Manager, Research & Prospect Development

 Position: Manager, Research & Prospect Development

Location: London, Ontario

Position Type: Full-time, temporary contract of 13 months with a target start date of December 8, 2025

Hiring Range: $74,800 - $ 93,551 

Application Deadline: Thursday, November, 20, 2025, at 11:59PM.

 

About Ivey Business School:

Ivey Business School acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lunaapéewak, and Attawandaron peoples, where Western University and Ivey Business School are located. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous peoples, whom we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of the community.

Ivey Business School (www.ivey.ca) at Western University (www.uwo.ca) is Canada’s leading provider of real-world, case-based business education. Drawing on extensive research and business experience, Ivey’s faculty provides the best classroom experience, equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and capabilities they need to confidently take on today’s leadership challenges and opportunities through Case-Method Learning. Ivey offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as Executive Education at campuses in London, Toronto, and Hong Kong.

The Advancement department plays a pivotal role in nurturing enduring relationships which foster meaningful engagement, financial support, advocacy and leadership among alumni and other stakeholders globally. The development team, within the Advancement department, raises philanthropic and sponsorship support for Ivey, generally raising over $15 million annually.

Position Overview:

As the Manager, Research and Prospect Development, you are a strategic partner in Ivey’s fundraising and engagement efforts. You manage the research operations on stakeholders, stakeholder groups and issues of strategic importance to the School As a result your work will enhance the ability of Advancement staff, senior faculty and administrators to successfully acquire support for the activities of the School, as well as to contribute to the School’s intellectual capital on key business markets and issues. You facilitate the prospect management function of the Advancement database, including data storage, data reporting, data analysis, and assist in the dissemination of reports on prospect pipelines, alumni engagement, campaign/project progress and fundraising programs. Further, you oversee several coordinated processes between teams, such as prospect identification for meetings like trip planning and prospect clearance within Ivey and at Western. You exercise your leadership abilities in the management and supervision of a Research Officer. You are detailed, resourceful and can work independently, while being flexible and responsive to last minute requests and deadlines.

Responsibilities:

 Research and Prospect Identification 

• Manage the systems and procedures that meet, and exceed, the research and information needs of Advancement staff and other members of the School, such as the Dean, the Associate Deans and faculty, in preparation for contacting, cultivating and soliciting major gift prospects (individuals, corporations, and other organizations, such as foundations).

• Research and assess major gift prospects by analyzing individuals and corporate entities for: connections to Ivey and to other organizations; giving potential, and propensity to donate in order to establish priorities and strategies for the successful solicitation of donors.
• Oversee and participate in the preparation of detailed and up-to-date research briefings on prospects and/or groups of prospects for development staff, senior faculty and administrators, in advance of calls and events in order to obtain optimal outcomes.
• Devise strategies for identifying new prospects (alumni, individuals, corporations and foundations) in order to ensure the ongoing development, expansion and renewal of the prospect base, to which the School will turn for current and future support.
• Discover and evaluate prospective donors and their interests, relationships, inclination to give and philanthropic capacity to inform and support Ivey’s fundraising strategies and outreach efforts
• Complete any special projects related to Research including requests from senior leaders, the Dean’s Office, or other Advancement staff. These requests may relate to business intelligence, fundraising, alumni engagement, or other, such as research for Intouch magazine. 
• Develop “best practice” prospect research by keeping abreast of developments and trends in prospect research through a variety of means including professional associations, social media, printed material, and internal and external meetings and training sessions.
• Manage Operations information resources, including identifying and selecting sources of information and information vendors.

 Prospect Management 

• Manage, track and assist on reporting Ivey’s Advancement activities with our constituents and prospect pool 
• Support Director, Advancement Operations in developing and enhancing the prospect management portion of the Advancement database, including formulating processes that optimize data storage, capture and retrieval of prospect information such as major gift solicitation activity, tracking relationships, strategies and proposals.
• Oversee trip coordination with Ivey Advancement as it relates to prospect research and pipeline review and Western Advancement to ensure communication and coordination around senior leadership travel at Western and Ivey. 
• Manage information exchange and coordination of prospects with Western Advancement (Western Clearance Process)
• Actively strategize to assign prospect capacity ratings through the manual manipulation of vendor-generated or internally developed scores.
• Make recommendations to positively influence fundraising and engagement activity.

