Published: Nov 28, 2024 - The Director of Major Gifts spearheads strategic donor cultivation and solicitation to enhance philanthropy. Delivers tailored proposals and stewardship materials while exceeding annual and planned giving targets. Leverages donor research and community partnerships to identify new prospects and strengthen relationships.

An Introduction to Professional Skills and Functions for Director of Major Gifts with a Cover Letter
1. Details for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Reports to the Associate Dean for Advancement
- Manages portfolio of approximately 125 prospects according to University Advancement guidelines to solicit major gifts of $25,000 and above, developing individualized strategies for cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.
- Identifies select concerts, recitals, master classes and special events to attend with donors and prospects. Follows up after events with individuals
- Develops, manages and executes a robust Parent Relations engagement and communications program.
- Identifies appropriate events for parent donor prospects throughout the year.
- Identifies, solicits, and stewards leadership annual giving prospects and donors
- Makes recommendations to Associate Dean for Advancement for guest lists for Presidential and Dean’s events, football parties, USC Advancement prospect events and USC Advancement music events.
- Contributes content and reviews briefings in collaboration with Advancement Coordinator and Central Advancement Prospect Researcher.
- Assists in supervising Gift Tracking in conjunction with Associate Dean for Advancement.
- Attends USC Thornton Board of Councilors meetings and produces meeting minutes.
- Serve on the Advancement Parents Program Council (managed by USC Central Advancement)
- Communicates the School’s goals, objectives and activities with University, alumni, volunteer and donor constituents.
Skills: Major Gift Solicitation, Prospect Portfolio Management, Event Engagement, Parent Relations Program Development, Leadership Annual Giving, Donor Stewardship, Content Review, Gift Tracking.
2. Roles for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Actively cultivate and solicit donors to increase philanthropy
- Execute timely and strategic moves to further the donor relationship and an eventual solicitation
- Create and organize necessary preparation for donor visits as well as follow-up in the form of letters, proposals, or collateral materials
- Prepare proposals in support of prospect interests
- Produce individual results and achieve annual goal and stretch goal
- Update Raiser’s Edge to accurately reflect prospects activity and performance
- Meet/exceed minimum annual fundraising targets
- Work with a Development Researcher to identify prospects and donors through community leaders, and current donor base
- Participate in prospect tracking review sessions with research and development teams to identify prospects and establish natural partners and key influencers
- Coordinate with and utilize the services of a Development Researcher for prospect mining
- Meet/exceed planned giving solicitation targets
- Oversee the marketing program to educate constituents about the benefits of planned giving and to generate leads
- Increase stewardship outreach to existing Burns Legacy Society members in order to sustain current planned gift commitments
- Assists with and participates in the planning and execution of Donor Relations annual and periodic special events
- Assists with the management and stewardship of giving societies and other major and principal gift donors
Skills: Donor Cultivation, Fundraising, Proposal Writing, Raiser’s Edge Management, Prospect Research, Goal Achievement, Planned Giving, Marketing Coordination.
3. Responsibilities for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Coordinate the strategy and goal-setting for FIRE’s major giving portfolio ($10,000+).
- Manage an active national portfolio of current supporters for upgraded and continued major gift support, and personally direct the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of these supporters.
- Meet with donors and donor prospects
- Cultivate donors through events, meetings, and regular communication.
- Carry a personal portfolio consisting of top supporters.
- Produce regular reports and establish and maintain performance metrics.
- Represent FIRE at events, conferences, and stakeholder meetings.
- Work with FIRE’s development and program staff to create written proposals for individuals
- Provide stewardship recognition to prospects and donors.
- Integrate planned giving activities with other University Relations initiatives and programs.
- Maintains a safe working environment within and around facilities and associated equipment and supplies including, but not limited to, obtaining Safety Data Sheet (SDS) information pertaining to any hazards associated with the work environment.
Skills: Gift Strategy, Donor Relations, Portfolio Management, Proposal Creation, Stewardship, Planned Giving, Event Representation, Metrics Tracking.
4. Functions for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Identify major gift prospects and develop compelling engagement strategies to solicit and secure major gift contributions from both individuals and institutions.
- In collaboration with members of the Advancement team, identify, develop and cultivate a well-vetted prospect pipeline as part of the organization's fundraising strategy.
- Meet prospect and donor contact objectives for the purpose of prospect and donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship via the Moves Management process.
- Provide program information to donors and prospects and draft personalized correspondence and acknowledgments that demonstrate appreciation, recognition, and engagement of donors.
- Support planning and execution of donor events and constituent visits.
- Engage appropriate program staff, senior leadership, Board members, and other key stakeholders in fundraising efforts.
- Manage a portfolio of 50-70 major gift donors to include high-wealth individuals, corporations, foundations, and civic sources with the capacity to make annual gifts and multi-year commitments.
- Serve as primary contact for major gift donors, developing and implementing solicitation and cultivation strategies.
- Building, managing and maintaining key relationships that contribute to continued pipeline growth.
- Maintain an annual “Top 25” prospect pool among key donor prospect groups to include individuals, corporations, foundations and other public sources.
- Achieve assigned annual fundraising goal of $3 million, and identify opportunities for life-income, bequest, and/or planned giving.
- Prepare written proposals, grant proposals, gift agreements, funder presentations, and communications needed to define, secure and document major gifts.
- Provide timely reporting of fundraising and stewardship activities and results.
