Major Gifts Officer

Position Summary:

The Major Gifts Officer is responsible for identifying, qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and securing new major gift commitments while strengthening and expanding relationships with existing donors.

The officer will develop strategies to acquire new philanthropic partners, increase giving among current donors, renew and upgrade existing commitments, and identify opportunities for sustained, multi-year support.

The officer will manage a portfolio of approximately 120 qualified major gift prospects and donors, balancing new prospect development with the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of established relationships. Portfolio management will be guided by donor capacity, philanthropic interests, relationship readiness, organizational priorities, and the potential for meaningful philanthropic investment.

The Major Gifts Officer will be accountable for achieving assigned fundraising goals through new gifts, renewed commitments, donor upgrades, and expanded philanthropic support. The officer will maintain a qualified solicitation pipeline, develop individualized relationship and solicitation plans, and provide regular revenue forecasts and portfolio performance reports to the Director of Strategic Partnerships.

Success in this role requires a proactive approach to prospect identification, disciplined followthrough, strategic solicitation, and authentic relationship building that advances Native Forward's mission and long-term financial sustainability.

This list of duties and responsibilities is illustrative only of the tasks performed by this position and is not all-inclusive.

• Major gift strategy and revenue generation
• 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 compelling proposals, giving opportunities, and cases for support that connect donor interests with Native Forward's mission and strategic priorities.
• Maintain a qualified pipeline sufficient to support current year fundraising goals and future revenue growth.

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 60 qualified major gift prospects and donors, with portfolio size adjusted based on giving potential, relationship complexity, and organizational priorities.
• Develop written relationship plans and individualized solicitation strategies for priority prospects.
• Conduct regular prospect reviews to assess readiness, identify barriers, establish next steps, and advance relationships toward meaningful philanthropic commitments.
• Build relationships through personalized engagement, including donor visits, executive meetings, events, and other appropriate interactions.
• Provide consistent stewardship and demonstrate the impact of donor investments through timely reporting and meaningful engagement.

• Identify opportunities for unrestricted, restricted, multi-year, endowment, donor-advised fund, and 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 relevant referral sources.
• Coordinate with appropriate internal and external experts on complex gifts and gift planning opportunities.
• Contribute to long-term donor retention and sustainable philanthropic…