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

Qualifications

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 and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to navigate through ambiguity to achieve goals, and a resourceful approach to solve problems
• Ability to navigate organizational and power dynamics, respectfully navigate conflict while maintaining your values, and influence others to adopt changes to meet common goals
• Ability to manage and meet deadlines for multiple short- and long-term priorities at once, with high attention to detail; strong organization skills, and the ability to manage your time independently
• A commitment to equity in the goals of your work and in how you work with others
• Openness to feedback and awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth
• Familiarity with office productivity tools including Microsoft Office and Zoom, and a working knowledge of CRM software (Common Cause uses ROI Solutions and Action Network)

The following is required:

• Experience cultivating and closing five-, six-, and seven-figure major gifts, developing donor strategies, and effectively cultivating and stewarding major donors
• Knowledge of how to differentiate between 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) fundraising practices
• Have managed and developed a team; set strategic direction for a team, and built a unified approach to achieve goals
• Demonstrated knowledge of the philanthropic landscape, prospect research methodology, best practices, and evolving trends in philanthropy
• Experience managing a multi-state portfolio
• A track record of leading organization-wide change initiatives
• Ability to travel at least 10 times per year for meetings with donors, as well as team and/or all staff retreats
• Ability to work in-person in the DC office at least two days per week
• Willing to have a social media presence on behalf of Common Cause, including being tagged on posts and creating content on behalf of the organization (as needed, Common Cause will provide accounts for staff members to use)
• Per our nonpartisan policy, Common Cause staff members may not currently be in elected office (or running for office); on the Steering Committee or Finance Committee for any political candidate; or affiliated with the leadership of a political party

In order to ensure greater equity and transparency as an organization, Common Cause sets salary ranges consistently based on job responsibilities, and we determine salary for each staff member based on relevant years of experience (you can read more about our approach to compensation here, including where we offer geographical adjustments). For these reasons, we do not negotiate on our salary ranges or our specific salary offers.

In addition to salary, we also offer a generous benefits package, including:

• A robust healthcare plan that covers 97% of employee’s medical care, 100% of employee’s vision and dental benefits, and 75% of family medical care and 100% of family vision and dental benefits
• Long-term disability and life insurance
• Generous Paid Time Off including 20 Days of Vacation and 10 observed Holidays per year, and additional days off for Thanksgiving and Winter break
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Flexible spending accounts
• A 401k retirement savings plan, with immediate Employer Match
• Dependent Care and Pet Care Support when you travel for work
• Funds for professional development
• And more! See more details here: https://www.commoncause.org/our-benefits/