What are the responsibilities and job description for the Institutional Advancement Associate Director - Foundation Relations position at The University of Texas at El Paso?
Position Information
Hiring Department: Institutional Advancement
Reports To: Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations
Work Modality: Hybrid work arrangement with an onsite requirement of 16 hours per week. Institutional Advancement is seeking a candidate within a commutable distance from campus (75 miles or less).
Posting End Date: Applications will be accepted through 11:59 PM CDT on 2/25/2026.
Hours: 40 hours per week, standard Monday- Friday 8:00am- 5:00pm
FLSA status: Exempt
Earliest Start Date: As soon as possible.
Salary: $70,000 annually
Required Application Materials
Who We Want
An ambitious and dynamic leader with a proven track-record of successful proposal development and grant writing expertise to serve as the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Institutional Advancement’s (IA) Associate Director – Foundation Relations.
With curiosity and creativity, you are pleasantly persistent in achieving your goals. You know how to take an idea from inception through execution, collecting feedback along the way to constantly improve. With a positive attitude, you take pride in approaching your work with intention and a growth mindset. You must be unrelenting in your pursuit of excellence, taking smart risks, and exploring big ideas; you innovate and iterate but never compromise integrity along the way.
You also embody an unending commitment to positively contributing to our team culture; we all commit to making UTEP IA a great place to work. You have tenacious optimism and a goal-oriented, growth mindset, with the ability to remain flexible and develop creative solutions in pursuit of always maintaining forward momentum.
You thrive in a dynamic environment, continually balancing competing priorities. You have the ability to work independently and collaboratively, supporting the success of all colleagues and prioritizing UTEP’s overall goals above personal achievement.
What You’ll Do
Reporting to the Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations (CFR) , you will serve as a philanthropic partner to the campus, focusing on grants funded through private foundations, including corporate and family foundations. In this role, you will represent university-wide priorities and work to support the greatest needs of the institution in service of advancing UTEP’s mission. You will manage a diverse portfolio of major gift ($25,000 ) prospects and donors, both regionally and nationally.
You will manage UTEP’s foundation relations portfolio across the full grant lifecycle, identifying, cultivating, and stewarding relationships with foundation partners aligned with institutional priorities. This includes developing competitive proposals, coordinating internal stakeholders, and ensuring timely and accurate post-award reporting. The Associate Director plays a critical role in securing sustainable, mission-aligned foundation support for academic programs, research initiatives, student success, and community engagement.
This position is highly collaborative and outward-facing. You will work closely with academic leaders, research experts, development officers, and the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs (ORSP) to craft compelling proposals and build strong relationships with external funding partners. By aligning faculty expertise and institutional priorities with foundation interests, you will help elevate UTEP through strategic philanthropic investment.
You will lead proposal development and grant writing efforts, including identifying appropriate faculty, staff, and external partners for specific funding opportunities. You will guide projects from concept development through submission, award management, and ongoing reporting requirements, establishing clear timelines, coordinating required approvals, and maintaining a project management system to track submissions, outcomes, annual and interim reports, and next steps.
Maintaining accurate and detailed records is essential to success in this role. You will document donor and prospect interactions, contact reports, and key notes within the CRM system (Raiser’s Edge NXT), ensuring information is current and actionable. This work supports effective relationship management, informed decision-making, and coordinated engagement strategies across the advancement team.
In partnership with the Director of CFR, you will recommend and help implement policies, procedures, and best practices related to foundation grant submissions. You will manage proposal traffic to avoid conflicts, reduce donor fatigue, and maximize competitiveness, while promoting a strategic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach to foundation engagement across campus.
By supporting multi-unit and cross-disciplinary proposals when appropriate, you will help position UTEP for larger, more complex foundation awards and long-term philanthropic partnerships that advance institutional priorities.
