Major Gifts Officer

Native Forward Scholars Fund

11d

About The Position

The Major Gifts Officer identifies, qualifies, cultivates, solicits, and secures major gifts while strengthening relationships with existing donors. The role develops strategies to acquire new philanthropic partners, increase giving, renew and upgrade commitments, and secure sustained multi-year support. The officer manages a portfolio of major gift prospects and donors, using donor capacity, interests, relationship readiness, organizational priorities, and potential philanthropic investment to guide engagement. The officer is accountable for assigned fundraising goals, maintains a qualified solicitation pipeline, develops individualized relationship and solicitation plans, and provides revenue forecasts and portfolio performance reports to the Director of Strategic Partnerships. The position also partners with executive leadership and colleagues across development, marketing, scholarship programs, and finance to align donor opportunities with Native Forward's mission and priorities. The posting gives two different portfolio estimates: approximately 120 prospects and donors in the summary and approximately 60 in the portfolio-management duties.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree required, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
At least five years of progressive experience in major gifts, individual giving, relationship-based fundraising, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated experience cultivating, soliciting, and closing significant philanthropic gifts.
Experience managing a donor or prospect portfolio and developing individualized solicitation strategies.
Demonstrated ability to build relationships with high-capacity individuals and engage senior executives, board members, and philanthropic advisors.
Experience preparing solicitation proposals, donor briefings, stewardship communications, and revenue forecasts.
Proficiency with donor CRM systems, prospect research tools, and reporting applications.
Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate complex educational and community impact clearly.
Valid driver's license.
Must successfully pass a pre-employment drug/alcohol screen and background investigation.
Knowledge of American Indian history, culture, and Tribes.
Knowledge of modern office practices, procedures, and equipment.
Commitment to the mission and goals of the Native Forward Scholars Fund in providing scholarship funding and support services to Native students.
Knowledge of business English, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and basic arithmetic.
Ability to communicate effectively in English, verbally and in writing, and to follow oral and written instructions.
Ability to handle multiple tasks and meet deadlines.
Ability to establish and maintain professional relationships with people of varying social and cultural backgrounds and coworkers at all levels.
Ability to analyze progress and situations, make appropriate adjustments and decisions, and exercise independent judgment.
Ability to demonstrate excellence and continually seek improvement in results.
Ability and confidence to engage at senior levels, influence opinion, and secure commitments.
Strong relationship-building skills and comfort asking donors to commit money, time, or energy to a shared vision.
Ability to simplify complex themes and activities into concise, compelling presentations or written materials.
Ability to discuss education's role in promoting social justice and economic opportunity.
Ability to communicate effectively and respectfully by phone, email/text, and in person with donors, board members, volunteers, colleagues, and the public.
Proficiency with office technology and information systems.
High ethical standards, strict adherence to donor confidentiality, and genuine interest in developing authentic relationships.
Persuasiveness and perseverance in attaining goals.
Skills operating business computers and office machines, including Word, Excel, Access, and presentation software such as PowerPoint.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree.
Experience with Blackbaud donor CRM systems.
Experience in grant writing and business proposals.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute individualized cultivation and solicitation strategies for an assigned portfolio of major gift donors and prospects.
Achieve established annual fundraising goals, including gift revenue, solicitations, and other agreed-upon performance measures.
Lead solicitations for significant outright gifts, multi-year commitments, endowment contributions, and other philanthropic investments.
Develop proposals, giving opportunities, and cases for support that connect donor interests with Native Forward's mission and strategic priorities.
Maintain a qualified pipeline to support current-year fundraising goals and future revenue growth.
Develop written relationship plans and individualized solicitation strategies for priority prospects.
Review prospects regularly to assess readiness, identify barriers, establish next steps, and advance relationships.
Build donor relationships through personalized engagement, including visits, executive meetings, events, and other appropriate interactions.
Steward donors and demonstrate the impact of their investments through timely reporting and meaningful engagement.
Identify opportunities for unrestricted, restricted, multi-year, endowment, donor-advised fund, planned, or legacy gifts.
Partner with the Director of Strategic Partnerships and executive leadership to align donor interests with organizational funding priorities.
Identify opportunities to engage high-capacity individuals, families, philanthropic advisors, and other referral sources.
Coordinate with internal and external experts on complex gifts and gift planning opportunities.
Prepare executive leaders and board members for donor engagement with briefing materials, prospect strategies, and solicitation recommendations.
Collaborate with development, marketing, scholarship programs, and finance colleagues to ensure donor opportunities are accurate, compelling, and aligned with organizational priorities.
Support strategic donor engagement, including targeted cultivation events and donor briefings.
Represent Native Forward professionally with donors, philanthropic partners, and other external stakeholders.
Maintain accurate and timely constituent records, contact reports, solicitation plans, and next steps in the donor CRM.
Prepare revenue projections, pipeline reports, and portfolio updates for the Director of Strategic Partnerships and designated leadership.
Monitor progress against established goals and recommend adjustments to cultivation and solicitation strategies.
Maintain high ethical standards and protect confidential donor and student information.
Apply fundraising best practices while embodying Native Forward's core values and commitment to Native student success.
Perform other duties as required.