Major Gifts Officer

The United Methodist Church • New York, NY

71d • $90,000 - $95,000 • Remote

About The Position

Reporting to the Director of Development, the Major Gifts Officer is responsible for identifying, qualifying, and managing a major gift portfolio with an emphasis on ensuring that as many major donors (members and non-members) as possible are retained. As a seasoned fundraiser and a self-starter, the Major Gift Officer will focus on all aspects of relationship building including growing member/donor engagement with United Women in Faith, as well as resource mobilization for the Legacy Endowment Fund . Once the campaign reaches its $60m goal, the Major Gifts Officer will take on responsibilities related to fundraising for the Annual Fund. Duties include, but are not limited to, personal meetings, tours, donor engagement events, phone calls, virtual presentations and other methods of cultivation. Travel to cultivate donors is expected as part of this role (30%). This position will be responsible for meeting an annual revenue target by working with an assigned portfolio of donors and prospects, including unrestricted giving from members and non-members, with special emphasis on donors with capacity.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Philanthropy or related field/area of study.
• At least seven or more years of experience working in frontline fundraising, nonprofit development or other related field.
• Demonstrated experience in cultivating and soliciting prospects capable of five and six-figure gifts ($10,000 - $100,000)
• Advanced knowledge and experience with Raisers Edge NXT 7.
• Self-starter, strong organizational skills, and attention to detail.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, including Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
• Excellent communications, interpersonal and customer service skills; comfortable with public speaking.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Must be able to clearly articulate United Women in Faith's mission.
• Ability to relate effectively and professionally with donors/members, member leaders, volunteers, agency representatives and the public.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with corporate donors and transformational gifts an added plus.
• Familiarity, knowledge or lived experience with the United Methodist Church an added plus

Responsibilities

• Manages a portfolio of United Women in Faith major donors
• Qualifies identified prospective and current donors using wealth screening tools (Raisers Edge's Research Point).
• Creates individual goals for each person in their portfolio based on the donor's history of giving and the gift officer's knowledge of the donor's giving potential.
• Creates a plan and timeline for each donor in their portfolio that is based on principles of donor-driven relationship building, using a moves management approach.
• Executes individual donor plans such that individuals in the portfolio are retained and/or upgraded in their annual giving.
• Creates offers, proposals, and asks that will provide opportunities for donor retention and upgrade giving based on personal interests and passion for specific aspects of United Women in Faith's mission.
• Collaborates with the Planned Giving Officer for prospecting donors and blended gifts.
• Works with the entire development team to manage the activities of working groups made up of volunteer members: the Legacy Liaisons, Legacy Steering Committee, Fundraising Team, and Education & Interpretation Coordinators
• Works with the Director of Development, Development Coordinator, and staff in Finance to create reports as required to accurately reflect portfolio activity and performance.
• Performs analysis and revenue benchmarking to evaluate the overall growth and performance in Major Gifts.
• Researches and identifies philanthropists, non-members, specifically high-net worth individuals who align with the organization's mission and have demonstrated a commitment to supporting women's advocacy, racial justice, and faith-based organizations through transformational gifts.
• Works with the Director of Development on the Voices from the Field program, a quarterly online program that features the impact of work as a result of Mission Giving.
• Actively manages the day-to-day relationships with donors and prospects through various activities including meetings, phone calls, letters, reports, emails, timely responses to donor inquiries and acknowledgements of gifts.
• Log all contact and activity reports to the donor database(s), Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT.
• Passionately represents United Women in Faith's mission, programs and message with stakeholders at conferences, events, and donor meetings and actively networks within the Methodist community to activate support for our mission.
• Performs other major donor/development activities as may be required (i.e. public speaking or spokesperson activities).
• Demonstrates a commitment to United Women in Faith's mission and to serving women, children, and youth, by putting love in action
• Displays a desire to work in support of the values of United Women in Faith as a faith-based organization, using a compassionate, collaborative, mature and respectful approach.
• Supports a culture of continuous improvement by identifying and communicating Fundraising and Donor Engagement best practices and process improvements.

Benefits

• UWFaith offers a very generous benefit plan including health, dental and vision, life, LTD, STD, EAP, paid holidays and an 8% 403(b) and employer matching contributions.
• Generous time off benefits including August Fridays and Christmas Week.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Industry: Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations