Donor Relations Officer, Major Giving

POSITION PURPOSE 

Reporting to the Donor Relations Manager, this position identifies, cultivates solicits and stewards current and prospective major donors and secures gifts for WFYI ($1,200 - $25,000 level), to reach more people, build a strong organization and position WFYI an essential community asset for trusted journalism, inspiring stories and lifelong learning.  
 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

To be successful in this role, an individual must be able to perform in a satisfactory manner the essential functions and responsibilities listed below. We will make reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions. 
 

• Meets annual fundraising goals through major donor support. Identify, cultivate and solicit major gift prospects throughout the fundraising cycle, with a focus on those with a capacity to make gifts of $1,200-$25,000 and above. 

• Qualifies and manages a portfolio of 135-150 donors and executes strategies for donor identification, qualification cultivation and solicitation and stewardship with a goal of approximately 12-15 donor calls/visits monthly. 

• Prepare solicitation strategies, meeting briefings, written proposals and impact reports for use during donor cultivation, solicitation and stewardship activities.  

• Creates thoughtful stewardship plans for key current and prospective donors, including impact reports, invitations to in person events, communication about WFYI, and key information on an ongoing basis.  

• Identifies, cultivates and solicits planned gifts and facilitates other donations from major donors, including stock, property, giving through Donor Advised Funds. 

• Delivers excellent service to WFYI donors as their primary point of contact, with the ability to build strong relationships and clearly communicate our organization’s mission. 

• Maintains knowledge of organization-wide funding priorities, case statements and impact reports.  

• Works well with volunteers and board members to ensure departmental goals and objectives are met. 

• Ensure that current and prospective donor information is entered into WFYI’s organizational database in a standardized, timely and accurate manner. 

• Assist Donor Relations Manager with implementation of tasks geared towards donor cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.  

• Other duties as assigned. 

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE 

To perform this job successfully, an individual must have the following education and/or experience unless otherwise noted below. 

Required: 

• Bachelor’s degree preferred along with at least 3 years of experience securing major and/or planned gifts. 

Preferred: 

• Familiarity with public broadcasting – preferred 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES 

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. We will make reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions. 

Required: 

• History of successfully securing gifts of $1,200 - $25,000  

• Experience qualifying donors through the Moves Management process. 

• Experience or knowledge of planned giving vehicles, principles and best practices. 

• Maintain a high level of confidentiality with respect to prospect and donors.  

• Proven ability to work with internal and external constituencies in a professional and courteous manner with strong collaborative abilities and enthusiasm for working in teams.  

• Demonstrate excellent written, verbal and presentation skills,  

• High level of creativity, initiative and motivation and must be willing to work varied hours and attend off-site events.  

• Experience using a donor database and other donor management technology. 

• Computer proficiency with familiarity with Microsoft products (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams) and Canva (preferred) 

• High energy and passion for WFYI Public Media mission and core values of operating with unquestionable integrity; collaborating with each other and with community partners; respecting everyone; serving with humility; embracing change; delivering excellence every day. Sense of humor.