About the position
Family Houston seeks a dynamic, outgoing, articulate and self-starting person to join their successful Development Team to serve as the Major Gifts Officer. This position identifies, engages, cultivates, solicits, and stewards current and prospective donors in expanding their financial support of Family Houston. This position is responsible for helping meet the department annual revenue target by developing and managing a portfolio of major giving level donors to advance the mission of the organization and assisting donors in creating meaningful connections. In conjunction with the Development team, this position will help lead planning and implementation of fundraising strategies and will coordinate with Development team members to ensure consistent and effective implementation of donor development strategy and plans.
Responsibilities
- Qualifies, develops, and manages a portfolio of assigned, existing, and prospective major donors ($5K and higher)
- Develops and executes ongoing strategy for qualifying donors to ensure retention, growth of donor contributions, and recapture of lapsed donors
- Develops cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans, utilizing a moves management approach to engage prospects and donors resulting in strategic and knowledgeable asks
- Assesses capacity, determines inclination, and identifies donors’ passions for areas of support through discovery research, phone calls and face-to-face visits
- Develop a strategic pipeline of major gift solicitations from existing, assigned and new prospects
- Works collaboratively with other departments, partners, and development team to create customized solicitation strategies matching the objectives of the organization and interests of the donor/prospect
- Tracks all fundraising activity in development database of record in a timely manner
- Works with organization leadership and designees routinely to acquire the knowledge needed to solicit funding proposals and build donor relationships effectively
- Acknowledges major donors through public and private recognition including but not limited to receptions and major stewardship events
- Helps to conceptualize and implement programs and activities to identify, cultivate, solicit and steward major giving level donors
- Using fundraising and cultivation events as key vehicles, keep donors and prospects abreast of Family Houston activities and programs
- In conjunction with the CDO, manage Family Houston’s major donor recognition programs
- In conjunction with the CDO, strategize and implement planned giving initiatives to steward current planned giving donors and identify, cultivate, and solicit planned giving prospects
- Contribute to the development of donor-centric communications, including newsletters, annual campaigns, and operational fundraising collateral
- Ensures coordination of fundraising efforts with campaign initiatives
- Supports cultivation and stewardship at fundraising events
- Understands and affirms the mission of Family Houston
Requirements
- A minimum of 2-5 years’ experience in non-profit advancement including demonstrated success in fundraising especially in a major campaign is preferred and managing a portfolio of high-level donors
- Experience with 'Moves Management' or related strategic relationship development
- Highly organized, creative, ability to prioritize, strong interpersonal skills, excellent verbal and written communication skills, attention to detail and aesthetics
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and knowledge of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
- Ability to effectively identify, analyze and solve problems
- Self-motivated with a strong work ethic
- Ability to work independently, combined with the skills to thrive in a team environment
- Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks with close attention to detail and prioritization to meet deadlines
- Demonstrated accomplishment in fostering productive relationships with donors
- High professional and ethical standards for handling confidential information
- Flexibility and willingness to assume new tasks and special projects
- Ability to participate in cross-departmental projects, using tact and diplomacy
- Knowledge of Raiser’s Edge or a similar fundraising/constituent database
- Must be available to work evenings and weekends as required
