropic vision and strategy with realistic, measurable goals.
• Record of success in expanding and diversifying individual donor base/pipeline, major and principal gift cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Skilled at incorporating technology and using data to inform decisions and strategy.
• Diplomatic leadership style with the ability to build consensus within and across various teams and functions.
• Desire and ability to maintain productive, meaningful relationships and build philanthropic culture with all constituents – donors, potential donors, alumni, parents, students and community.
• Higher education experience is strongly preferred.
• Commitment to the mission of the New School a must.

The New School is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and particularly seeks applications from members of underrepresented groups, as well as candidates who share this commitment.

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $210,000 to $230,000. The New School is committed to providing an array of comprehensive benefits intended to meet the needs of faculty and staff and their eligible dependents.

If you are interested in being considered for this search, please use the form below to submit your cover letter and resume in confidence.

Jesse Bryan

Vice President of Executive Search

Development Guild