Temporary, full-time position (07/07/2025 to 07/07/2028)

Guelph, ON

Do you have a passion for building meaningful relationships that make a difference in the lives of animals, people, and the environment? Are you a driven fundraiser ready to take the next step in your advancement career at one of the world’s top veterinary schools?

The University of Guelph is seeking a Development Manager to join the Advancement team at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), a global leader in veterinary education and research. In this role, you’ll engage alumni, grateful clients, corporations, and friends to inspire support for the College’s top priorities, from student scholarships to capital projects and groundbreaking research.

As part of the Alumni Affairs and Development division, you’ll personally lead major gift cultivation and stewardship efforts, building a pipeline of donors ready to shape the future of animal and human health. You’ll collaborate closely with faculty, senior leadership, and advancement colleagues to bring the OVC’s ambitious vision to life, guided by values of integrity, collaboration, and lifelong relationship-building.

If you’re a strategic communicator, self-starter, and team player with a heart for animal welfare and a flair for fundraising, this could be the opportunity that connects your passion to lasting impact.

Your key responsibilities will include:

The Development Manager supports OVC’s Healthy Futures Strategic Plan and is primarily focused on developing OVC’s major gift pipeline. More specifically:

• Identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors and prospects through the fundraising cycle.

• Maintaining a personal prospect portfolio of 80-100 cleared donors/prospects, undertaking 10-15 face-to-face meetings per month with donors/prospects.
• Preparing briefing materials to support Senior Administration (President, VPs, AVPs, Dean) fundraising activity.
• Collaborating with the Director of Advancement, the Dean, Associate Director, Philanthropy, the Senior Development Manager, and other internal partners to identify university priorities that will resonate with donors, e.g., scholarships, sponsorships, and capital projects.
• Creating and presenting materials to advance fundraising asks, such as generic cases for support to more customized proposals.
• Negotiating the closure of major gifts, including the creation of gift agreements and other supporting documentation.

• Actively develop the OVC planned giving pipeline working in partnership with the OVC Director, Associate Director, and the University of Guelph’s Gift Planning Manager.

We believe that fundraising is a team sport, and collaboration with colleagues in the broader OVC External Relations and Alumni Affairs, and Development teams is essential for success.

Requirements

• An undergraduate degree and a minimum of two (2) years fundraising experience (with preference for experience in major gift fundraising), or you have attained an equivalent combination of education and experience that has prepared you for this next step in your career.
• Ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and professional development.
• Self-starter and action-oriented, motivated by deadlines and measurable outcomes.
• You approach new challenges with integrity, tenacity, and patience.
• You think and act quickly and effectively under pressure, exercising tact, diplomacy, discretion, good judgment, and with a high degree of self-awareness of your own implicit bias.
• Track record of working successfully as part of a team in a fast-paced, complex environment.
• You interact effectively with senior executives in the corporate community.
• Strong writer, and you can present complex ideas with clarity, emotion, and brevity in writing as well as in person.
• You adapt readily to new technology and are proficient use of Microsoft Office Suite and donor databases and/or CRM systems

If you have a passion for animal welfare and/or a background in animal, medical, or healthcare charities, that would be a tremendous asset and will contribute to your success and satisfaction in this role

NOTE: The University has adopted a policy relative to flexible work arrangements. This appointment is regularly performed on campus but is eligible for a flexible work arrangement under the terms of this policy.

The University of Guelph (www.uoguelph.ca) is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive comprehensive institutions, with a record of outstanding scholarship in the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences, physical and engineering sciences, agriculture, and veterinary sciences. This is your chance to join us in our endeavor to improve life. 

To view a detailed posting for the role of Development Manager, please go to our website at https://careers.uoguelph.ca/.

At the University of Guelph, fostering a culture of inclusion is an institutional imperative. The University invites and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in employment, who may contribute to further diversification of our Institution.