Data Analytics and Reporting 

• Support an information driven culture by deriving conclusions and identifying trends through statistical analysis of internal and external data.
• Prepare data reports and conduct analysis for various requests from internal or external teams at Ivey, such as prospect reports/analysis, metrics for measuring alumni engagement, data modelling, or other requests from stakeholders for insights on alumni data.
• Coordinate with Director, Advancement Operations and other Advancement team members and areas (Records, Gift Processing) to optimize data storage and reporting, work to ensure an efficient and responsive customer-service approach to requests from Advancement, as well as the Dean’s Office and senior leadership.

Training, Work Delegation and Output Monitoring 

• Recruit, hire, supervise and mentor a Western University Master of Library & Information Science Co-Op student placement in prospect research (approximately 2 per year)
• Instruct and review the work of Advancement student assistants, as required.
• Assist in training Advancement staff on the topics of Prospect Research and Prospect Management, including reports and database structures and coding, as required.

Qualifications: 

Education and Experience: 

• A university degree, preferably a master’s degree in Library & Information Science.
• Minimum of 4 years’ experience in a research environment, preferably in a university advancement department. 

Skills and Abilities: 

• The ideal candidate is a team-oriented individual with strong customer service and communication skills, including a strong ability to edit documents for formatting, spelling, grammar, and sentence structure errors. They work under pressure well and thrive in an environment with multiple deadlines and goals. They are highly organized and resourceful.
• Demonstrate ability to analyze and synthesize data from a wide variety of sources, and present the resulting information in a clear briefing.
• Demonstrate a sense of initiative and inquisitiveness, and is a strategic, creative thinker with excellent prioritization and multi-tasking skills.
• Display and demonstrate overall knowledge of philanthropy, fundraising processes and prospect development initiatives including prospect identification techniques, research practices and prospect management.
• Be proficient in the methods of information acquisition, including use of industry standard online sources (IWave, CharityCan, ProQuest, Lexis-Nexis, Factiva, internet searching).
• Be proactive in anticipating and researching information related to the immediate priorities of the Advancement team.
• Demonstrate initiative in researching new sources of information, as they become necessary and/or available.
• Possess the ability to organize and manage a diverse range of assignments and projects with high efficiency, yet thorough attention to detail and follow through.
• Have knowledge and understanding of the North American business environment and corporate management structures.
• Must be flexible and adaptable to new programs in an emerging and changing environment.
• Experience with, Salesforce, Blackbaud or similar relational database system.
• Possess competence in a variety of Microsoft computer applications, including database, spreadsheet and word processing programs, and an interest in learning new programs.
• Possess competence in developing reporting systems.
• Knowledge of relevant government legislation and industry guidelines (APRA Statement of Ethics, Donor Bill of Rights, privacy legislations).
• Be able to handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately and with discretion.
• Have basic familiarity and appreciation of the mission, purpose and values of a comprehensive university and its responsiveness to the educational and research requirements of a sophisticated international business community.

What We Offer:

• A bright, inclusive, and modern eco-friendly working environment
• A collaborative and engaging work culture
• Opportunity to join a community of people-focused professionals
• Market competitive compensation 
• Benefits package with employer-paid premiums and no waiting period
• Enhanced mental health benefits coverage and resources
• 15 days per year vacation plus 2 paid Ivey Personal Days
• Paid time off during the School’s December holiday closure
• Numerous campus-wide arts, culture, and sport events
• Employee Assistance Program with family coverage

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Ivey

Ivey Business School is committed to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Please explore Ivey’s EDI homepage for more information on Ivey's commitment to EDI, to read about Ivey’s progress in the EDI Update, and to meet Ivey’s EDI Advisory Council members.

Ivey Business School invites applications from all qualified individuals. Ivey is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace, and welcomes applications from women, members of racialized groups/visible minorities, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation, and persons of any gender identity or gender expression.

Accommodation
Prior to the next step in the recruiting process, we welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any accommodations in order to participate fully in our recruitment experience. Please contact us at careers@ivey.ca to notify us of any needs related to completing the job application, and/or throughout the recruitment process.

Application:

If you're excited about joining Canada's leading business school and meet the qualifications, please submit your resume and cover letter via the Ivey Careers page by the application deadline.

*Please note only selected candidates will be contacted.


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