Director of Major Gifts

Coaching Corps uses organized sports with caring coaches as a vehicle of transformative change to improve health, educational, and social outcomes for kids living in struggling communities. By mobilizing and training thousands of volunteer coaches, we provide kids with consistent, caring adults as role models and teachers. Our coaches use the thicket of teachable moments that sports provide to nourish healthy development by increasing physical activity rates, providing safe places to play team sports with a positive group of friends, fostering leadership skills, and teaching life lessons that build self-confidence and the ability to surpass their own expectations.

We are leading the field in how sports can be used to improve health, educational, and social outcomes for kids, and we are poised to ignite a national movement of volunteer service on behalf of children through sports. By taking Coaching Corps to scale we will be able to reach hundreds of thousands of kids in struggling communities across the nation.

More information about Coaching Corps can be found at www.coachingcorps.org

Job Summary:

The Director of Major Gifts is in charge of major gifts strategies and systems, including stewarding a portfolio of major donors, and strategic outreach, cultivation and solicitation of new lead donors.

Essential Job Functions:

• Develop and implement annual communication, cultivation, and solicitation plans for the major donor base.
• Develop and oversee a plan for major gifts, including new strategies to increase giving from the current major donor pool and to increase the number of major donors.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit and steward a portfolio of major donors and major donor prospects, with the capacity to make five and six figure gifts.
• Ensure that all major donors receive appropriate, consistent engagement/acknowledgement and an accounting of the impact that their gift has on community needs annually.
• Stay informed and knowledgeable about Programmatic activities, maintaining the capacity to converse with donors regarding our work.
• Manage the annual Major Gifts budget to ensure that all major gifts program activities fall within the budget; monitor the income and expense projections for the Major Gifts Program.
• Implement the signature Major Donor Event Series as a strategy to engage new major donors and steward current donors.
• Ensure donor and prospective donor data is properly recorded in the database and that all donor information is maintained with respect to confidentiality.
• Provide strategic guidance to other staff engaged in major gifts work.
• Engage Program staff in donor outreach and provide mentorship on donor cultivation to them as needed.
• Strategically engage the Executive Director and Board of Trustees in solicitation and cultivation.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated skill and effectiveness in relationship building and solicitation of individual major donors.
• Demonstrated ability to ask for and close gifts of five or six figures.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage and build relationships with people from a wide diversity of backgrounds.
• Ability to think strategically and execute tactically.
• Demonstrated ability to supervise, develop, and engage staff, with a strong commitment to collaboration.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Flexible and comfortable in a fast-paced environment, with excellent follow-through.
• Entrepreneurial spirit, with the enthusiasm and energy to implement new strategies and meet ambitious goals.
• Strong organization skills, decision-making, and delegation skills.
• Experience with donor database software.
• Willingness and ability to travel to meet with major donors.
• Minimum of 5 years professional experience in non-profit fundraising or external relations with experience in major gifts.