Major Gifts Manager

Overview

The Major Gifts Manager reports to the Prospect Development Manager and is a critical member of the Midwest Development Operations team. They are responsible for driving the major gift fundraising success of two of the Midwest Business Units (BUs). The Manager builds processes to effectively manage the major donor pipeline, leverages fundraising reports and analyses, oversees data management for prospect portfolios, provides team donor strategy support, and drives team accountability to meet fundraising goals.

The Major Gifts Manager is responsible for leading the major gift prospect management program for two of the Midwest Business Units. They will collaborate with the centralized Global Development Prospect Management Team to manage, research, and prioritize their team’s prospect portfolio and work with development team leadership to assign and track prospect activity. They will work towards meeting the strategic priorities of the program through the development and implementation of tactics for approved plans and completing and/or overseeing day-to-day tasks.

They will manage the discovery pipeline process for two of the Midwest BU’s development teams to ensure the ongoing identification and qualification of new major donors and prospects. They will leverage centralized fundraising reports and conduct advanced analyses of fundraising activity to establish and manage metrics/KPIs for the teams and inform strategy and action. They organize and help lead team pipeline meetings at least once a month to ensure timely cultivation, solicitation, follow-up, data entry, tracking of new and current prospects, and strategy development.

• Act independently within broad program goals to prioritize tasks in the absence of specific instructions and exercise independent judgment to identify and solve problems.
• Ensure programmatic commitments, policies and procedures, financial standards, and legal requirements are met and managed for compliance.
• Financial responsibility includes working within a budget and negotiating and contracting with vendors.
• Travel occasionally and work long, flexible hours as needed.
• Work is varied and may not always fall under established practices and guidelines.
• Maintain advanced skills in fundraising systems and other resources used by the team to execute tasks and improve processes, coordinating with leadership to ensure full team alignment.
• Coordinate projects with multiple variables, set realistic deadlines, and manage timelines.
• Implement and manage new initiatives to achieve department and organization-wide goals and strategies.
• May participate in complex negotiations and supervise administrative, professional, or volunteer staff, including training and development.
• The work environment may involve infrequent exposure to disagreeable elements and minor physical exertion.

• Bachelor’s degree and 3 years related experience or equivalent combination.
• Experience coordinating projects and generating reports; ability to analyze and interpret data.
• Experience with current technology in a fundraising context and cross-department collaboration.
• Experience with database management and fundraising systems.

• Multilingual skills and cross-cultural experience are appreciated.
• Ability to implement complex processes and use existing technology to achieve results.
• Strong diplomacy, relationship-building, and staff motivation skills.
• Experience interpreting guidelines to achieve results and supervising staff, interns, or volunteers.
• Knowledge of current trends in the field and strong organizational and negotiating skills.
• Understanding of basic accounting principles.

The starting pay range for a candidate selected for this position is generally within the range of $64,000-$82,000 (subject to required tax withholding). This range applies to USA-based employment. Actual pay will depend on location, qualifications, skills, and experience. Countries outside the USA have different local pay ranges.

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