Major Gifts Officer

 

Job Name:	Major Gifts Officer
Department:	Institutional Advancement
Location:	19 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA
Job Date:	August 23, 2011
Reports To:	Senior Major Gifts Officer
Position Status:	Full-time with benefits

 
Contact Information:     To apply for this position, please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@bostonballet.org .  IMPORTANT – PLEASE INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE POSITION FOR WHICH YOU ARE APPLYING IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR E-MAIL.  No phone calls please.

Description
Boston Ballet is growing its Development team and has an immediate opening for a Major Gifts Officer with a proven history of interacting with, and successfully soliciting major gifts from, high net worth individuals.  He/she will possess exceptional verbal and written communication skills and natural enthusiasm for building relationships.  Familiarity with the Boston arts community and philanthropic environment will be an advantage.

Responsibilities
Resource Acquisition
•    Work both independently and as a team member to manage relationship building, cultivation and solicitation within an assigned portfolio of individual major gift donors and prospects with $25,000+ capacity.  Assess giving potential, recommend target ask amounts, and develop personalized strategies for annual gifts.
•    Support or conduct face-to-face visits, solicitations, and other high-level interactions with major gift donors and prospects.
•    Identify new sources of support from individual major gift prospects and renew existing annual gifts as needed at the $2,000+ level.
•    Meet the requisite benchmarks and achievement levels for the assigned portfolio to contribute to the overall achievement of Boston Ballet’s development goal.
•    Partner with senior members of the Company’s internal and external leadership in strategy, cultivation and face-to-face visits.
•    Work with Research Analyst, Sr. Major Gifts Officer, Director of Development, and Executive Director to prioritize research needs and develop presentation materials to inform prospect strategies, including background information, scripts, and talking points, as well as gift proposals for meetings with individuals.
•    Identify, recruit, and train volunteers who can actively support cultivation and solicitation activities with individuals within the assigned portfolio.
•    Participate actively in Prospect Review meetings with other Development staff to identify and assign new prospects and to share and request ideas for cultivation and solicitation strategies.
•    Prepare and file timely contact reports and follow effective prospect management systems.
•    In the course of cultivating donors and prospects, identify potential candidates for planned giving cultivation and solicitation, as well as additional major gift prospects.
•    Staff Board committees, projects as requested.

Stewardship
•    Ensure full redemption of all pledges
•    In coordination with the Donor Services Officer, establish and ensure appropriate and meaningful donor recognition and manage the stewardship process for individuals within the assigned portfolio, including preparing gift agreements and acknowledgements.
•    Ensure ethical handling of confidential donor and prospect information.
•    Communicate with donors (in person) that resources have been used as intended and share results of donor investments, including presenting the Annual Report or other relevant information to donors within assigned portfolio.

 

Other
•    Maintain current knowledge of Planned Giving vehicles and opportunities.
•    Stay informed about industry trends and issues as well as Company-specific events to be used to steward and cultivate major gift donors and prospects
•    Other duties as requested or assigned.


Qualifications
•    The candidate must be passionate about advancing Boston Ballet, its programs, and dance as an art form.
•    Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
•    3 to 5 years of development experience, including at least 2 years of direct solicitations with a proven record of closing gifts at the $25,000+ level.
•    Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
•    Ability to develop and harness strong investigating skills to create effective cultivation and solicitation strategies.
•    Proficiency and experience using donor database information, both accessing existing information and adding contract reports and pertinent donor information.
•    Ability to take direction and be a team member, while also working independently and strategically with external constituents,
•    Ability to set priorities, balance demands of multiple tasks, and meet deadlines.
•    Knowledge of basic finance and accounting principles.
•    Ability to work evenings and weekends staffing Company performances and special events.
•    Results-oriented and committed to departmental goals with a high degree of initiative to motivate high-level donors and volunteers.
•    Understanding of endowment initiatives and planned giving vehicles.