While no two days will be the same, you can expect to spend your time identifying and strategizing philanthropic investment opportunities while building impactful, long-term relationships with internal and external partners. As part of a centralized Institutional Advancement division, you will be supported not only by your AVP and immediate team, but also by colleagues across prospect research, stewardship, alumni engagement, and communications.
About Corporate & Foundation Relations
UTEP’s Office of Corporate and Foundations Relations (CFR) serves UTEP by holistically engaging with corporations and foundations to generate new resources and opportunities for UTEP students and programs. In doing so, it is important to not only work with large global and national organizations, but to also connect with local and regional entities to broaden UTEP’s community of partners and foster economic development.
Statement Of Duties And Responsibilities
Implements directives, operational changes, programs, and policies corresponding to the division or unit.
Performs tasks as assigned using existing procedures, practices, techniques, etc.
Completes standard assignments and responsibilities and makes recommendations for improvement/efficiency, resourcing, etc., as necessary.
Uses existing procedures to solve issues that are strategic in nature.
Coordinates donor and funding efforts, services, events, programs, etc. as assigned.
May assist in the development and implementation of fundraising initiatives.
Impacts own work unit through accuracy and quality of own work.
Works within standardized functional procedures and practices to achieve objectives and meet established deadlines.
Exchanges information in a clear, concise, and straightforward manner with internal and external partners, stakeholders, alumni, constituents, and friends of the University.
Develops working relationships with various teams, units, campus partners, and external partners.
Knowledge of all Microsoft Office software and able to learn and use institutional software systems.
Complies with all State and University policies.
Other duties may be assigned; specific roles may have additional responsibilities due to the nature of the specific role/division/unit.
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
Required Qualifications
Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree OR an equivalent combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and skills can be acquired is necessary
and
Minimum Experience: Three (3) - Four (4) years of experience in corporate and/or foundation prospect identification, fundraising, grant-writing, advancement, non-profit or higher education.
Preferred Qualifications
A working understanding of a research university environment
Demonstrated success fundraising for another academic unit, youth-serving agency, business school or program
Experience using a fundraising database (we use Raiser’s Edge/NXT and FPM)
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Proficiency in Microsoft Office software and ability to learn and use institutional software systems
Advanced computer skills and demonstrated background in Internet-based research
Key Performance Indicators
Understanding how you would measure success in a role is critical to understanding if it’s a good fit. At Institutional Advancement, we believe Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) contribute not only to the overall productivity of our division but also to our team engagement. As such, we like to establish the measures of success early, consistently talk about performance, and formally review them quarterly to ensure we’re providing two-way feedback in a timely and consistent manner.
The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) For This Role
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP ) is a comprehensive public research university that is increasing access to excellent higher education. We advance discovery of public value and positively impact the health, culture, education, and economy of the community we serve.
UTEP is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 26,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 170 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
This is an especially exciting time to join UTEP as it advances the goals of its 2030 Strategic Plan . Built around the institution’s core strengths—its location, its people, its supportive culture, and its community partnerships—the plan lays out a bold vision for the next decade, aimed at maximizing the University’s regional impact and national stature.
Institutional Advancement’s Approach to Development & What We Value
Our development officers are 100% Institutional Advancement employees who are assigned to schools, colleges, or other campus units to become content experts in their unit, build a robust portfolio and pipeline of giving, and collaborate with unit leaders to develop compelling philanthropic opportunities.
With a centralized division, additional IA units provide support to each fundraiser, including annual giving, stewardship and events, prospect research, principal gifts, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving, and marketing and communications. We believe in maintaining smaller portfolios that can be worked within a reasonable time and will not tolerate prospect-hoarding that jeopardizes donor experience or institutional support. Shared credit is expected and encouraged; we value collaboration and teamwork above personal gain and convenience.
Our weighted metric system reflects the scope of influence a fundraiser has based on the stage of gift cycle and tenure in the role. New fundraisers and new hires will prioritize substantive visits over dollars raised. Over time, the weight of success will shift to proposals and dollars raised. With most of our donors located in the El Paso area, travel is generally within driving distance. We encourage our team to use whatever means are necessary to continue gift conversations and do not penalize someone for using Zoom or other means to move the conversation along.
