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
Purpose
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