Choose a career where you can better someone else’s life, while bettering your own. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is the largest hunger relief organization in Northeast Ohio having provided over 50 million meals in 2021 to hungry people in Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Ashland and Richland counties. The organization’s mission is to ensure that everyone in these communities has the nutritious food they need every day.

Apply for a position at Greater Cleveland Food Bank where we offer a culture of learning and development, competitive pay and amazing benefits including Low Cost Medical, Dental, Vision, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability, Life Insurance, Generous Retirement Plan, and Holiday Pay all starting on first day of hire and paid time off which starts after 90 days.

SUMMARY

The Donor Relations Officer will focus on the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s major gift and planned giving efforts. The position will manage high level and loyal donors as well as volunteer relationships. This will include managing a portfolio of major gift prospects and coordinating donor identification, research, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship efforts. The person in this position will work closely with the other Development staff members to plan and implement strategies to meet financial goals and will collaborate closely with the fundraising team, Food Bank leadership, and our supporters to raise awareness of major and planned giving opportunities and grow major gift fundraising revenue.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. This list is not all-inclusive and includes other duties as may be assigned.

• Develop and implement appropriate identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for major gift prospects and donors for all Greater Cleveland Food Bank initiatives, including the Harvest for Hunger Campaign.

• Develop major gift request strategies that focus on the needs of the organization, tailored to the specific interests and capacity of individual prospects. Proactively research and identify major gift prospects among the Food Bank’s existing donors and constituencies, and proactively identify additional major gift prospects through supplementary database screening and research.

• Coordinate solicitations of individual major gift prospects. Initiate, schedule and support donor meetings involving the CEO, Director of Development, and Senior Manager of Donor Relations based on donor relationships and purpose of solicitation.

• Manage a portfolio of major gift prospects and donors and personally solicit the same on a regular basis in accordance with fundraising goals set by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.

• Work to engage high level volunteers and donors in our major gifts program through prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewarding of major gift prospects and donors.

• Prepare and conduct detailed briefings with solicitor(s) in advance of in-person major gift solicitations for specific gift amounts.

• Develop Individual Stewardship Plans for donors with the highest potential for giving major and planned gifts. Strategically engage top donors and help them understand how integral they are to the Food Bank’s ability to achieve its goals, while building strategies to advance cultivation and solicitation goals. 

• Move major gift prospects through a donor pipeline, continually tracking “touches/actions” in Raiser’s Edge and collaborating with other departments.

• Collaborate with Senior Manager of Donor Relations around opportunities to enhance the Harvest of Hope Society and utilize this group as a pool of major gift prospects. 

• Initiate and oversee special recognition events involving top-level donors as well as events geared toward moving donors into higher tiers of giving (i.e. community leader events, donor house parties, volunteer events, etc.). Plan and implement annual major donor events.

• Prepare appreciation reports and other cultivation and stewardship materials to personally acknowledge the impact a donor has had on the organization and the fight against hunger in Northeast Ohio.

• Serve as a back-up for the acknowledgment process for all major donors and special friends of the Food Bank.

• Perform and fulfill such other duties as may reasonably be assigned from time to time.

• Help to grow the planned giving program for the Food Bank and, ultimately, our endowment. Ensure major gift donors and prospects are provided with opportunities to make a planned gift, specifically bequests. Promote and grow Tomorrow’s Harvest, our Planned Giving Society. 

• Provide support to Harvest for Hunger and special events, including Market at the Food Bank, Taste of the Browns and the Annual Meeting by staffing the events with special focus on major donors and prospects.

• Maintain required job knowledge and skills and core professional competencies. Attend and participate in required educational programs and staff meetings.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

N/A or description of duties.

QUALIFICATIONS

Requires a bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university and three to five years' face-to-face fundraising or sales experience. Proficiency in Microsoft Office and donor/CRM databases (Raiser’s Edge or other) preferred. The Donor Relations Officer must have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Local travel may be required. The candidate must be a highly-motivated professional with the ability to work in a fast paced, team oriented environment; establish priorities, develop timetables, and handle multiple assignments; and engage donors and prospects with sincerity and enthusiasm. The Donor Relations Officer must be able to represent the Board of Directors and President & CEO by interacting and effectively communicating with various constituencies, such as business professionals, community leaders, Food Bank volunteers, staff, and others. An understanding and appreciation for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and the cause of fighting hunger in the Greater Cleveland area is highly desired.

PHYSICAL REQUIRMENTS AND ENVIROMENT

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand, walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet.

Salary Range: $55,000 - $65,000

Proud to be a North Coast 99 Employer for 2017-2021

To apply for this position, click on this link

Or visit www.greaterclevelandfoodbank.org/jobs