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Executive Brief

Vice-President, Advancement
Dalhousie University

January 2024
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Office of Advancement

The Office of Advancement works to build and strengthen relationships with Dalhousie’s alumni, donors and friends. They discover and highlight shared interests, secure support for the university and work to increase connections with Dal’s worldwide community of 150,000 alumni.

Dalhousie’s Office of Advancement is responsible for all fundraising and alumni engagement activities at the University. A growing team of over 100 professionals cultivates relationships with alumni and friends of the university and works with donors to help them achieve personal fulfilment through philanthropic investment.

Initiatives supported include projects related to student supports and scholarships; health and medical research; transformative health care; precision agriculture, smart farming, and food security; advanced battery storage and climate technologies; social innovation and entrepreneurship; supporting the growth of digital technologies and industries; our expanding commitment to ocean research and the environment; and, of course, strengthening equity, diversity, and inclusion across the university.

New Commitments by Gift Designations: FY2022
New Commitment and Donor Distribution: FY2022
New Commitments by Gift Level: FY2018–FY2022

The Vice-President, Advancement portfolio is comprised of four departmental units: Alumni & External Engagement; Advancement Operations; Development; and the Vice-President’s Office/Administration.

Dalhousie receives funding from hundreds of distinct organizations representing a rich array of public, private, and non-profit partners from across Nova Scotia, Canada, and the world. Alumni and current and prospective donors are another critical source of support.

The mission of the Office of Advancement is to deepen the university’s affinity with its alumni and friends through compelling communication and proactive engagement, motivating them to invest in Dalhousie’s vision of the future.

The vision for the Office of Advancement is to be a high-performance university advancement team that achieves outstanding results by inspiring others to provide Dalhousie University with the means to meet and exceed its goals.


Organizational Chart

Alumni Engagement

Engagement team members support, enable collaboration, inspire loyalty, and recognize alumni and friends.  This is accomplished through a variety of activities and programs, including: events, networking, celebration, volunteerism, donor appreciation, alumni benefits, philanthropy, reputation building, brand pride and awards. The work of the engagement team encourages alumni and friends to move through Dalhousie’s Engagement Development Model.

With over 155,000 alumni around the globe, the team collaborates closely with colleagues in the Office of Government & Global Relations, Faculties and units to support the internationalization of Dalhousie.

This unit is also responsible for the Annual Fund. Examples of this team’s work includes executing on over 30 annual campaigns each year, the work of the digital engagement team, Project Dal, special projects, class projects, and reunion projects.

Advancement Marketing and Communications sits within this team supporting the needs of the fundraising team to develop tools and supports with the goal of creating compelling narratives to support fundraising and stewardship.

Advancement Operations

The Advancement Operations team supports the Office of Advancement in overseeing technology infrastructure, core services, and data management for fundraising and engagement. It consists of four sub-teams: Business Intelligence, Platform, Contribution, and Constituent. The Business Intelligence team addresses information needs and designs reports. The Platform team ensures smooth application usage and manages implementation, maintenance, support, change management, and training for Advancement applications. The Contribution team administers donor gifts, including data entry, tax receipts, and donor commitment management. The Constituent team maintains accurate data records of individuals and organizations supporting the institution, ensuring data integrity through input, updates, cleaning, and deduplication processes. Overall, the Advancement Operations team contributes to maintaining accurate donor data, enabling data-driven decision-making, and supporting the university's fundraising and development goals.

Development

The Development team works in collaboration with colleagues in the Office of Advancement to raise major and principal gifts for the university. This includes working with prospective donors, managing campaigns, and overseeing fund development in the areas of legacy giving, major gifts, principal gifts, and comprehensive fundraising campaigns. Dalhousie has had significant success in its fundraising campaigns over the last several years as seen through the $280 million Bold Ambitions Campaign which concluded in 2013.  The current comprehensive campaign is in the quiet (pre-launch) phase, with an ambitious goal greater than any previous campaign in Atlantic Canada history.

Vice-President’s Office/Administration

The VP office team work closely with the Vice-President on operational priorities, key initiatives, and special projects of critical importance to Dalhousie donors, the Office of Advancement, and the university.

The Administration team oversees campaign management, talent, finance, administration, compliance, and pan-Advancement strategies, and the overall integration of Advancement’s work.

Status highlights of the comprehensive fundraising campaign

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