Major Gifts Officer

The fact that 1 in 4 people in the world today don’t have clean water is unacceptable, and we need your help to change that.

We’re the #1 international non-profit exclusively focused on bringing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education (WASH) to the children and families who need it most. Our global WASH programs, led and maintained by the communities where we work, strive to create long-term access to WASH that truly transforms people’s lives.

WaterAid America is looking for a relationship-driven and results-oriented Major Gifts Officer to build meaningful relationships with donors and generate philanthropic revenue that advances WaterAid’s mission.

As a frontline fundraiser, the Major Gifts Officer will manage a portfolio of current and prospective donors, developing relationships and securing high five-figure and low six-figure gifts. We are looking for someone who enjoys listening, storytelling, building authentic donor relationships, making thoughtful and confident asks, and persisting to achieve results.

As part of a collaborative team of two, this role also contributes beyond an individual portfolio when needed, supporting the operational and administrative work required to deliver a strong donor experience and collaborating with colleagues across WaterAid America and the global WaterAid federation.

All WaterAid staff are expected to demonstrate honest and ethical practices and champion WaterAid's values of respect, collaboration, accountability, innovation, courage, and integrity.
Responsibilities

Reporting to the Director of Major Gifts, the Major Gifts Officer is responsible for generating philanthropic revenue from qualified donors and prospects with strong lifetime value potential. The Officer will manage donors beginning at the $5,000 level and identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, renew and steward supporters throughout the donor lifecycle.

Manage and grow a major-gifts portfolio approximately 55%

- Manage a portfolio of current, prospective and lapsed donors beginning at the $5,000 level.

- Identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, renew, upgrade and steward donors across the full donor lifecycle.

- Develop personalized donor strategies using disciplined moves management.

- Conduct donor meetings and make direct gift requests.

- Secure gifts across the major-gift range, including high five-figure and low six-figure commitments.

- Prepare pitches, proposals, reports and donor correspondence for unrestricted, restricted, multi-year and other giving opportunities.

- Develop cultivation and stewardship strategies for current and lapsed supporters.

- Identify donors with potential for elevated or leadership-level giving.

- Meet agreed portfolio revenue, retention, upgrade, qualification and activity goals.

- Represent WaterAid at donor meetings, cultivation events and other engagement opportunities.

Strengthen fundraising operations and donor engagement approximately 25%

- Maintain accurate and timely donor records, opportunities, contact reports, stages, next actions and forecasts in Salesforce.

- Use CRM data to support segmentation, moves management, portfolio analysis and donor progression.

- Support cultivation, solicitation, renewal and stewardship planning and communications.

- Prepare donor briefings, proposals, grant applications, reports and other donor materials.

- Coordinate programmatic, financial and impact information needed for tailored donor opportunities.

- Manage assigned projects and deliverables through completion.

- Identify process improvements that strengthen fundraising efficiency and the donor experience.

Build pipeline and help actualize revenue strategy approximately 20%

- Partner with philanthropy leadership, Individual Giving and prospect research to identify and qualify emerging major-gift prospects.

- Review the database for donors with major-gift, family-foundation, donor-advised fund and planned-giving potential.

- Help move donors from Individual G