Senior Director, Individual Giving (Major Gifts)

Voting Rights Lab is seeking a Senior Director of Individual Giving to expand a high-impact major gifts program focused on individual donors.

This is an externally facing role responsible for building deep relationships with donors, securing significant philanthropic investments, and helping shape the organization’s long-term fundraising strategy.

The Senior Director will develop and manage a portfolio of high-capacity donors, advisors, and prospects, drive revenue growth through strategic qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, and partner closely with leadership to translate programmatic priorities into compelling funding opportunities.

This role is ideal for a fundraiser who thrives in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment and is motivated by the opportunity to scale impact at a pivotal moment for democracy.

Core Responsibilities

Major Gifts Fundraising

• Build, manage, and grow a portfolio of donors and philanthropic advisors to high-net-worth individual donors (capacity for 5-, 6-, and 7-figure gifts)
• Develop and execute tailored cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for each donor
• Personally lead donor meetings, pitches, and follow-up to close significant gifts
• Drive donor retention and upgrade strategies to meet and exceed annual revenue goals
• Identify and qualify new prospects through research, networks, and partnerships
• Ensure there is a clear written donor strategy for each donor within the portfolio
• Demonstrate a “mission-first” approach to fundraising, actively partnering with leadership and program staff to facilitate donor connections and collaboratively delivering high-level engagement

Strategy & Pipeline Development

• Partner with the Development team to design and implement a comprehensive individual giving strategy
• Build and maintain a robust donor pipeline and moves management system
• Analyze performance metrics to optimize fundraising strategies and donor engagement
• Contribute to revenue forecasting and long-term fundraising planning
• Prepare senior leadership for donor engagement and participate in key meetings

Donor Communications & Materials

• Contribute to the development of high-quality donor materials
• Ensure consistent, compelling messaging that translates complex policy work into clear donor value propositions

Systems

• Maintain accurate donor records and activity tracking in CRM systems
• Develop bios and briefing materials for donor meetings, report back and follow up on donor meetings
• Strengthen internal processes for donor management, reporting, and stewardship
• Identify opportunities to improve fundraising systems and practices

Qualifications

Required

• 8+ years of nonprofit fundraising experience, with a strong focus on individual major gifts
• Proven track record of working with philanthropic advisors to build donor relationships
• Proven track record of successfully soliciting and closing six- and seven-figure gifts
• Experience managing a high-value donor portfolio and meeting or exceeding revenue targets
• Exceptional relationship-building and interpersonal skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including proposal writing and donor messaging
• Experience working in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments
• Proven ability to secure meetings with donors and prospects through consistent outreach, thoughtful engagement strategies, and effective pipeline development and management
• Demonstrated willingness to take initiative and do what it takes to move work forward, including stepping outside formal role boundaries when needed
• Strong team orientation, with a track record of contributing to shared goals and supporting colleagues across functions to achieve collective success

Preferred

• Experience in democracy, civic engagement, policy, or advocacy organizations
• Familiarity with both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) fundraising environments
• Experience building or scaling a major gifts program
• Comfort engaging cross-partisan or ideologically diverse donors

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking with strong execution skills
• High emotional intelligence and donor intuition
• Ability to translate complex policy work into compelling narratives
• Strong project management and organizational skills
• Deep commitment to democratic values and equitable participation

Salary and benefits:

We value our staff by offering competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package, detailed below.

The Senior Director of Individual Giving (Major Gifts) is in the Senior Director pay band, and the hiring range for this position is $135,000-$170,000 per year. The base pay offered will take into account internal equity and may also vary depending on the candidate’s job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other factors. The total compensation package may include the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, depending on the level and position offered.

At this time, we provide the following benefits for eligible employees:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance that is majority employer-funded
• 401(k) retirement plan, with up to 6% employer match
• Generous paid time off package, including unlimited flexible vacation leave, 2 weeks sick leave, in addition to 13 paid holidays, winter holiday closure, and other PTO opportunities such as parental leave, volunteer time, and more
• Flexible spending account for medical and dependent care
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Basic-term life and accidental death and dismemberment (ADD) insurance, with an employee buy-up option
• Additional benefits including work from home benefits, cell phone benefits, and fitness benefits

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

Voting Rights Lab is a non-profit organization that is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding, and enables each of us to realize our potential. Voting Rights Lab’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

Part of Voting Rights Lab’s mission is to ensure that people with records of arrest or conviction can vote. As such, we give full and fair consideration to all applicants, regardless of a past record of arrest or conviction.

At this time, we provide the following benefits for eligible employees:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance that is majority employer-funded
• 401(k) retirement plan, with up to 6% employer match
• Generous paid time off package, including unlimited flexible vacation leave, 2 weeks sick leave, in addition to 13 paid holidays, winter holiday closure, and other PTO opportunities such as parental leave, volunteer time, and more
• Flexible spending account for medical and dependent care
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Basic-term life and accidental death and dismemberment (ADD) insurance, with an employee buy-up option
• Additional benefits including work from home benefits, cell phone benefits, and fitness benefits