Associate Director, Individual Giving

Serve as a frontline fundraiser responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding a portfolio of major individual donors in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America's (BBBSA) mission and strategic priorities. This role builds meaningful, long-term relationships with donors capable of five- and six-figure gifts, translating BBBSA's impact and strategic priorities into compelling, donor-centered cases for support.

Location: 100% remote within the Continental United States. Travel of approximately 25%-30% is required for donor visits, cultivation events, and organizational meetings.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 100-150 major donors and prospects, with individual gift capacity typically ranging from $25,000 to $100,000+.
• Develop and execute individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for each donor in the portfolio using a moves management framework.
• Maintain an active pipeline of qualified prospects sufficient to meet annual revenue goals, tracking stage, next steps, and timing for each relationship.
• Document all donor interactions, moves, and strategies in Salesforce in a timely and accurate manner to ensure institutional knowledge is preserved and shared.
• Partner with the prospect research function to identify new major gift prospects through wealth screening, referrals, and relationship mapping.
• Qualify prospects through discovery visits and calls, assessing capacity, affinity, and readiness for solicitation.
• Collaborate with local BBBS agency leaders to identify and cultivate donors with connections to both the national office and local chapters.
• Design and deliver personalized cultivation experiences, including donor visits, briefings, campus and program tours, and executive engagement opportunities.
• Draft compelling, donor-centered gift proposals, briefing materials, and stewardship reports in partnership with the Marketing & Communications and Program teams.
• Directly solicit major gifts, leading or supporting solicitation visits alongside executive leadership, board members, or volunteers as appropriate.
• Ensure timely, accurate gift acknowledgment and develop meaningful stewardship touchpoints that build long-term donor loyalty and encourage renewed and increased giving.
• Partner with the Resource Development team to align major gift strategies with annual fundraising goals, campaign priorities, and organizational strategic plans.
• Work with Marketing & Communications to ensure donor-facing materials reflect current brand standards and effectively communicate BBBSA's impact.
• Collaborate with Program and Agency leaders to stay current on organizational impact, outcomes data, and stories that strengthen donor cases for support.
• Support executive and board engagement in major donor cultivation and solicitation, including briefing preparation and follow-up coordination.
• Track and report progress against individual and team revenue goals, pipeline metrics, and activity benchmarks on a regular cadence.
• Maintain organized donor files and documentation utilizing the CRM, SharePoint, and other enterprise platforms.
• Recommend improvements to major gift processes, tools, and donor journey design based on portfolio experience and outcomes.
• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives supporting the Resource Development team's effectiveness.
• Demonstrate commitment to BBBSA's shared leadership competencies and organizational values.
• Represent BBBSA's mission and impact with authenticity and donor-centered communication in every interaction.
• Provide consistent follow-up regarding assigned donors and after meetings.
• Cultivate an environment where colleagues, donors, and program partners feel valued, included, and heard.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and progressively responsible fundraising experience.
• 4+ years of progressively responsible major gifts or frontline fundraising experience, with a demonstrated track record of identifying, cultivating, and closing five- and six-figure gifts.
• Experience managing a donor portfolio and moves management process required.
• Experience with Salesforce preferred.
• Experience within a nonprofit or federated organization preferred.

Skills

• Knowledge of donor engagement and moves management.
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills.
• Ability to develop and execute fundraising strategies.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Working knowledge of Salesforce and sales activation continuum.
• Experience with project management, process and systems development, and implementation of strategic initiatives.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Effective interpersonal, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities.
• Ability to develop and manage project budgets.