JOB: Major Gifts Officer

Major Gifts Officer

Jews United for Justice (JUFJ), seeks a dynamic and entrepreneurial person to be our first Major Gifts Officer. JUFJ is celebrating our milestone 25th year of making change. JUFJ’s budget has doubled over the past 5 years to more than $2.5 million, and we engage more than 10,000 people in the region. Now is our time to invest in cultivating, stewarding, and soliciting major donors. The inaugural Major Gifts Officer will develop and implement the organization’s first systematic major donor program

The ideal candidate will excel at building and maintaining relationships, synthesizing and clearly communicating programmatic work to donors, and working with a team to make an impact. This is a full-time, exempt position that falls within a bargaining unit represented for collective bargaining purposes by a labor organization (NPEU/Local 70, IFPTE).

The ideal candidate will have at least five years of development, fundraising, sales, or relevant experience and a track record of successful major donor solicitations. This person will have a functional knowledge of fundraising best practices and donor databases for managing donor and solicitation records. This position will play an important role expanding the scope and scale of JUFJ’s philanthropic efforts, and helping formulate strategy and implementation of plans to achieve fundraising goals.

About Jews United for Justice

Jews United for Justice advances economic, racial, and social justice in the Washington, DC and Maryland region by educating and mobilizing our local Jewish communities to action. We move our region closer to equity and justice by advancing issue-based campaigns that make real, immediate, and concrete improvements in people’s lives and build the power of working-class and poor communities of color. Through these campaigns we develop leaders, build our Jewish grassroots community, shift the consciousness of our community, and build the collective power needed to undo systemic racism and inequality. Learn more about JUFJ.

Job Responsibilities 

Lead Major Gifts Program

• In consultation with JUFJ’s Senior Director of Development, design and lead JUFJ’s major gifts program.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors across the region at the major gift level ($1,000 level and above), with a specific emphasis on growing the base of donors making gifts of at least $10,000 annually.
• Build relationships with a robust network of donors and prospects and identify opportunities for further engagement with donors and prospects to support the JUFJ Campaign Fund, JUFJ’s Planned Giving program, or partners in the field.
• Provide data driven budget projections, and in consultation with the Senior Development Manager, track and assess major gift fundraising metrics.

Prospect Management/Research

• Actively participate in the identification and qualification of new major gift prospects with capacity to give $100,000+ with an emphasis on identifying and cultivating prospects in the Jewish community.
• Develop a comprehensive plan to upgrade current donors and identify and solicit new donors to meet budgeted goals.

Events Management

• Execute events such as donor briefings and/or house parties that advance donors’ and prospects’ relationship with JUFJ.
• Execute major gift solicitations and management of major donors at JUFJ’s largest annual event, The Heschel Vision Awards.
• Represent JUFJ at events in the Jewish and social justice philanthropic communities.

Development Administration

• Work strategically with the Board of Directors, Leadership Councils, donor leaders, and JUFJ staff to foster donors’ connection to JUFJ’s mission.
• Provide reports to senior management, board members and volunteers (as appropriate) including, but not limited to progress toward budgeted goals.
• Prepare content for solicitation, cultivation, and development events, correspondence, strategic fundraising plans, reports and tailored proposals.
• Manage current donor and prospect cultivation and solicitation plans using JUFJ’s technology, including EveryAction and iWave.
• Partner with JUFJ programmatic staff to manage the institutional relationships with current and prospective major donors.

Key Qualifications & Experience

We’re looking for candidates with at least five years of experience in fundraising, development, sales or other relevant work and/or at least 2 years as a major gifts officer with particular strengths in the following areas:

• Direct Donor Solicitations Experience:Previous experience developing and executing donor solicitation and stewardship strategies for major gift donors and prospects.
• Interpersonal Skills: Track record of developing and maintaining trusting relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, an ability to meet people where they are, find common ground, and inspire people to give to and act on what they believe in.
• Communication Skills: Capacity to synthesize complex information about JUFJ’s organizing and programmatic work and match it with donor interest to produce persuasive, professional writing and strong verbal communication.
  Aligned Values: Actively demonstrates integrity, a commitment to racial justice, and alignment with the mission of Jews United for Justice.
• Technology Competencies: Experience with EveryAction (NGPVAN/VoteBuilder), iWave and Asana, and Google Suite preferred, but not required.
• Project Management: Ability to manage multiple projects, consult with various stakeholders, anticipate obstacles, coordinate staff and internal resources, and to so while supporting and maintaining a positive working environment.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to incorporate consideration of impact, resources, and larger institutional goals during development campaign planning and implementation.
• Team Player/Professionalism: Be reliable, a self-starter, with high standards who takes initiative. Accustomed to holding yourself accountable for your words and actions. Able and willing to at times meet with donors outside of standard business hours on occasion (approximately twice monthly.)
• Data Driven Decision Making: Tracking and assessing major gift fundraising metrics to evaluate the efficacy of current strategies and adjust as data indicates.
• Eagerness to Learn: Inclination to keep learning, asking questions, and working to understand the strategies within the broader fundraising world.

Logistics

• Compensation: $80,000 – $92,000 per year commensurate with experience
• Benefits: JUFJ offers a competitive benefits package covering 100% of employee medical & dental insurance premiums, 25% of premiums for employee dependents, 3% employer retirement contributions, short-term disability income protection insurance, and generous paid time off, including 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, and a sabbatical every 7 years on staff.
• Location:This is a full-time position based out of JUFJ’s Washington, DC office; the chosen candidate also has the option to work out of our Baltimore, MD office. All staff are permitted to work remotely unless attending an event or action.

JUFJ is committed to building a diverse team that draws on the strengths of people with a variety of identities, backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. People of color, indigenous people, LGBTQ+ people, and immigrants are particularly encouraged to apply. You do not need to be Jewish. Please send a cover letter indicating your years of experience and resume to jobs@jufj.org and indicate Major Gifts Officer in the subject line.