Major Gifts Officer

$90,000 - $110,000/Yr

Oak Park and River Forest High School Imagine Foundation - Oak Park, IL

Full-time - Mid Level

Remote - Oak Park, IL

About the position

The Major Gifts Officer at the Oak Park River Forest High School Imagine Foundation plays a crucial role in leading fundraising efforts to support educational initiatives. This position focuses on identifying, cultivating, and managing relationships with major gift donors, ensuring effective donor engagement and stewardship to meet the Foundation's financial goals.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a personal portfolio of 100-250 major gift prospects (defined as those giving a gift of $1,000+).
• Research OPRF alumni and community members to develop new prospects.
• Develop and execute an individualized donor method for each prospect, ensuring that each major donor and prospect has a clear strategy and timeline for cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Detailed tracking and reporting of all interactions with prospects and donors in the donor database.
• Support the fundraising efforts of the team by initiating relationships with higher level major donors ($25,000+) and transferring them to the Executive Director for solicitation and stewardship.
• Work with the Development Coordinator to ensure proper donor recognition in all publications.
• Project manage the end-of-year appeal ensuring deadlines and fundraising goals are met.
• Strategize with the Executive Director and Campaign Steering Committee to initiate and manage additional annual and one-time appeals.
• Work with the team to plan and help execute cultivation events for major donors and prospects.
• Be present at Imagine Foundation events, such as fundraisers, information sessions, onsite tours, etc.
• Attend and report at bi-monthly Board of Directors fundraising meetings.
• Serve as staff lead and work collaboratively with the Campaign Steering Committee (CSC), set agendas for bi-monthly meetings, review prospects, manage communications efforts, and prioritize goals.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree (or relevant experience) and at least 3-5 years managing high level donor relationships with demonstrated success in closing gifts of $10,000 and above.
• Excellent grasp of donor management systems, high level proficiency with Google Suite and Microsoft Office, and a working knowledge of search functions for donor research purposes.
• Superior interpersonal and communication skills with a professional presence online and in person.
• Excellent organizational and project management skills and ability to prioritize workload in a timely manner to complete assignments with many deadlines and competing requirements.

Benefits

• Hybrid work schedule of at least three days in office with the majority of time spent engaging donors.