Henry W. Taylor has served as the Vice President for University Advancement at Golden Gate University (GGU) since September, 2021. He leads the Division of University Advancement (UA) including the Offices of Advancement Communications, Alumni Engagement, Annual Giving, Development and Advancement Services. Henry works closely with GGU’s president, executive team, board of trustees and Alumni Association to fulfill UA’s mission to “sustainably increase the interest, involvement and investment in the mission and impact of Golden Gate University.” Prior to joining GGU, he led the fundraising efforts as Senior Director of Development at Agnes Scott College, managing the Office of Development and secured $34M+ for FY20 & FY21 including the best fundraising year in college history of $21.1M in FY20 and highest annual fund total in college history of $2.9M+ in FY21. Henry managed theOffices of Annual Giving, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Development Research and Prospect Management, Donor Relations and Stewardship, and Leadership and Legacy Giving including supervision of 13 professional staff.

Previous to Agnes Scott College, Henry led his own advancement consulting firm, Legacy Consulting Group as Founder and Managing Partner, where he provided best practice advancement guidance and effort to support effective fundraising, constituent relations, marketing/communications and non-profit management for consulting clients. He consulted with organizational leaders regarding board development, diversity and advancement trends and serves as a professional development speaker on topics including fundraising, diversity, leadership and non-profit management.

Henry served as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and University Relations at Clark Atlanta University from 2012-2014. In that executive role, he led the advancement function including the Offices of Advancement Services, Alumni Relations, Development and Communications. He was responsible for rebuilding the advancement function which involved the strategic improvement of cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of individual, corporate and foundation prospects and donors for sustainable philanthropic investments securing more than $5M+ annually in FY13 & FY14. Henry personally conducted successful solicitations ranging from $5K-$1M from alumni, trustees and friends. He also managed a team of 15 professionals and oversaw the $1.78M+ departmental budget.

Prior to Clark Atlanta University, Henry served as the Chief Development Officer at Level Playing Field Institute (LPFI) from 2010-2012. He was responsible for the advancement effort to engage individual, corporate and foundation prospects/donors totaling $3M+. He managed five professional staff including the communications director and oversaw the department budget of $520K. He collaborated consistently with the Education and Research Teams to leverage the success of LPFI’s signature SMASH Academy Program. Henry also served as the inaugural Individual Giving Director at the KIPP Foundation prior to LPFI, where he engaged major gift prospects using research tools and strategic networking to secure $2M and $1M gifts. Additionally, he provided fundraising consulting support to region/school-based development staff to build individual giving efforts at the local level across the national KIPP Charter School Network.

From 2005-2009, Henry worked at Stanford University in two inaugural roles, first as Director of Major Gifts-National Team in the Central Development Office where he was the only African American manager among 450 professional staff. In that role, he was responsible for securing $15M-$25M+ annually with five major gift officers reporting to him who were responsible for the geographic territory outside California and included staffing the president. Henry also personally handled major gift fundraising for the Southeast region, closing $25K-$5M+ gifts for endowed, capital and current use purposes.

Henry’s passion for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) enabled him to help lead these efforts for Stanford’s Office of Development (OOD) and he facilitated OOD’s support for the Bigger Black House Campaign which successfully raised more than $1.9M to expand the Black Community Services Center. This groundbreaking accomplishment contributed to Henry being asked to design and launch the Diverse Communities effort as part of the $6.23B+ Stanford Challenge Campaign that OOD was preparing to launch. He partnered with Dr. Joy Simmons, an African American member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees to lead this unique effort to increase major gift support from alumni of color. Henry accepted the inaugural role of Director of Major Gifts for Diverse Communities which he held from 2007-2009. He worked closely with a dedicated prospect researcher to review the philanthropic capacity of all of Stanford’s alumni of color resulting in $500M+ of gift capacity not previously realized.

Prior to his time at Stanford, Henry served as the Associate Director of Leadership Gifts from 2001-2005 at Princeton University. He was responsible for handling major gift fundraising for the Southwest and Western United States from Louisiana to California. Henry was focused on cultivating, soliciting and stewarding alumni, parents and friends who were capable of making gifts up to $5M and he successfully secured many five, six and seven figure gifts for endowed & current use purposes. Among his accomplishments, he was able to secure the largest non-construction gift to campus life at the time of $1M. Henry frequently staffed the president, vice president for campus life, faculty and athletic coaches on fundraising trips to cities within his large geographic region which resulted in him setting the record for the most field visits in the history of Princeton’s Leadership Gifts Office.

Henry’s extensive fundraising and professional career also includes roles at Georgia State University, California State University, East Bay and the George P. Scotlan Youth & Family Center. He is an active speaker at professional development conferences for organizations including the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), African American Development Officers (AADO), Blacks in Philanthropy, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) as well as churches and other local non-profits. Henry received his bachelor’s degree in government and religion from Claremont McKenna College and a master’s degree in leadership at St. Mary’s College of California. He is guided by a profound belief in the power of education to change lives and the role of philanthropy to help facilitate sustainable impact that makes a difference in the world.