Major Gifts Officer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Virginia.

📋 Description

• Qualify, nurture, solicit, and manage a portfolio of 100–150 major-gift prospects and donors.

• Oversee relationships involving five- and six-figure contributions.

• Create and execute tailored cultivation and solicitation strategies.

• Develop and maintain a personal solicitation schedule.

• Conduct donor visits, present funding opportunities, and secure five- and six-figure gifts as well as multi-year commitments.

• Engage in the development team’s moves management program and participate in portfolio review sessions.

• Identify and qualify new prospects through proactive cold outreach.

• Foster relationship development within the Intellectual Builders donor community.

• Ensure sustained staff ownership of the corporate giving segment.

• Collaborate with Development Operations on pipeline data, projections, gift processing, and acknowledgments.

• Work with Portfolio Management on moves strategy and executive engagement requests.

• Partner with the Foundations team where relationships overlap with institutional funders.

• Collaborate with Communications & Marketing on donor-facing proposals and support cases.

• Involve executive leadership, program scholars, and Programs staff in high-level donor relationships, intellectual discussions, site visits, and key commitments.

• Maintain accurate Salesforce records of portfolio activities, opportunities, contact reports, cultivation status, and solicitation strategies.

• Assist in pipeline planning and gift forecasting through timely documentation and participation in portfolio reviews.

• Travel for donor and prospect visits, cultivation events, and institutional engagement initiatives.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 3 years of front-line fundraising experience throughout the donor gift cycle.

• Proven track record of securing five-figure commitments.

• Candidates at the higher end of the salary range should possess 5+ years of experience and a history of six-figure closes.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Capability to build trust and maintain professional relationships with donors and prospects.

• Ability to qualify prospects and initiate donor relationships from the first contact, including ongoing cold outreach.

• Familiarity with CRM platforms, particularly Salesforce.

• Proficient in independently creating and managing opportunities, activities, and contact reports.

• Strong organizational abilities.

• Capacity to independently oversee a complex, multi-stage national portfolio with consistent follow-through.

• Experience in corporate or institutional giving, including the development of an under-built giving segment.

• Substantial knowledge of and appreciation for the classical liberal intellectual tradition.

• Ability to engage donors in meaningful discussions on policy, economics, and ideas central to the IHS donor community.

• Experience in fundraising within a think tank, university, or policy-oriented nonprofit.

🏝️ Benefits

• Annual performance-based incentive compensation.

• Remote work arrangement.

• Approximately 2–3 weeks of travel per year for organization-wide staff gatherings and on-site collaboration.