Major Gifts Officer

The Major Gift Officer (MGO) is passionate about the mission of Island Institute and contributes to the organization by growing philanthropic revenue from individual donors and family foundations. The MGO works as an integral member of the Philanthropy team, meeting both individual and team fundraising goals.

Key responsibilities include the development and implementation of strategies for the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of a portfolio of individual donors with the capacity to make five-to seven-figure gifts, towards the attainment of the organization’s annual and long-range fundraising goals.

This position is based at the MGO’s home office, and the MGO is expected to work out of the Rockland office five times a month. The Major Gift Officer reports to the Director of Philanthropy – Individual Giving.

Qualifications Required:

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of four years’ related work experience in fundraising, with two in major gifts.
• Proven experience cultivating relationships, soliciting, and stewarding a portfolio of individual donors with the capacity to give at the five-to seven-figure level.
• Proven experience securing major gifts to meet quantified fundraising goals.
• Excellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills; able to speak about the organization’s work in an articulate, professional, and compelling manner.
• Strong writing skills; able to effectively convey the organization’s mission, priorities, and programs in a variety of formats (solicitation letters, gift proposals, and reports).
• A team player committed to working in a collaborative environment.
• Highly organized and able to meet firm deadlines.
• Proficiency in Salesforce or a similar database, including data entry for actions and moves management.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Ability to work extended hours, events, and weekends, as needed.
• Ability to travel to off-site locations, including by boat and plane.

Qualifications Desired:

• Three to five years’ experience as a major gift officer.
• Experience developing major gift proposals.
• Experience developing a pipeline of individual donor prospects, from identification to solicitation.
• Knowledge of the Maine coast, in particular the year-round island and remote coastal communities that comprise the Island Institute’s constituency.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Manages a portfolio of 100-150 major donors and major donor prospects, conducting all aspects of relationship qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Works closely with the Philanthropy team to set and meet fundraising targets for assigned donors and share donor strategies.
• Travels regularly throughout Maine for donor meetings and events.
• Creates written donor strategies and maintains an updated track of tasks and touchpoints in Salesforce and SharePoint.
• Secures annual and multi-year gift commitments of $10,000 or more from individual donors and family foundations to meet annual and multi-year fundraising targets.
• Identifies, researches, and cultivates new prospect relationships.
• Stewards major donor relationships including individuals with family foundation connections, including writing of reports and proposals.
• Assists on events to engage, cultivate and steward individual donors. Works with volunteers to implement stewardship events designed to cultivate new and current prospects in their portfolio.

What we Offer:

• A benefits program to include health, dental, vision, company provided life insurance, and a 403b plan with an employer match of up to 6% after a year of service.
• A generous paid time off policy.
• 12 paid holidays and 2 floating holidays.
• Island Institute membership benefits.
• Hybrid work environment - required to be in the Rockland office 5x a month.

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