About

Young Dawkins has served in senior leadership roles in higher education and not-for-profit fundraising for over 30 years, including positions at Dartmouth College, Oberlin College and the University of New Hampshire in the United States; the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; and Save the Children UK.

He was most recently the CEO/Executive Director of Advancement at the University of Tasmania, where he was the primary solicitor of a $5 million grant from the Ian Potter Foundation to support the construction of the Hedberg Performing Arts Centre.

Young specialises in capital campaigns – he has helped plan and lead campaigns with a total value of over $1 billion Australian dollars – and in individual principal gift solicitations.

He has received the Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), an international professional organisation for fundraisers, and is an experienced public speaker, conference chair, workshop leader, and event host.

Key achievements during Young’s career include:

• primary architect and solicitor of the first ever endowed chair at the University of Tasmania, securing a $2.6 million gift from Dr David Warren;
• leading the fundraising campaign that was the largest in the history of Scottish Higher Education at that time – a five year, £350 million effort – and personally soliciting the largest individual gift in the University of Edinburgh’s history – £12.8 million from J.K. Rowling towards medical research;
• eight years as President of the University of New Hampshire Foundation, during which time the University received the largest gift in its history and set all time records for both single year and consecutive year fundraising totals;
• securing a $30 million gift to construct a library at Dartmouth College – at the time, the largest gift in the College’s history.

Since starting his consultancy in 2018, Young has helped a major energy firm fund and establish a PhD scholarship at a leading Australian university; led workshops and developed a communications plan for the Sexual Assault Support Service; and provided strategic advice to the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. He has also been engaged in an advisory capacity to an organic food start-up.

If you think Young can be useful to your organisation, please get in touch.