Leadership and Campaign Giving Officer WPA

Description

Department:
Advancement

Title of Immediate Supervisor:
Director of Advancement

Salary Range: $75,000-$85,000 per year

Hours:
Full-time, Exempt

Best Consideration Date:
Friday, August 7, 2026

Washington Performing Arts is seeking a driven, relationship-first fundraiser to serve as its Leadership and Campaign Giving Officer--- a newly created role built for someone who thrives out in the field, making connections, building donor relationships and closing gifts, and who also knows that great fundraising is backed by great preparation. This is a frontline fundraising position at the heart of a transformative fundraising efforts, including an endowment campaign for one of the nation's leading performing arts organizations.

Reporting to the Director of Advancement, the Officer will own the full gift cycle --- identifying, cultivating, soliciting, closing, and stewarding gifts of $15,000 and above across annual fund, endowment campaign, and planned giving (Annual Fund 50%, Endowment Campaign 30%, Legacy Society 20%).

The right candidate is energized by donor visits, comfortable making the ask, and motivated by hitting and exceeding ambitious fundraising targets.

The Officer will manage a dynamic portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects, working closely with the President & CEO, President Emeritus, Director of Advancement, Board of Directors, Governance Committee, Legacy Society Steering Committee, staff, and volunteer leaders to expand WPA's donor base and deepen philanthropic investment in its mission.

This role is ideal for an entrepreneurial fundraiser who builds authentic relationships, designs meaningful donor experiences, and connects donors' passions to Washington Performing Arts's work --- including world-class classical, jazz, dance, and culturally specific performances, gospel music programs, and arts education and programs that engage our wide community. The successful candidate moves fluidly between the field and the desk: as comfortable driving a solicitation strategy as they are digging into donor research and keeping records accurate, so that every conversation is informed, every ask is well-timed, and every commitment is tracked and honored.

The successful candidate will:

• Build and drive your own pipeline to meet or exceed annual fundraising goals
• Secure leadership, campaign, and planned gifts through direct cultivation and solicitation
• Complete approximately 100 donor visits annually
• Grow donor retention and secure gift upgrades year over year
• Advance campaign milestones and organizational fundraising priorities
• Conduct prospect research to identify and qualify new leadership-level donors
• Maintain timely, accurate donor documentation in Tessitura to support strategic follow-up
• Build strong, collaborative relationships across departments to align fundraising strategy with organizational priorities
• Partner with organization leadership (Staff and Board) to advance your work

Requirements

Essential Duty #1:
Frontline Major Gift Fundraising, Portfolio Development & Donor Engagement Percentage: 45%

• Build, manage, and grow a dynamic portfolio of leadership, campaign, and planned giving prospects capable of making gifts of $15,000 and above. Develop authentic relationships that deepen donor engagement and inspire transformational philanthropy.
• Identify, research, qualify, cultivate, solicit, close, and steward leadership, campaign, and planned gifts beginning at $15,000 and extending to six- and seven-figure investments.
• Build and manage a portfolio of active and prospective individual donors across annual fund, endowment campaign, and planned giving.
• Conduct approximately 100 donor visits annually.
• In partnership with Director of Advancement, develop individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for assigned prospects.
• Build meaningful, long-term relationships that deepen donor engagement and inspire increased philanthropic investment.
• Achieve annual fundraising, donor retention, and donor upgrade goals.
• Represent Washington Performing Arts at performances, donor events, community functions, and cultivation activities.

Essential Duty #2:
Fundraising and Campaign Strategy, Planning & Prospect Development Percentage: 25%

• Partner with the Director of Advancement, President & CEO, Major Gifts Officer, and Manager of Annual Giving to identify, develop, and manage prospect pipelines
• In partnership with Director of Advancement, develop fundraising strategies, annual work plans, benchmarks, and performance metrics.
• Coordinate fundraising and campaign strategies with leadership, the management team, board members, volunteer leaders, and campaign committees.
• Prepare fundraising and campaign proposals, presentations, reports, gift opportunities, and donor recognition plans.
• Monitor fundraising and campaign progress and achieve key campaign milestones.
• Collaborate on fundraising and campaign communications, donor events, marketing materials, and public recognition opportunities.
• Partner with the Director of…