Director, Major Gifts

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Director, Major Gifts to oversee the organization’s major giving strategy and program. The Director, Major Gifts will develop and implement a fundraising and donor strategy that effectively moves existing and prospective major donors to support our organizational revenue goals.  

 

This is a full-time role reporting to the Vice President, Development; this role is based in Washington, DC, with an expectation to come into our office at least 2 days per week, and to travel around the country 10+ times per year. We hope our new Director, Major Gifts will start in July.

 

Responsibilities

Manage the Major Gifts team 

• Manage Major Gifts team, including Major Gifts Officers  

• Collaboratively ​​set​ clear, actionable ​goals, coach and develop them towards these goals​,​ and support their career progression and retention at Common Cause 

• Lead team meetings and ensure cross-team coordination in service of Development and External Affairs team priorities and goals pipeline  

• Develop budgets and monitoring systems for any and all major gifts fundraising activities and produce internal and external reports regarding projected and achieved goals
• Ensure all staff interactions with major donors are recorded in our CRM of record

 

Manage and grow a portfolio of prospects and current donors with the capacity to contribute significant support toward the priorities of Common Cause, including support of the President’s and Executive Leadership’s donor portfolios 

• Secure leadership level contributions totaling $1.25 million or more annually in support of Common Cause 

• Develop strategies, cultivation plans, and goals for each donor 

• Solicit, close gifts, and steward donors to create increased, consistent, and diverse revenue 

• Build strong, impactful relationships with donors and prospects through proactive and personalized outreach and engagement so that you can engage and upgrade existing donors, re-activate lapsed donors, and inspire new prospective donors to give 

• Align and maximize the President’s travel to include major donor meetings and event invites attended by major donors

• Create small-scale engagement and event opportunities to educate, inspire, and uplift major gifts donors and prospects 

• Build and nurture relationships with Donor Advisors and Donor Advised Funds 

 

Oversee an impactful major gifts program to ensure consistent growth of Common Cause’s $10K+ giving community

• Develop, plan, and implement a comprehensive prospect strategy to achieve successful cultivation, engagement, and solicitations, including but not limited to moving prospects from one giving level to the next

• Establish annual and monthly revenue major gifts goals focused on strengthening and expanding our pool of major donors; and provide reporting on major gift program performance

• Maintain the necessary systems, processes, and tools to communicate the role of major gifts fundraising across Common Cause and ensure an integrated fundraising strategy

• Alongside major gifts officers, design and execute major donor fundraising campaigns, with the goal of increasing engagement and multi-year annual support
• Support senior leadership in the preparation of prospect communications, research, collateral, and funding proposals

 

Other duties as assigned

You will thrive in this role if you have:

• A strong commitment to Common Cause’s nonpartisan mission and to advancing civil rights through our pro-democracy agenda     
• Ability to compel action through both written and verbal communication, including distilling complex concepts for a broad audience, and to differentiate communications as needed for various audiences
• A track record of working collaboratively with others, with the ability to build rapport, trust, and credibility with multiple stakeholders with diverse interests – including board members, senior management, volunteers, and others
• Innovative