Senior Director, Major Giving

Riley Children's Foundation, LLC•Indianapolis, IN

30d

About The Position

Working as part of the fundraising team and reporting to the Senior Vice President, Individual Philanthropy, the Senior Director, Major Giving is responsible for the strategic direction and management of key donors and fundraising initiatives essential to identifying, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding major philanthropic support. The Senior Director leads the major gifts team to meet and exceed budgeted income goals and build relationships toward gifts of passion, that align with Hospital and RCF priorities, through the process of donor development. The Senior Director, Major Giving supports major gift portfolio movement and works with the team, and volunteers, to identify, cultivate, solicit and engage donor prospects.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree preferred.
Six to eight years of fundraising experience. Four to six years of people management experience. Two to four years of leading leaders (manager of managers, directors, or functional leaders). High level of knowledge of an overall donor or customer experience model.
Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop a high-performing fundraising team.
Strong portfolio and pipeline management skills, with experience driving disciplined movement and meeting ambitious fundraising goals.
Excellent communication skills, including the ability to articulate donor strategies and organizational priorities clearly.
High level of CRM competency, with the ability to interpret data, ensure documentation accuracy, and use system insights to inform strategy and coaching.
Strong organizational and project management abilities, with consistent follow-through in a fast-paced environment.
Ability to collaborate effectively across departments and with senior leaders, clinicians, and partners.
Personal belief in Riley Children’s Foundation vision, mission, core values and strategic direction.
Sound judgment and decision-making, with the ability to triage issues and escalate appropriately.
Relationship-oriented and donor-centered, with strong interpersonal skills and professional presence.
Motivational leader who fosters accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
Highly proactive, adaptable, and solutions-focused.
Resilient and adaptable, capable of leading through change, ambiguity, and evolving organizational priorities.
Must adhere to the highest ethical standards.

Nice To Haves

Graduate degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and support a team of Major Gift Officers and Senior Major Gift Officers, providing regular guidance and feedback to strengthen overall fundraising effectiveness.
Oversee team fundraising performance by monitoring dollars raised along with visit, qualification, and proposal metrics; identify opportunities to strengthen activity and outcomes; and partner with gift officers to adjust strategies when additional momentum is needed.
Ensure the development and management of a strong donor pipeline, with consistent movement from discovery through solicitation and stewardship.
Ensure that proposals and solicitations align with Foundation and hospital priorities and that they follow appropriate internal approval processes.
Promote strong operational discipline through consistent CRM use, accurate documentation, and adherence to prospect management policies.
Serve as the first point of contact for donor strategy questions, portfolio challenges, and operational needs, escalating issues to the Senior Vice President of Individual Philanthropy as complexity increases.
Portfolio: Build and manage a portfolio of approximately 75 to 100 donor prospects or current supporters.
Relationship Building: Develop authentic relationships with donors in a focused portfolio to help donors define and accomplish their philanthropic goals in alignment with Riley Children’s Foundation organizational priorities. Conduct qualification calls/visits and develop customized cultivation, solicitation and stewardship plans.
Solicitations: Solicit and close immediate gifts at the $50,000+ level with focus on solicitation of $100,000+. Partner on planned gifts of all levels where possible.
Hospital/Volunteer partnership: Partner with an assigned hospital team, clinical area or volunteer group to maximize fundraising for the area and serve as foundation point of contact.
Work closely with colleagues across Mid-Level Giving, Annual Giving, Corporate & Foundation Giving, Prospect Development, Donor Engagement and other Foundation teams to drive coordinated fundraising efforts and organization-wide initiatives.
Partner with the Senior Vice President to advance strategic priorities for Individual Philanthropy and strengthen pipeline development.
Ensure strong collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners to support donor engagement opportunities, events, and campaign initiatives.
Administrative: Maintain accountability to administrative systems and procedures including submitting expense reimbursements, credit card reconciliations, invoices, reports, RCF calendar additions, etc., by the deadlines assigned.
Meetings: Prepare for and actively participate in all Riley Children’s Foundation meetings as appropriate. Ensure expectations and tools for meeting agendas and follow-up are implemented.
Budget: Work with your direct manager to develop, manage and monitor the budget, staying within overall budget guidelines.
Technology & Data Systems: Ensure effective and consistent team use of Foundation technologies, including CRM systems, reporting dashboards, and project management tools to support accurate pipeline management and decision-making.
Compliance: Compliance: Ensure strict compliance with all Foundation policies, as well as applicable legal, ethical, and regulatory requirements governing nonprofit fundraising and business practices.
Presentations: Represent Riley Children’s Foundation through delivering speeches about the organization and its mission to the external public and funder representatives.
Tours: Give tours of the hospital, and provide information on Riley Hospital, Riley Children’s Foundation, JWR Museum Home, Camp Riley and Wells Center for Pediatric Research as appropriate.
Riley Children’s Foundation events: Participate in Riley Children’s Foundation Events as requested.
Other duties as assigned.