What UTEP Offers
Miner Perks and Benefits
Additional Information
Note: To the extent that this position involves research, work, or access to critical infrastructure as referenced in Executive Order GA-48, being hired for and continuing to be employed in this position requires the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure.
The primary accountabilities are intended to describe the general content of and requirements of this position and are not intended to be an exhaustive statement of duties. Incumbents may perform all or some of the primary accountabilities listed. Specific tasks or responsibilities will be documented in the incumbents’ performance objectives as outlined by the incumbents’ immediate supervisor or manager. This position is security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education Code
While performing the duties of this job, the employee must frequently stand and walk. The employee must regularly sit; use hands to feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. The employee must lift and move up to 50pounds.
The noise level for this work environment is usually moderate.
In keeping with its access, excellence, and impact mission, The University of Texas at El Paso is committed to a learning and working environment that honors the talents, respects the differences, and nurtures the growth and development of all. We seek to attract faculty and staff who share our commitment.
The University of Texas at El Paso is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity in employment or the provision of services in accordance with state and federal law. Discrimination on the basis of sex includes an employee’s or prospective employee’s right to be free from sexual harassment under Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. Inquiries—including the filing of a Formal Complaint or reporting an incident—about the application of Title IX may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, who can be reached by phone at (915) 747-8358, by email at titleix@utep.edu , or by mail at 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX, Kelly Hall, Room 223C.
For accommodation information for employees and applicants with disabilities, please contact UTEP's Equal Opportunity Office at eoaa@utep.edu .
Hiring Department: Institutional Advancement
Reports To: Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations
Work Modality: Hybrid work arrangement with an onsite requirement of 16 hours per week. Institutional Advancement is seeking a candidate within a commutable distance from campus (75 miles or less).
Posting End Date: Applications will be accepted through 11:59 PM CDT on 2/25/2026.
Hours: 40 hours per week, standard Monday- Friday 8:00am- 5:00pm
FLSA status: Exempt
Earliest Start Date: As soon as possible.
Salary: $70,000 annually
Required Application Materials
- Resume
- Cover Letter
- List of three references
Who We Want
An ambitious and dynamic leader with a proven track-record of successful proposal development and grant writing expertise to serve as the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Institutional Advancement’s (IA) Associate Director – Foundation Relations.
With curiosity and creativity, you are pleasantly persistent in achieving your goals. You know how to take an idea from inception through execution, collecting feedback along the way to constantly improve. With a positive attitude, you take pride in approaching your work with intention and a growth mindset. You must be unrelenting in your pursuit of excellence, taking smart risks, and exploring big ideas; you innovate and iterate but never compromise integrity along the way.
You also embody an unending commitment to positively contributing to our team culture; we all commit to making UTEP IA a great place to work. You have tenacious optimism and a goal-oriented, growth mindset, with the ability to remain flexible and develop creative solutions in pursuit of always maintaining forward momentum.
You thrive in a dynamic environment, continually balancing competing priorities. You have the ability to work independently and collaboratively, supporting the success of all colleagues and prioritizing UTEP’s overall goals above personal achievement.
What You’ll Do
Reporting to the Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations (CFR) , you will serve as a philanthropic partner to the campus, focusing on grants funded through private foundations, including corporate and family foundations. In this role, you will represent university-wide priorities and work to support the greatest needs of the institution in service of advancing UTEP’s mission. You will manage a diverse portfolio of major gift ($25,000 ) prospects and donors, both regionally and nationally.
You will manage UTEP’s foundation relations portfolio across the full grant lifecycle, identifying, cultivating, and stewarding relationships with foundation partners aligned with institutional priorities. This includes developing competitive proposals, coordinating internal stakeholders, and ensuring timely and accurate post-award reporting. The Associate Director plays a critical role in securing sustainable, mission-aligned foundation support for academic programs, research initiatives, student success, and community engagement.
