Eileen F. Savage, MA, CFRE
Eileen F. Savage has been a fundraising professional for over thirty years. She is currently the Vice President, Chief Advancement Officer at the Cranbrook Educational Community (CEC), one of the world’s leading centers of education, science, and art. Cranbrook is comprised of a pre-K through 12 private day and boarding school; Cranbrook Academy of Art, offering 10 Masters of Art and Architecture programs; the contemporary Cranbrook Art Museum; Cranbrook Institute of Science; the Center for Collections and Research, including the Cranbrook Archives; and the Cranbrook House & Gardens auxiliary. Cranbrook is located on 319 acres in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and is a National Historic Landmark campus designed by the architect, Eliel Saarinen.
As CAO, Eileen provides the leadership to plan, implement and evaluate advancement initiatives for all program areas. Along with the President of the CEC, Eileen directs strategic planning to ensure that the vision, mission, goals, objectives, and revenue initiatives meet operational, endowment, and campaign goals throughout the Community. She joined Cranbrook in 2017.
Prior to accepting the role, Eileen was the Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement at the J. Paul Getty Trust. She was hired to develop and implement a program of philanthropic support for all Getty programs. These include the Getty Museums (at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and the Getty Villa in Malibu), as well as the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Research Institute.
From 1996-2014, Eileen worked with the Indiana University Foundation. During this time, she served in leadership fundraising roles throughout two comprehensive billion+ campaigns. As Associate Vice President for Development, she managed IU’s Principal Gifts Program, staffed the presidents of Indiana University and the IU Foundation, and provided leadership throughout the eight-campus system for strategic engagement of IU’s principal gift donors. She also served as the Assistant Vice President, Major Gift Programs, and began her career on the Bloomington campus’ Art Museum, now the Eskenazi Museum of Art.
In addition to her work at the IU Foundation, Savage was an adjunct instructor in the then IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, now the O’Neill
School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She taught the master’s level Fund Development for Nonprofits course.
She continues to serve as an instructor with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, regularly offering the Principles and Techniques of Fundraising, Developing Major Gifts, and contract classes designed specifically for not-for-profits.
Eileen is a member of the Kinsey Institute’s International Advisory Council.
She is also a former board member and chair of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, former member of the Board of Directors of AFP-Greater Detroit Chapter where she remains actively involved as a mentor through their Fisher Fellows Mentorship Program.
Eileen resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan and can be reached at eisavage62@gmail.com.