Career Center

The Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., is seeking an experienced, compassionate, and results-oriented professional to serve as the Director of Gift Planning and lead a robust gift planning program. The successful candidate will enjoy the challenge of actively shaping and elevating the culture of philanthropy by ensuring all donors understand the impact of their giving and feel appreciated. This position is reports to the Assistant Head for Development and will be a phenomenal opportunity to engage with donors as we communicate the impact of the most successful and historic campaign in the school’s history.

Founded in 1864, The Peddie School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory school of 535 students, grades 9 through post-graduate. It is primarily a boarding school, with over 60 percent of students and 90 percent of the faculty living on campus. In addition to its engaged and accomplished student body, Peddie’s extraordinary resources include the highly professional, collaborative and dedicated faculty, an innovative and rigorous curriculum and an attractive, modern 280-acre campus located 25 minutes east of Princeton between New York City and Philadelphia.

Thanks to the generosity of Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg ’27 and other donors, Peddie now ranks among the most highly endowed independent schools in the nation. Its $455 million endowment enables the school to offer more than $10 million in financial assistance to 35-40 percent of the student body.

This is an exciting time at Peddie.  We have just completed a $106M campaign predominantly for endowment, with over 40% of those gifts coming from documented or realized planned gifts. The momentum is palpable and the next chapter will be focused on donor relations, stewardship, retaining loyal donors while also attracting new donors to The Peddie Fund and The Bell Society, our legacy society.

The Director of Planned Giving will conceive and implement strategies that will continue to strengthen donor relationships with Peddie. The ideal candidate for this position will possess the warmth and natural inclination to connect with others as well as an innate curiosity to continuously explore and evaluate new ways of putting the donor at the center of our communication, gift requests, and event planning. This position is responsible for helping to retain existing donors and attract an increased number of donors to The Bell Society each year through individual outreach, collaboration with other frontline fundraisers, and effective communication pieces.

Reporting to the Assistant Head for Development, the ideal candidate must have demonstrated success as an exceptional relationship builder and a very strong project manager with a deep commitment to analytical data-informed decision-making. Experience managing a travel schedule, working collaboratively with talented, hard-working colleagues in a team setting is essential; experience with relational databases and desire to work with digital communication platforms is required.

Primary duties include:

• Leading with best-practice gift planning services including the acceptance of estate gifts from trusts and probate estates, the administration of charitable trusts and gift annuities;
• Developing and sustaining meaningful and productive relationships with a portfolio of 180-200 prospects for planned gifts and current Bell Society members being stewarded and cultivated for additional gifts;
• Enjoying the planning, travel and follow-up associated with maintaining meaningful and productive relationships
• Providing technical support to donors and their trusted advisors on the structuring, benefits and implications of various planned gift vehicles including bequest intentions, beneficiary designations, charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts;
• Collaborating with our Marketing and Communications Office to create content for and execute a comprehensive gift planning marketing strategy to develop new planned gifts;
• Collaborating with our Director of Special Events and Director of Donor Relations to design and execute a few stewardship and engagement events each year.
• Providing comprehensive leadership to the Gift Planning team and work closely with front-line fundraisers to keep them abreast of any tax incentives, best practices and opportunities for planned gift conversations;
• Overseeing gift planning administrator on life income plan administration;
• Providing leadership for volunteers serving on the Planned Giving Committee and as Class Gift Planning Chairs;
• Effectively managing the budget for the gift planning program;
• Continually evaluating and improving the gift planning program’s methods and approaches, stay current on technical developments in industry practices; participate in gift planning conferences and quality professional associations.

Required Qualifications:

•  Bachelor degree with preference for individuals with advanced training in law, finance, accounting, business or financial planning;
• Demonstrated expertise working across full spectrum of gift planning vehicles;
• Demonstrated ability to close major ($50,000-$999,999) and principal gifts ($1 million +) in a relationship-based culture;
• Minimum of five years of paid fundraising experience working within the full spectrum of development including cultivation, gift solicitations, stewardship and donor recognition, or comparable work experience within the legal or financial planning professions;
• Experience managing relationships with outside legal counsel and asset management partners;
• Familiarity with tax, legal, and financial concepts and strategies involved in estate and philanthropic planning;
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills;
• Willing to travel extensively;
• Proven ability to work with a high level of independence, maintain confidentiality, prioritize assignments and manage time effectively.

About The Peddie School

Peddie is an independent, co-ed, college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through post-graduate. In addition to its engaged and accomplished student body, Peddie’s extraordinary resources include the highly professional, collaborative, and dedicated faculty, an innovative and rigorous curriculum and an attractive, modern 280-acre campus located in Hightstown, New Jersey. Peddie is an academic community where students not only share their ideas, but also their passion to reach their potential, realize their purpose, and become outstanding citizens.

Connections working at The Peddie School