Chief Executive Officer, SVI Foundation

The mission of St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research (SVI) is to create and harness knowledge of disease in order to improve heath outcomes for those in need. Established in the 1950’s, SVI is an independent medical research institute with a singular mission, but not a singular disease focus. The Institute today has state-of-the-art facilities and a dedicated team of over 160 staff and students, who are committed to improving the health and life-expectancy of Australians through medical research.

Founded in 2004, the SVI Foundation raises significant investment to develop research initiatives, support the advancement of researchers, fund essential equipment and build capacity for future development. Every donation goes directly to fund research and gives hope to people with diseases like type 1 and 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

The SVI Foundation is seeking a Chief Executive Officer to lead their next chapter of growth through identifying, procuring and fostering public, private and corporate income streams to optimise SVI’s research capacity and leverage their public profile and reputation. Working collaboratively with SVI’s Board Directors, Foundation Board Members, Executive team and SVI’s inspiring researchers, you will lead strategic and sustainable fundraising growth.

Your key objective will be to create genuine engagement with donors and stakeholders to inspire increasing involvement and investment. Leading a small team, this pivotal role will achieve income and impact through prospect research, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship, along with streamlined systems and processes to underpin best practice and high performance. You will drive philanthropic and fundraising strategies, and provide operational management of SVI’s Foundation including budgets, forecasts, compliance, risk mitigation, governance, impact reporting, acquittals, database management, marketing and communications.

You will be a collaborative, authentic and solution-focused people leader with proven success in securing transformational gifts and multi-year pledges for complex and innovative projects, both directly making ‘the ask’, and through leveraging the capability of others. Excellent communication skills to confidently present opportunities with detailed research, data, evidence and professional proposals is essential, together with compelling story-telling to effectively connect heads and hearts of decision makers to secure support.

This leadership role demands an authentic, collaborative, and resilient leader with a growth mindset, strong commercial acumen and excellent communication skills, plus alignment to SVI’s core values of excellence, integrity, passion, generosity, creativity and collaboration. A proven track record of fundraising success, current knowledge of the philanthropic landscape and relevant tertiary qualifications in business, marketing, science or related fields is essential. Exposure to scientific or public health environments is highly regarded.

APPLY NOW if you are a visionary leader with energy, drive and commitment to achieve new levels of fundraising success and wish to enable ground-breaking medical research!

Forward your application to apply@gembridge.com.au

Gembridge is partnering with SVI. For a confidential discussion, please contact Michelle Varcoe or Jenni D’Orival on 03 8375 9661.