In this role you'll:
- Cultivate and Grow Major Donors
- Actively engage your portfolio of 60-90 high-net-worth individual donors and prospects through cultivation, solicitation and stewardship;
- Contribute to the major gifts revenue goal by securing ambitious five- and six-figure commitments from your portfolio;
- Incorporate a focus on West Coast based donors and identify opportunities to expand regional pipeline;
- Independently devise creative tactics and long-term engagement strategies to strengthen donor commitment and increase giving;
- Prioritize in-person meetings to build engagement and deepen donor relationships; travel within Bay Area region and beyond as needed;
- Send personalized 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;
- Choreograph, prepare strategy, briefing, and debriefing materials for face-to-face meetings and solicitations with donors conducted personally and with leadership staff.
- 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 and successes, support teammates when needed, and identify other opportunities to contribute to the team and organizational culture;
- Partner with VP, Major Gifts to develop West Coast growth strategies;
- Undertake special projects through proactive initiative and/or as requested.
Qualifications
Required Work Experience:
- Minimum 7 years of professional experience, at least 4 of which are in major gifts fundraising or corporate business development, including direct solicitation of donors or clients.
- Consistent track record of closing five- and six-figure gifts or contracts from a dynamic portfolio, including acquisitions and upgrades.
Demonstrated Skills & Competencies:
- Experienced relationship manager with strong listening skills and an ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders in a thoughtful, inclusive manner;
- Entrepreneurial self-starter who will prioritize strengthening the West Coast donor pipeline;
- Success closing a variety of funding opportunities, including multi-year and blended commitments;
- 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;
- A strong command of fundraising best practices; experience with CRM databases, like Salesforce.
