Director of Advancement

ABOUT RISHIHOOD UNIVERSITY

Rishihood is India's first national transformation university. It prepares learners to solve the big problems of tomorrow. Our transformative education is built on three pillars:

1. Personal Impact – developing physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength.

2. Professional Impact – building real-world skills through industry-integrated, practice-based learning.

3. Public Impact – fostering interdisciplinary thinking and a commitment to nation-building.

At Rishihood, we nurture leaders who will transform themselves, their professions, and the nation.

POSITION | Director

The Director is responsible for philanthropic strategy, institutional fundraising, and long-term endowment building at the university.

Reporting to the CEO and working closely with the Board of Founders, the Director of Advancement will be responsible for designing and executing a comprehensive fundraising architecture, spanning individual philanthropy, institutional grants, corporate partnerships, and endowment corpus development, while building the systems, relationships, and culture that allow Rishihood to fund its next phase of growth sustainably.

This is a Mumbai based role with significant travel, both domestic and international, for donor engagement, diaspora outreach, and institutional partnership development.

Rishihood University is entering its next phase of institutional growth. Since its formal inauguration in late 2021, the institution has:

· Achieved stability in operations, programs, and campus culture

· Built a strong, mission-aligned team and growing student base

· Established credibility with policymakers, industry leaders, and philanthropists

· Initiated endowed schools and long-term institutional partnerships

The next phase requires:

· A structured, professionally managed advancement function built to institutional scale

· A long-term endowment strategy capable of funding Rishihood's schools, research centres, and scholarships sustainably

· Sophisticated donor cultivation and stewardship, across India, the US, the UK, and the Gulf

· The financial discipline and investment mindset to manage corpus growth, gift structuring, and institutional capital

The Director of Advancement will build this function from a strong but early-stage foundation into a world-class advancement operation..

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

1. Fundraising Strategy and Execution

a. Design and own Rishihood's multi-year fundraising strategy, including annual giving, major gifts, endowments, grants, and corporate partnerships

b. Set and deliver ambitious but credible fundraising targets in consultation with the leadership team

c. Build and maintain a live, tiered pipeline of prospective donors including HNIs, family offices, foundations, diaspora networks, and institutional funders

d. Lead the conversion of warm relationships into structured philanthropic commitments, from first conversation to gift closure

e. Identify and pursue institutional grants from foundations, bilateral agencies, and government schemes relevant to Rishihood's mission

2. Donor Cultivation and Stewardship

a. Build deep, long-term relationships with existing and prospective donors — approaching each relationship as a decade-long institutional partnership, not a transactional ask

b. Design and execute a systematic stewardship programme - reporting, recognition, impact documentation, and ongoing engagement, for all donors at every tier

c. Lead Rishihood's engagement with high-net-worth individuals and family offices in India, the US (particularly the South Asian diaspora), the UK, and the Gulf

d. Partner with the Chancellor, CEO, and VC on high-stakes donor conversations where institutional leadership access is required

3. Endowment and Corpus Development

a. Build the strategy and roadmap for Rishihood's long-term endowment corpus including naming gifts, school endowments, chair endowments, and scholarship funds

b. Work with legal and financial advisors to structure gifts appropriately including cash, securities, real estate, planned giving, and international transfers

c. Develop a framework for corpus management and investment oversight in partnership with the Governing Body and finance function

d. Track global best practices in university endowment management and apply them to Rishihood's context

4. Institutional and Corporate Partnerships

a. Identify and develop corporate partnerships that go beyond CSR, building relationships with companies that have a strategic interest in education, leadership, research, or national development

b. Structure multi-year partnership agreements with clear institutional value on both sides

c. Engage with foundations, bilateral programmes, and multilateral institutions for project-based and programme-level funding

5. Advancement Systems and Team Building

a. Build and lead the Advancement team including major gifts officers, grants writers, database managers, and stewardship coordinators

b. Implement a professional CRM and donor management system to manage pipeline, reporting, and relationship history at scale

c. Establish rigorous reporting systems, dashboards, pipeline reviews, and Board-level advancement reports

d. Create the internal culture and processes that make advancement a serious, well-resourced, professionally run function

6. Events, Visits, and Diaspora Engagement

a. Design and execute high-impact donor events (in India and internationally) that deepen relationships, showcase Rishihood's impact, and move prospects through the pipeline

b. Lead Rishihood's annual US, UK, and Gulf visits with a clear fundraising and relationship strategy built around each trip

c. Build Rishihood's presence within influential diaspora networks such as IIT alumni associations, South Asian professional networks, community foundations, and giving circles.

Qualifications & Experience

• Master's degree required; PhD preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in institutional fundraising, investment banking, financial services, or a combination with a demonstrated track record of raising significant institutional capital or closing large, complex transactions
• Experience working with HNIs, family offices, and institutional investors and an instinct for how high-net-worth individuals think about capital, legacy, and long-term commitment
• Prior experience in university advancement, development, or philanthropy strongly preferred or equivalent experience raising funds for institutions, not just commercial clients
• The ability to build and manage a pipeline with the same rigour that a banker would manage a deal book - tracking relationships, managing timelines, and knowing when to push and when to wait
• Deep understanding of gift structuring, endowment design, and philanthropic vehicles, including Indian and international tax and legal considerations
• Exceptional written and verbal communication and the ability to write a compelling case for support, hold a nuanced donor conversation, and represent Rishihood credibly at the highest levels
• A genuine belief in Rishihood's mission. This role requires the conviction to ask people to invest in something they may not fully understand yet, and the ability to make them understand it
• High integrity, long-term thinking, and the patience to cultivate relationships over years, not quarters