Senior Major Gifts Officer

Position Summary

The Senior Major Gifts Officer (SMGO) plays a central role in the Advancement program at GBFB and is a leader in establishing a culture of philanthropy working across teams and functional areas. The ideal candidate is a self-starter, grounded in best practices, strategic, creative, and collaborative team member. You should be willing to support GBFB’s vision for philanthropy while maximizing results to achieve stated revenue goals.

The SMGO is a results-oriented professional who has primary responsibility for advancing fundraising relationships with those individuals who have the capacity to make a significant philanthropic investment in GBFB and also with individuals who serve on Boards and Committees and their referred prospects. The SMGO will design and implement strategies to cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of these donors and as well as other major gift prospects referred by Board and Committee members and prospects with goals of securing five to seven-figure major and leadership gifts. The SMGO is responsible for managing their portfolio of donors and prospects from cultivation through stewardship, renewal, and upgrading.

The SMGO will also work in cooperation with the Vice President of Development to staff volunteer leadership committees (composed of a variety of GBFB Board members, Committee chairs, and select others) in their work to raise support for and awareness of GBFB’s mission.

Position Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Relationship Management: 85%
Applying moves management best practices, identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individuals, to secure five to seven-figure gifts and identify planned gift opportunities. Donors may also include corporations and family foundations associated with the individuals on the portfolio. Manage a portfolio of approximately 125+ donors and prospects. Develop and implement appropriate and effective strategies to produce successful outcomes, including in-person/virtual visits and strategic follow-up leading to successfully closing major gifts for the achievement of revenue goals.

Establishes and works to meet annual income goals for each donor including maintaining their annual fund giving while growing their major gift capacity to levels of five to seven-figure giving and that of their referred list of prospects. Maintains a consistent level of annual and ongoing meaningful contacts and engagements with donors and prospects including but not limited in person/virtual visits, written/in-person solicitations/proposals, personalized written and e-communications for stewardship and reporting, and volunteer experiences.

For new prospects, actively builds the donor pipeline and executes appropriate move management strategies from qualification to cultivation and engagement with new prospective donors; manages and executes appropriate strategies for successfully soliciting new prospects for major gifts and assignment to be managed in their portfolio or other relationship managers as appropriate.

Critical to the success of the SMGO will be the ability to collaborate with the Vice President of Development and other members of the Advancement Team, Community Impact, Food Acquisition, and Volunteer Engagement to retain and steward donors and ensure each donor is aware of their impact of their support and they experience high quality and consistent customer service.

Maintain accurate data in Salesforce for current and prospective major donors and all referrals from Board/Committee volunteers. Ensures upkeep of pipeline and moves management tracking systems for assigned prospects, donors, and volunteer engagements. Proficiency with CRM databases, Salesforce required.

Volunteer Boards and Committees Staffing: 10% 
Working closely with the Vice President of Development and the GBFB Vice President/Chief of Staff, the SMGO will provide ongoing and consistent relationship management relative to the fundraising/awareness building work of the Boards/Committees ensuring that members have the information and case for support and consistent communication needed for them to raise funds in support of and build awareness for GBFB’s mission. Responsibilities include but are not limited to ongoing and consistent donor stewardship activities and consistent influenced giving reporting and communications. As well as, supporting peer-to-peer fundraising strategies and activities, and providing resources and/or training for Board/Committee members to meet their give or get responsibilities and securing support for annual fundraising campaigns/events and overarching fundraising goals.

Collaborate and actively participate with the Vice President of Development and major and corporate gifts fundraising teams in ongoing efforts to identify and cultivate a strong pipeline of GBFB donors for leadership positions on volunteer Boards and Committees.

Annual and Strategic Planning: 5%
Actively participate in annual and strategic planning processes.

Other: 
Assume additional responsibilities as assigned by management. Serves as an active member of the Advancement Team, contributing to goal setting and the refinement of processes and procedures. Provides support for GBFB events and other activities as needed.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to build strong relationships with GBFB stakeholders including volunteer Board and Committee members, donors, prospects, colleagues, and others.
• Strong organization skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Experience in project leadership/management or facilitation role preferred.
• Ability to work both independently and as a member of a team.
• Strong professional demeanor, placing a high value on offering excellent customer service.
• Demonstrates the required digital competencies that result in the effective usage of the full range of digital technologies at GBFB.
• Strict discretion and sensitivity in maintaining confidentiality.
• Genuine appreciation of GBFB’s mission and the ability to authentically communicate it.

Mandatory Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• A minimum of 5-7 years’ experience in a successful major gifts program with a proven track record of implementing moves management tactics including cultivating, soliciting, closing, and stewarding major gifts from the five to seven-figure levels.
• Knowledge of planned giving and experience closing planned gifts.
• A minimum 2-3 years of demonstrated Board/Committee relationship management.
• Strong organizational skills, ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously and to meet deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, presentation, written communication, and public speaking skills.
• Knowledge of and experience with the Massachusetts philanthropic community is highly desirable.
• Proficiency with Salesforce or similar CRM systems required. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook.)
• Ability and willingness to travel within Massachusetts; Driver’s License required.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

• Ability to sit up to 3 hours at a time.
• Ability to work within in an open air/cubicle environment.
• Ability to lift 25 lbs.
• Ability to work remotely.

Travel Required: Yes

Can this role be performed hybrid: Yes

Apply with resume and cover letter here: https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=c8a69c17-a9c1-45ff-8324-98137a9b6b4d&ccId=19000101_000001&jobId=444240&lang=en_US&source=EN