Development Officer, Major & Institutional Giving

At Our Children’s Trust, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Our Children’s Trust believes that diversity and inclusion is critical to our success and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.

Our Mission

Our Children’s Trust empowers young people to enforce their constitutional rights in court when governments endanger their lives, health, and futures by fueling the climate crisis.

Position Summary:

The Development Officer, Major & Institutional Giving will play a key role in growing sustainable philanthropic support for Our Children’s Trust by cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual donors, family foundations, institutional funders, and high-capacity prospects. Working closely with the Senior Director of Donor Development and organizational leadership, this position will manage a portfolio of donors and prospects, support foundation and institutional funder relationships, develop individualized engagement strategies, and help move supporters toward deeper investment in OCT’s youth-led, science-based constitutional climate litigation.

This role will focus on relationship-based fundraising across both individual and institutional giving, including donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, proposal development, funder communications, grant reporting, donor briefings, and moves management. The position requires excellent relationship-building skills, strong writing and communication abilities, sound judgment, comfort with complex legal and climate issues, and the ability to translate OCT’s litigation, youth leadership, and trauma-informed approach into compelling philanthropic opportunities. As the development team grows, this position is expected to assume increasing responsibility for supervising and mentoring development staff, coordinating day-to-day fundraising workflows, and helping strengthen development systems and processes.

OCT has a strong preference for candidates based on the West Coast or in another strategic donor market, but location is not an absolute requirement. The right candidate will bring demonstrated fundraising success, strong donor instincts, and the ability to travel for donor meetings, funder engagement, organizational events, and litigation-related opportunities.

Key Responsibilities:

Major Gifts and Donor Portfolio Management

• Manage a portfolio of individual donors, family foundations, institutional funders, and high-capacity prospects, with responsibility for qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and revenue growth.
• Develop individualized donor and funder strategies using moves management principles, philanthropic interests, giving history, capacity, and engagement opportunities.
• Grow revenue by retaining existing supporters, increasing giving where appropriate, and identifying new major gift and institutional funding opportunities.
• Prepare for and participate in donor and funder meetings, solicitations, briefings, and follow-up communications.
• Build a robust planned giving program with donor education, marketing and stewardship to build long-term legacy support.
• Maintain accurate donor records, contact reports, next steps, and portfolio activity in Neon or other donor management systems.
• Monitor donor trends, engagement opportunities, and portfolio progress, and make recommendations to strengthen fundraising performance.

Institutional Giving and Foundation Relations

• Support and manage relationships with foundation, family foundation, and institutional funders in collaboration with the Senior Director of Donor Development and organizational leadership.
• Draft and coordinate proposals, concept notes, grant reports, letters of inquiry, funder updates, and other institutional giving materials.
• Track grant deliverables, reporting deadlines, funding restrictions, and stewardship obligations to ensure timely and accurate follow-through.
• Work with program, legal, finance, and operations staff to gather information needed for proposals, reports, budgets, and funder communications.
• Help identify new institutional funding prospects aligned with OCT’s litigation, youth engagement, trauma-informed care, education, communications, and organizational priorities.

Strategic Market and Donor Development

• Build and deepen relationships in priority donor markets, with a preference for West Coast engagement and flexibility to pursue other strategic markets where the candidate brings strong relationships or opportunity.
• Identify opportunities for donor and funder cultivation through litigation milestones, youth leadership moments, organizational updates, events, board connections, and partner engagement.
• Coordinate donor stewardship and cultivation opportunities that advance fundraising goals and deepen connection to OCT’s mission.

Leadership, Board, and Volunteer Engagement

• Support the Senior Director of Donor Development, Executive Directors, Founder, board members, and other organizational leaders in donor and funder cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Prepare donor and funder briefings, talking points, reports, and development updates for leadership, board members, and other key stakeholders.
• Support engagement opportunities for board members, volunteers, and ambassadors who can advance OCT’s fundraising efforts.
• Assist with Development Committee activities and volunteer fundraising initiatives as assigned.

