About the Organization:

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida (ACLU of Florida or ACLU-FL) seeks a Major Gift Officer (MGO). The MGO works within the Development Department to achieve the organization’s goal of protecting the liberties that define our democracy. This position can be remote, and the person must be in the St. Pete/Tampa area or West Palm Beach/ Ft. Lauderdale.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida is an affiliate of the ACLU, Inc., a national public interest organization devoted to defending civil rights and civil liberties. For over 100 years, the ACLU has served as the nation’s primary protector of civil liberties. The organization implements its vital civil liberties mission in all 50 states, in large part through affiliate entities such as the ACLU of Florida.

The ACLU of Florida, the state’s largest civil rights and civil liberties organization, employs litigation, public policy advocacy, communications strategies, and public education to protect and promote a broad range of constitutional values and individual rights, such as freedom of speech, equality, due process, racial justice, privacy, religious liberty, criminal justice reforms, voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, disability rights, and immigrants’ rights. The ACLU of Florida litigates a broad range of constitutional cases in federal and state courts through direct representation, amicus briefs, and by submitting administrative complaints to state and federal agencies.

About the Position

The Major Gift Officer is a staff position within the affiliate’s Development Department, reporting to the Director of Philanthropy. The position is focused on qualifying new major gift prospects and cultivating and stewarding existing major gift donors in their portfolio to maximize the donors’ financial support to the ACLU. The MGO will work to ensure that the ACLU of Florida meets our fundraising goals by increasing philanthropic donations to support the ACLU’s work to defend and expand civil rights and civil liberties while managing portfolios of donors and prospects. The MGO will also explore and encourage planned giving opportunities with donors.

The MGO will work closely with development colleagues at the ACLU of Florida and the national organization.

The MGO will spend a significant amount of time in direct interaction with donors to develop and grow donor relationships to ensure that each donor learns about the impact of their support of the ACLU and is inspired to give at the higher end of their philanthropic capacity in a manner that is consistent with their values. The position requires travel within Florida and possible travel outside of Florida for training purposes.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Participates in collaborative development and execution of the overall key donorship engagement, development, and growth strategy to advance the local and broader vision, priorities, and initiatives of the ACLU for civil rights and civil liberties projects, campaigns, and advocacy efforts and initiatives.
• Interacts with individual and corporate donor supports and potential donor interests to facilitate ascertaining personal passions and key areas of interest for financially supporting the ACLU.
• Plays a key role in managing existing donor relationships, seeking out new relationships, and funding opportunities to establish long-standing civil liberties victories.
• Develops and manages a major donor portfolio, wherein such organization supporters.
• Creates individual donor profiles based on each donor’s giving history and the organization’s knowledge and understanding of the donor’s personal passions and key interests in the ACLU’s mission and core values.
• Creates and executes a comprehensive, multi-faceted cultivation and solicitation strategy for each donor and prospective donor supporters, including establishing individualized goals and base target(s) for a planned giving program.
• Participates in training and professional development to motivate and continuously engage continuing donor partnership interest and support for the ACLU’s mission and core values.
• Tracks portfolio activity and performance; provide management with periodic activity and progress reporting on donor solicitation and giving activity, progress toward securing new donor interests and supporters, and overall portfolio progress toward established performance goals.
• Develops unique cultivation and stewardship opportunities and participates in broader donor cultivation events and strategy development initiatives.
• Develop special cultivation and stewardship opportunities, such as small events for select donors/prospects in the portfolio.
• Maintain working knowledge of the ACLU’s programmatic priorities and issues as they occur.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree, supplemented by three (3) years of fundraising experience in a non-profit, public advocacy, or similar environment, including demonstrated success in soliciting, closing, and stewarding major gifts/planned gifts, or an equivalent combination of education, certification, training, and/or experience.

Additional Qualifications:

• Unwavering commitment to the mission and goals of the ACLU.
• Knowledge of department policies and procedures for preparing, producing, and maintaining reports, documentation, and records.
• Skill in the use of Microsoft Office products (Word, Outlook, and Excel) and applicable department / organization-specific software and the ability to learn and become proficient in the use of other specialized software as may be required.
• Skill in using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Skill in using mathematics required for the work.
• Skill in adapting to a changing work environment, competing demands, and dealing with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Ability to synthesize data from various sources to produce clear, well-organized, persuasive, and accurate information.
• Ability to clearly communicate and understand information in English, both orally and in writing; oral and/or writing ability in a second language preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities to ensure that deadlines are met.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret program-related laws and regulations and establish necessary work processes and procedures.
• Ability to use reasoning skills that minimize duplication of efforts, including comparing, classifying, analyzing, and coordinating.
• Ability to analyze and/or prepare complex reports and contract documents.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with those interacted with during work regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, genetic information, disability, political affiliation, military service, or diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
• Fluency in Spanish or Creole is preferred but not required.
• CFRE Preferred

Benefits:

The ACLU of Florida provides excellent benefits, including health and dental insurance with generous vacation, holiday, and sick leave policies, as well as an employer-matched Defined Contribution/401K Retirement Plan. Base vacation leave is five weeks per year (and six weeks per year after five years)