Senior Director of Major Gifts

Remote (U.S.) — must reside in the SF Bay Area or Los Angeles
Full-time, Exempt | Reports to the Chief Revenue Officer
$145,000 – $175,000 depending on experience | Travel: approximately 30%

25 years in, Upwardly Global (UpGlo) has a proven program, a compelling case for support, and a major donor base that is far smaller than that case warrants. We are hiring a major gifts leader to change that, primarily by finding, qualifying, and closing donors who do not know us yet.

This is a build role, not a maintenance role. If your best work has been opening new relationships rather than inheriting mature ones, keep reading.

Upwardly Global (UpGlo) is a national nonprofit that helps immigrants, refugees, and asylees rebuild their professional careers in the United States. We work at both the direct service and system-change levels, building a more inclusive workforce and economy by ensuring everyone can fully use their skills and talents.

Here is what that means for a fundraiser:

• The case for support is concrete and measurable. We can show a donor the economic return on a placed professional, not just a sentiment. That is a rare advantage in a first major gift conversation.
• The prospect universe is genuinely under worked. Individual giving currently accounts for roughly $2M of our $14M in annual revenue. Our modeled major gift capacity is significantly larger, and whole segments of it (e.g., technology and finance executives, immigrant-founder networks, family foundations, DAF-advised households) have never been systematically cultivated at scale.
• You will not be prospecting alone. Our CEO, CRO, Board, and program leadership actively open doors, and we fund prospect research, wealth screening, and Salesforce so your hours go to donor conversations rather than data archaeology.
• The acquisition mandate is explicit. Bringing in new donors is the primary success measure for this role and is resourced and protected as such, not a stretch goal layered on top of a full stewardship load.

We would rather be specific than aspirational. Targets will be finalized with you, but the shape of the role is:

• Assess the existing pipeline and rate every prospect above $10K for capacity, inclination, and connection.
• Build a qualification plan for 40 new prospects and complete your first 20 discovery visits.
• Agree on a multi-year individual giving growth plan with the Chief Revenue Officer and CEO.

• Personally close $2M from a portfolio of roughly 100–125 households, with at least 70% coming from donors new to UpGlo at the major gift level.
• Move 20 new prospects into active cultivation and secure 10 six-figure commitments.
• Make improvements to our current qualification engine in partnership with our Dev Ops team, ensuring repeatability, sourcing, research, discovery, and moves management that the team can run without you in the room.

• Grow individual giving from $2M to $10M, with a materially more diversified donor base and a documented seven-figure prospect pipeline.

New donor acquisition: the core of the role

• Source, qualify, and convert new major donors at the $10K+ level, personally carrying relationships from discovery through close.
• Design and run a disciplined prospecting engine: wealth screening, peer and Board referral, network mapping, event follow-up, DAF and family foundation research, and conversion of annual and mid-level donors.
• Build re-engagement pathways for lapsed and dormant donors and upgrade paths for existing supporters with untapped capacity.
• Partner with the CRO to set and hold the Individual Giving team’s qualification standards: visits, moves, pipeline velocity; ensuring acquisition is never crowded…