In this role you'll:
- Cultivate and Grow Major Donors
- Actively engage your portfolio of 70-100 high-net-worth individual donors and prospects through cultivation, solicitation and stewardship;
- Contribute to the major gifts revenue goal by securing renewed and upgraded commitments from your portfolio;
- Work collaboratively with your manager to devise creative tactics and long-term engagement strategies to strengthen donor alignment and increase philanthropy;
- Prioritize in-person meetings with donors; travel within the NYC metropolitan region and to other Eastern U.S. metropolitan donor hubs, as assigned;
- Create strategic correspondence, including cultivation emails, reports and updates relevant to donor interest.
- Maintain Fundraising Best Practices
- Collaborate with the team’s operations senior associate to actively track and measure progress towards your financial and non-financial goals and movement of prospects and donors across the donor lifecycle;
- Prepare strategy documents for meetings and solicitations of donors
- Maintain Salesforce records, continuously updating key details and logging emails, calls, and meeting notes;
- Align fundraising efforts to key priorities and imperatives of DonorsChoose, with a focus on equity in education and diversifying its major donor community.
- Contribute to Team
- Share donor strategies, support teammates when needed, and identify other opportunities to contribute to the team and organizational culture;
- Undertake special projects as requested.
Qualifications
Required Work Experience:
- Minimum 4-6 years of professional work experience, at least 2 of which is relevant and transferable experience in fundraising or corporate sector sales, including direct solicitation of donors or clients;
- Proven track record of closing multiple five-figure gifts or contracts from a dynamic portfolio, including qualifying prospects and upgrading donors.
Demonstrated Skills & Competencies:
- Self-starter and entrepreneurial individual with experience building relationships with donors or clients; strong listening skills and an ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders in a thoughtful, inclusive manner;
- Excellent verbal and written communications skills as well as an overall ability to be clear and concise in all communications;
- Ability to identify and implement processes vital to support effective donor relationships.
