Major Gifts Officer

We are seeking an experienced, innovative, and relationship-centered Major Gifts Officer to join our development team. This is an exciting opportunity to build and maximize impactful relationships with our donors, motivating them to increase their engagement and support to bolster our mission to defend voting rights, end partisan gerrymandering, combat election disinformation, restore ethics and accountability to all levels of government, and pursue many other critical democratic reforms.

In this role you will be responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major individual donors and family foundations as you manage and grow your portfolio.

This is a full-time role reporting to the National Director of Major Gifts; this role can be located in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Washington DC. We hope our new Major Gifts Officer will start in December.

Responsibilities

Manage and grow a portfolio of major donors to secure major contributions

· Build and manage a portfolio of 50-100 donors and prospects, including individuals and family foundations, focusing on $10K+ gifts

· 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

· In partnership with other members of the development team, develop annual goals for major gifts

· Collaborate with other members of the Major Gifts team, Development team, States and Programs teams to engage major donors

· Work with and support our state teams to strengthen and align their strategic approach to major donor outreach and engagement

· Stay aware of work and achievements across Common Cause to know how to position our programs and issue areas as opportunities for donors

· Support organizational leadership and the Development team to prepare for solicitation meetings and stewardship activities, including event planning, developing donor briefings, and fundraising collateral

· Manage and track donor interactions and portfolio information and progress in our CRM database (ROI) 

· Other duties as assigned

• A strong commitment to Common Cause’s nonpartisan mission and to advancing racial equity through our national agenda
• Ideally you are familiar with the democracy funding landscape, evolving shifts in philanthropy, and fundraising best practices
• A commitment to equity in the goals of your work and in how you work with others 
• A track record of working collaboratively with others, navigating organizational and power dynamics to meet common goals, and respectfully navigating conflict while maintaining your values 
• Critical thinking skills and a resourceful approach to problem-solving, with the ability to navigate through ambiguity to achieve goals 
• An ability to compel and persuade others through both written and verbal communication, and specifically to translate complex topics and programs into inspiring pitches; and an ability to maintain discretion with sensitive and confidential donor information
• Ability to quickly build rapport, trust, and credibility with multiple stakeholders with diverse interests, and can navigate organizational dynamics, leverage relationships, and lead through influence to meet common goals 
• Ability to manage multiple long-term priorities at once, with high attention to detail, strong organization skills, and an ability to manage your time independently 
• Openness to feedback and awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth    
• Familiarity with office productivity tools including Microsoft Office, Slack, and Zoom; ideally you have experience using a CRM to manage your work with donors  

• Demonstrated success at creating and cultivating relationships, soliciting, and closing five-figure major gifts from high-net-worth individuals or other major gifts sources, and ideally your fundraising experience is a combination of renewals, upgrades and first-time donors, and you have done this work for c3 and c4 organizations
• Experience planning and executing successful fundraising events
• Ability to travel up to once per week in-state and up to once per month in the US for meetings with donors, as well as team and all staff retreats, and to occasionally work evenings and weekends as needed
• 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

• This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit and specific employment terms and conditions are subject to collective bargaining negotiations.
• Common Cause is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time; please note that if hired, you will be asked to produce documentation for authorization to work in the US.

Common Cause is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants of any race, creed, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, income class, political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, or marital status, as well as applicants who have been previously incarcerated.

Common Cause (501(c)(4)) and Common Cause Education Fund (501(c)(3)) are nonpartisan, nonprofit grassroots affiliate organizations dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create an open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.  

Founded in 1970 and headquartered in Washington, DC, Common Cause has more than 1.5 million members and supporters living in every congressional district in the United States, and offices in 23 states around the country.