This position is highly collaborative and outward-facing. You will work closely with academic leaders, research experts, development officers, and the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs (ORSP) to craft compelling proposals and build strong relationships with external funding partners. By aligning faculty expertise and institutional priorities with foundation interests, you will help elevate UTEP through strategic philanthropic investment.
You will lead proposal development and grant writing efforts, including identifying appropriate faculty, staff, and external partners for specific funding opportunities. You will guide projects from concept development through submission, award management, and ongoing reporting requirements, establishing clear timelines, coordinating required approvals, and maintaining a project management system to track submissions, outcomes, annual and interim reports, and next steps.
Maintaining accurate and detailed records is essential to success in this role. You will document donor and prospect interactions, contact reports, and key notes within the CRM system (Raiser’s Edge NXT), ensuring information is current and actionable. This work supports effective relationship management, informed decision-making, and coordinated engagement strategies across the advancement team.
In partnership with the Director of CFR, you will recommend and help implement policies, procedures, and best practices related to foundation grant submissions. You will manage proposal traffic to avoid conflicts, reduce donor fatigue, and maximize competitiveness, while promoting a strategic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach to foundation engagement across campus.
By supporting multi-unit and cross-disciplinary proposals when appropriate, you will help position UTEP for larger, more complex foundation awards and long-term philanthropic partnerships that advance institutional priorities.
While no two days will be the same, you can expect to spend your time identifying and strategizing philanthropic investment opportunities while building impactful, long-term relationships with internal and external partners. As part of a centralized Institutional Advancement division, you will be supported not only by your AVP and immediate team, but also by colleagues across prospect research, stewardship, alumni engagement, and communications.
About Corporate & Foundation Relations
UTEP’s Office of Corporate and Foundations Relations (CFR) serves UTEP by holistically engaging with corporations and foundations to generate new resources and opportunities for UTEP students and programs. In doing so, it is important to not only work with large global and national organizations, but to also connect with local and regional entities to broaden UTEP’s community of partners and foster economic development.
Statement Of Duties And Responsibilities
Implements directives, operational changes, programs, and policies corresponding to the division or unit.
Performs tasks as assigned using existing procedures, practices, techniques, etc.
Completes standard assignments and responsibilities and makes recommendations for improvement/efficiency, resourcing, etc., as necessary.
Uses existing procedures to solve issues that are strategic in nature.
Coordinates donor and funding efforts, services, events, programs, etc. as assigned.
May assist in the development and implementation of fundraising initiatives.
Impacts own work unit through accuracy and quality of own work.
Works within standardized functional procedures and practices to achieve objectives and meet established deadlines.
Exchanges information in a clear, concise, and straightforward manner with internal and external partners, stakeholders, alumni, constituents, and friends of the University.
Develops working relationships with various teams, units, campus partners, and external partners.
Knowledge of all Microsoft Office software and able to learn and use institutional software systems.
Complies with all State and University policies.
Other duties may be assigned; specific roles may have additional responsibilities due to the nature of the specific role/division/unit.
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
Required Qualifications
Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree OR an equivalent combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and skills can be acquired is necessary
and
Minimum Experience: Three (3) - Four (4) years of experience in corporate and/or foundation prospect identification, fundraising, grant-writing, advancement, non-profit or higher education.
Preferred Qualifications
A working understanding of a research university environment
Demonstrated success fundraising for another academic unit, youth-serving agency, business school or program
Experience using a fundraising database (we use Raiser’s Edge/NXT and FPM)
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Proficiency in Microsoft Office software and ability to learn and use institutional software systems
Advanced computer skills and demonstrated background in Internet-based research
Key Performance Indicators
Understanding how you would measure success in a role is critical to understanding if it’s a good fit. At Institutional Advancement, we believe Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) contribute not only to the overall productivity of our division but also to our team engagement. As such, we like to establish the measures of success early, consistently talk about performance, and formally review them quarterly to ensure we’re providing two-way feedback in a timely and consistent manner.
