Major Gifts Assistant

Whitney Museum of American Art•New York, NY

20d•$31 - $31•Onsite

About The Position

The Major Gifts Assistant supports Whitney’s Director of Major and Principal Gifts and Major Gift Officers (MGOs) with identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding their donor portfolios. This includes drafting correspondence, preparing team members for meetings and donor engagement, keeping donor experience top-of-mind in all their work, and ensuring pipelines and actions are updated in the database. The Major Gifts Assistant must be an organized self-starter with strong relationship-building, organizational, and writing skills.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree or commensurate experience.
2-3 years' experience in nonprofit advancement; experience in museums or cultural institutions a plus.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Raiser’s Edge or related software (or the ability to quickly learn new digital platforms).
Experience working independently and collaboratively with different leaders.
Self-starter with the ability to multi-task and manage multiple workstreams at once.
Strong organizational skills.
Expert written and oral communication.
Excellent customer service skills, with the ability to engage with Whitney community members as patrons and foresee their needs.

Nice To Haves

experience in museums or cultural institutions a plus.

Responsibilities

Provide administrative support to the Director of Major and Principal Gifts as well as MGOs by organizing meeting details and preparing thorough research and planning for high-level donor meetings and events.
Assist in developing donor cultivation and solicitation strategies; ensure timely follow-up with prospects.
Create and edit a variety of donor communications, including pledge agreements, billing statements, solicitation letters, invitations, stewardship reports, impact updates, and other correspondence as needed, in consultation with the Director of Major and Principal Gifts and MGOs.
Ensure the acknowledgment of major gifts and pledges; process gifts and draft acknowledgment letters, in partnership with Advancement Operations.
Track and review donor interactions, gifts, and strategy notes in Raiser’s Edge to maintain data integrity and support donor stewardship in partnership with Advancement Operations.
Prepare meeting-ready briefing materials and talking points for MGOs and senior staff, drawing on prospect research and analysis provided by Advancement Operations.
Support the Whitney’s planned giving program as needed.
Work collaboratively and effectively within and across departments.
Maintain an overarching knowledge of major donors and trustees to the Whitney.
Attend relevant museum and Advancement events.
Support a collaborative and inclusive team environment aligned with the Whitney’s mission and values.
Must possess a high level of confidentiality as this person will have access to confidential documents such as museum strategic planning, funding strategies, pledge agreements, confidential donor records, giving history, constituent anonymity & personal information, and Advance Museum Exhibition Schedule.