- Effectively utilize data management tools (Salesforce) to maintain records of donor and prospect contacts, analyze potential donor research materials to target appropriate givers, and track, evaluate and present relevant giving information via monthly, quarterly and annual reporting.
- Manage information relating to current major donors and prospects in the central database, emphasizing the highest standards of accuracy, timeliness, thoroughness, and confidentiality.
Skills: Major Gift Strategy, Prospect Pipeline Development, Moves Management, Donor Cultivation, Event Planning, Stakeholder Engagement, Portfolio Management, Proposal Preparation.
5. Job Description for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Manage the full lifecycle of fundraising for donors capable of giving $100,000+
- Build deep relationships with those impacted by the disease
- Travel to meet with donors and attend fundraising events
- Conduct prospect research, develop effective cultivation and solicitation strategies
- Learn and convey scientific terms relating to the research performed by the organization
- Conduct meetings and facility tours with donors
- Make in-person solicitation and cultivation visits with over 200 prospects and donors each year.
- Identify and contact prospects and donors to arrange in-person visits.
- Perform follow-up activities for in-person visits, including prospect contact, proposal preparation, record keeping, report preparation.
- Prepare a tri-annual planned giving newsletter for mailing to selected constituents.
Skills: Fundraising Management, Donor Relationships, Prospect Research, Cultivation Strategies, Scientific Communication, Facility Tours, In-Person Solicitation, Record Keeping.
What Are the Qualifications and Requirements for Director of Major Gifts in a Cover Letter?
1. Knowledge and Abilities for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Experience in fundraising or related field (e.g. sales), preferably in higher education.
- Demonstrated skill to work within a complex environment with strong capabilities in planning, organizing, and managing.
- Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and peers in the Office of Institutional Advancement and with internal partners and external volunteers.
- Demonstrated interpersonal skills.
- Possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills with ability to interact effectively at all levels.
- Demonstrated successful major gift fundraising experience, including individual, family foundation and corporate gift solicitation.
- Donor relations and stewardship experience
- Demonstrates knowledge of the DSU Fundamentals
- Prior experience with higher education or nonprofit fundraising
- Curiosity and strong desire for continuous learning, meeting new people, digging into various industries and business trends.
- Initiative, enthusiasm and willingness to pitch in at all times.
Qualifications: BA in Advertising with 5 Years of Experience
2. Experience and Requirements for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Demonstrated fundraising experience, specifically with individual high-level donors, performing arts experience
- Demonstrated track record at the major giving level.
- Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills with a superior attention to detail and ability to multitask in a fast pace environment
- Strong organizational skills and ability to meet goals.
- Positive and enthusiastic attitude, strong work ethic, and high degree of professionalism
- Successful experience managing others, and strong ability to recruit, orient, train, mentor, and motivate staff who support development goals.
- Excellent computer skills (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and fundraising database management skills (Tessitura experience is preferred)
- Ability to manage multiple deadlines simultaneously
- Proven experience as a successful team member.
- Ability to effectively communicate BAM goals and mission to external parties
- Ability to work independently and enjoys collaborating in a team environment.
Qualifications: BA in Communications with 7 Years of Experience
3. Skills, Knowledge, and Experience for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Progressively responsible development experience
- Strong working knowledge of the principles and practices of major gift fund-raising in an academic medical, health-care environment or comparable complex organization.
- Proven ability to close gifts of $500,000+ and experience in securing gifts from a variety of constituencies.
- Outgoing personality and ability to initiate and enjoy direct communication with key constituencies, customer-service orientation.
- Prior success in hiring, mentoring and retaining a team.
- Ability to handle diverse array of assignments, simultaneous tasks, meet deadlines and attend to follow-through.
- Experience with initiating, organizing, and managing projects while interfacing successfully with colleagues in a collaborative approach.
- Excellent presentation, organizational, interpersonal, and writing skills.
- Solid working knowledge of fund-raising databases, preferably Raisers’ Edge.
Qualifications: BA in Marketing with 6 Years of Experience
4. Requirements and Experience for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Experience in a donor or alumni stewardship role at an organization of similar size or mission.
- Experience at a large non-profit in a stewardship position.
- Experience using a CRM system, Salesforce
- Experience working with high-net-worth donors ($1M+).
- Have familiarity with fundraising concepts, including Planned Giving, Major Gifts and stewardship functions.
- Have passion and commitment to CARE's mission and values.
- Be a creative thinker with proven ability to produce and manage multiple events at one time.
- Have excellent communication and writing skills, good judgment and discretion, and the ability to successfully interact with donors, board members, guest speakers and staff at all levels of the organization.
- Have demonstrated ability to establish, cultivate and steward strong relationships with internal and external audiences.
- Have demonstrated ability to build successful signature events and innovative donor engagement strategies.
- Have the ability to develop and execute fundraising strategies and plans that integrate into the organization's mission, priorities and goals.
Qualifications: BA in Public Relations with 8 Years of Experience
5. Education and Experience for Major Gifts Officer Cover Letter
- Front-line experience cultivating major gifts from individual donors
- Leadership of major giving team
- Superior interpersonal communication and relationship building skills
- Donor-centric mindset with commitment to authentic relationship building
- Proficiency in Microsoft Suite, including presentation development
- Demonstrated experience in talent identification, mentorship and guidance of major gift fundraisers
- High emotional intelligence, and the ability to motivate and mentor others
- Demonstrated work ethic as a self-starter
- Possess a growth mindset, is open minded and seeks challenges
- Communicate in a direct, open and honest manner
Qualifications: BA in Nonprofit Management with 6 Years of Experience