Charitable giving made most meaningful.

http://development.mit.edu/

The Office of Resource Development of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has exclusively retained Major, Lindsey & Africa to conduct the search for a Senior Philanthropic Advisor position. All resumes should be sent directly to the recruiter who contacted you, or to Major Lindsey & Africa via email at mit@mlaglobal.com. Interested candidates may also contact the recruiters conducting the search, Martha Fay Africa at mafrica@mlaglobal.com or 415-956-1475 or Nancy Reiner at nreiner@mlaglobal.com at 617-345-4080 ext. 246. Please do not contact our client directly; all resumes sent to MIT will be routed to MLA for handling and will create unnecessary delays. Thank you.

Summary

Job Title: Senior Philanthropic Advisor

Client: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s mission is to advance knowledge and educate students in science and technology, and other areas of scholarship that will serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. The Institute is committed to direct involvement in solving the world’s great challenges, and to enabling each member of the MIT community to develop the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of the world. Admitting its first students in 1865, today MIT is a world-class educational institution. Teaching and research – with relevance to the practical world as a guiding principle – continues to be its primary

purposes. MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. Its five schools and one college encompass 34 academic departments, divisions, and degree-granting programs, as well as numerous interdisciplinary centers, laboratories, and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries. MIT research fuels America’s innovation economy, giving rise to thousands of patents and companies as a result. With a global reach, MIT is engaged in collaborative educational and research projects throughout the world.

Location: Cambridge, MA

Compensation: Competitive

Experience: 15+ years of experience advising donors and/or donees, particularly high net worth individual donors and their foundations, trusts, and estates, on the issues and legal and financial vehicles of philanthropic, mission-driven giving.

Reloc: Yes

Position Description:

The Office of Resource Development is responsible for all private support from individuals, corporations, and foundations to the Institute. The Senior Philanthropic Advisor will report to the Associate Vice President of Resource Development with strategic direction from the Vice President of Resource Development and will be responsible for helping high net worth donors understand how they can fulfill their philanthropic goals and ambitions through charitable gifts to MIT. The individual selected will provide personally tailored advice to prospective donors and professionally sophisticated assistance to donors’ advisors, personal representatives, lawyers and banks, with the goal of generating gifts to MIT through trusts, annuities, bequests, and other complex methods of giving. Fulfillment of these

responsibilities will require full knowledge of the range of giving instruments such as charitable gift annuities (CGA), charitable remainder trusts (CRT), charitable lead trusts (CLT), pooled income funds, estates, and wills.

Candidates should have in-depth knowledge of family foundations for donors who wish to keep their gifted capital intact while making periodic annual distributions and retaining administrative control. For donors who approach philanthropy with impact in mind, this individual will provide expertise and strategic advice to assist donors in crafting a development plan. This individual will also work with donors to understand their tax profiles, trust and estate plans, charitable aspirations, and wealth transfer plans to achieve their goals and benefit MIT. Providing advice in the development of highly complex gift agreements for donors capable of very large gifts to the Institute, as well as working with donors on their estate planning to fashion appropriate and flexible language for gifts whose timing is unpredictable will also be part of this executive’s portfolio.

Meeting with and soliciting potential individual donors both on and off campus either operating independently or as part of a team is expected in this role. This individual will work closely with MIT’s Office of the General Counsel on significant legal judgments and will connect appropriate MIT offices to donors’ attorneys, trust officers, and tax advisors in completing gift arrangements.

Required Experience:

 J.D. from a well-regarded ABA accredited law school

 Prior professional experience which demonstrates passion for a global mission with worldwide impact

 A minimum of 15 years working with individual donors, estates, and trusts of high net worth clients

 Demonstrated ability to relate well with a widely varied age group of donors

 Writing and public speaking skills; strong analytic and problem

solving skills

 Professional level competence in charitable giving, estate planning and financial planning, with the ability to explain legal and financial complexity in plain words.

 Strong interpersonal ability as well as the professional competence to work well with senior officers, faculty, staff, donors, lawyers, brokers, accountants and bankers

 Negotiation skills.

Desired Traits and Experience:

 Creativity coupled with patience, enthusiasm and pragmatism

 International perspective and experience

 Entrepreneurial

 Deep curiosity regarding others as well as a tolerance for eccentricity and ambiguity

 Initiative tempered with judgment and restraint where called for

What you should do next if you fit all or part of the profile above:

Please send your resume to either or both of the recruiters listed in the first paragraph of the first page along with a brief note about yourself describing the relevance of your background. We will respond as quickly as we can and we welcome your questions about the position and our client.