Donor Communications and Fundraising Materials

• Develop fundraising materials and donor communications, including proposals, appeals, acknowledgments, donor updates, impact reports, pitch materials, institutional funder updates, and stewardship resources.
• Maintain a strong understanding of OCT’s legal strategy, case developments, youth leadership, and organizational priorities in order to communicate effectively with donors and funders.
• Translate complex legal, climate, constitutional, and youth-centered work into clear, compelling, and funder-appropriate language.

Fundraising Operations and Collaboration

• Use donor data and reporting tools to support portfolio management, track progress toward fundraising goals, and evaluate donor and funder engagement strategies.
• Collaborate with Operations and Finance on donor data, gift tracking, grant coding, CRM processes, fundraising systems, and alignment with finance systems as needed.
• Support annual fundraising initiatives, donor acquisition, renewal, retention, sustaining donor efforts, planned giving, and corporate or philanthropic partnerships where aligned with development strategy.
• Maintain accountability and compliance with applicable fundraising ethics, regulations, confidentiality expectations, grant requirements, and organizational policies.
• Provide supervision, coaching, and project management for development staff, interns, consultants, and contractors, as assigned, while helping establish effective fundraising systems and workflows.

Minimum Required Education and Experience:

• 7 years of fundraising experience
• -OR- Associate’s degree and 5 years of fundraising experience
• -OR- Bachelor’s degree and 3 years of fundraising experience
• -OR- Master’s degree and 2 years of fundraising experience

Competencies:

• Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors, funders, or high-capacity prospects.
• Experience managing a donor or funder portfolio and using moves management practices to grow engagement and revenue.
• Strong writing skills, including experience drafting proposals, funder updates, donor communications, reports, or other fundraising materials.
• Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to work effectively with donors, funders, board members, volunteers, organizational leaders, and colleagues.
• Ability to translate complex work into clear and compelling donor- and funder-facing communications.
• Experience using donor databases or CRM systems to track activity, manage portfolios, and support fundraising strategy; experience with Neon is a plus.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple relationships, deadlines, proposals, reports, and priorities.
• Ability to exercise discretion, sound judgment, and confidentiality in donor, funder, and organizational matters.
• Commitment to OCT’s mission, youth-centered advocacy, climate justice, and trauma-informed organizational practices.
• Ability and willingness to travel for donor meetings, funder engagement, events, and organizational priorities, especially in priority donor markets.

Expectation for All Employees:

• Exceptional writing, organizational, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to excellence.
• Ability to withstand pressure on an ongoing basis.
• Ability to identify and solve problems with sound judgment and effective solutions.
• Ability to work independently, jointly, and under pressure.
• Respectful, approachable and team oriented, building strong working relationships and contributing to a positive work environment.
• Takes personal responsibility for job performance; receptive to feedback, willing to learn, and embraces continuous improvement.
• Professional participation, presentation and conduct during in-person and virtual events.
• Commitment to Trauma Informed Care principles and practices.
• Active participation in creating an inclusive workplace by respecting diverse perspectives, treating everyone fairly, and actively working to dismantle systemic barriers, demonstrating a commitment to promoting equality and belonging within our organizational culture.
• Ensure timely submission of time accounting, expense reporting, and reimbursement requests.
• Experience supervising, mentoring, or coordinating the work of staff, interns, volunteers, or contractors is preferred.

Working Conditions/Work Schedule:

Work is primarily performed in a standard office setting. Work is primarily performed Monday through Friday during regular business hours; however, evening and weekend hours may be necessary dependent upon case activity, deadlines, and workload.

Physical Working Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to the extent possible and appropriate in the event of ADA qualifying disability.

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Ability to occasionally lift and carry up to 20 pounds.

Travel:

Some travel will be expected. Travel will be primarily within the United States and could expand outside the country. Travel is dependent on organizational growth, legal case development, trial, and other national and international events. High travel times will occur around trial dates and events geared to Major Donors.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time, with or without notice.

Benefits include 100% employer-paid medical and dental coverage for employees, long- and short-term disability insurance, life and AD&D insurance, SIMPLE IRA plan, generous vacation, sick and holiday leave, and restorative leave after six years of employment. This position is salaried, exempt, and not eligible for overtime pay.