The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) For This Role
- External contacts completed
- Number of proposals presented
- Number of proposals funded
- Dollars secured for the university
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP ) is a comprehensive public research university that is increasing access to excellent higher education. We advance discovery of public value and positively impact the health, culture, education, and economy of the community we serve.
UTEP is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 26,000 students are Hispanic, and half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 170 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
This is an especially exciting time to join UTEP as it advances the goals of its 2030 Strategic Plan . Built around the institution’s core strengths—its location, its people, its supportive culture, and its community partnerships—the plan lays out a bold vision for the next decade, aimed at maximizing the University’s regional impact and national stature.
Institutional Advancement’s Approach to Development & What We Value
Our development officers are 100% Institutional Advancement employees who are assigned to schools, colleges, or other campus units to become content experts in their unit, build a robust portfolio and pipeline of giving, and collaborate with unit leaders to develop compelling philanthropic opportunities.
With a centralized division, additional IA units provide support to each fundraiser, including annual giving, stewardship and events, prospect research, principal gifts, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving, and marketing and communications. We believe in maintaining smaller portfolios that can be worked within a reasonable time and will not tolerate prospect-hoarding that jeopardizes donor experience or institutional support. Shared credit is expected and encouraged; we value collaboration and teamwork above personal gain and convenience.
Our weighted metric system reflects the scope of influence a fundraiser has based on the stage of gift cycle and tenure in the role. New fundraisers and new hires will prioritize substantive visits over dollars raised. Over time, the weight of success will shift to proposals and dollars raised. With most of our donors located in the El Paso area, travel is generally within driving distance. We encourage our team to use whatever means are necessary to continue gift conversations and do not penalize someone for using Zoom or other means to move the conversation along.
What UTEP Offers
Miner Perks and Benefits
- Benefit Package includes: Medical, Prescription, Life Insurance and Wellness platform
- Voluntary Benefits: Dental, Vision, Additional life insurance, UT Flex, Short and Long - term disability plans
- Retirement Programs
- Longevity Pay
- Paid Vacation & Sick Leave
- Paid Holidays
- Employee Discounts & Perks
- Employee Education Assistance program
- And much more! Visit our Benefits Summary Page for more information on our additional benefits.
Additional Information
Note: To the extent that this position involves research, work, or access to critical infrastructure as referenced in Executive Order GA-48, being hired for and continuing to be employed in this position requires the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure.
The primary accountabilities are intended to describe the general content of and requirements of this position and are not intended to be an exhaustive statement of duties. Incumbents may perform all or some of the primary accountabilities listed. Specific tasks or responsibilities will be documented in the incumbents’ performance objectives as outlined by the incumbents’ immediate supervisor or manager. This position is security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education Code
- 51.215, which authorizes the employer to obtain criminal history record information. A valid driver’s license issued by the State where the applicant resides and insurability as defined in UTS 157 may be required to perform the position's essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee must frequently stand and walk. The employee must regularly sit; use hands to feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. The employee must lift and move up to 50pounds.
The noise level for this work environment is usually moderate.
In keeping with its access, excellence, and impact mission, The University of Texas at El Paso is committed to a learning and working environment that honors the talents, respects the differences, and nurtures the growth and development of all. We seek to attract faculty and staff who share our commitment.
The University of Texas at El Paso is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity in employment or the provision of services in accordance with state and federal law. Discrimination on the basis of sex includes an employee’s or prospective employee’s right to be free from sexual harassment under Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. Inquiries—including the filing of a Formal Complaint or reporting an incident—about the application of Title IX may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, who can be reached by phone at (915) 747-8358, by email at titleix@utep.edu , or by mail at 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX, Kelly Hall, Room 223C.
For accommodation information for employees and applicants with disabilities, please contact UTEP's Equal Opportunity Office at eoaa@utep.edu .
Salary : $70,000