Director of Major Gifts

Position Concept

To serve the Mission, Vision, and Values of REH, Inc. while serving as a relationship-focused, forward-facing fundraising professional who excels in building meaningful connections with donors and prospects.

Essential Functions

• Serve as a visible and engaging presence at Ruth Eckerd Hall performances, mingling with donors and guests in the Dress Circle private member lounge and other event spaces.
• Build authentic relationships with major donors and prospects, developing individualized cultivation and stewardship strategies to inspire significant contributions.
• Conduct in-person visits, phone calls, and personal communications to engage and solicit major gifts.
• Collaborate with leadership to host small gatherings or exclusive experiences, such as behind-the-scenes tours or donor dinners, to deepen donor connections and showcase their impact.

Team Leadership and Collaboration

• Collaborate with the Chief Development Officer and Director of Development Operations on proposals, donor communications, and high-level strategies.
• Partner with the Annual Giving Manager to create memorable donor experiences and recognition opportunities.

Major Gifts Strategy and Goal Achievement

• Manage a portfolio of high-potential donors and prospects, identifying opportunities to grow relationships and secure transformational gifts.
• Develop and execute multi-year cultivation and solicitation plans for major gifts, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities.
• Expand the major gifts pipeline by identifying and researching new prospects and initiating engagement strategies.
• Monitor and evaluate donor activity, refining approaches to exceed fundraising targets.

Stewardship and Donor Recognition

• Ensure all major donors receive timely and personalized acknowledgments and recognition.
• Develop tailored stewardship plans for top donors, emphasizing their impact on Ruth Eckerd Hall’s programs, performances, and education initiatives.

Qualifications

• Education and Experiences: Bachelor's degree. Minimum of 5 years in fundraising, with demonstrated success in relationship-based major gift fundraising. Supervisory experience required. Demonstrated experience in non-profit fundraising and development.
• Skills: Demonstrated skills or knowledge in developing, analyzing, and applying fundraising strategy, strong collaboration, communication, and interpersonal skills, knowledge of financial management and budgeting, ability to understand and communicate the big picture, ability to develop and implement the required support system and details to achieve desired outcomes, ability to communicate with and generate trust from a diverse group of people, ability to present a positive image and communicate effectively via the telephone and in person, proficiency in the application of MS Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, competence in customer relations management software with the ability to learn fundraising and ticketing applications, demonstrated commitment to the principles of teamwork and shared responsibility, ability to multitask and meet simultaneous deadlines, ability to plan, organize, and coordinate people, tasks, and projects for efficiency, ability to handle confidential conversation, correspondence, and records, ability to anticipate problems or to identify them before significant impact on service delivery, expenses, or revenues, ability to exercise a degree of judgment in setting up records, maintaining accurate figures and establishing order of importance.

Physical Demands

• Ability to lift and carry up to 25 lbs.
• Ability to operate basic office equipment such as copiers, fax machines, telephones, computers, and printers.
• Ability to maintain good attendance is a condition of employment and a function of this position.

Other

• Ability to drive with a valid driver’s license and a safe driving record.
• Successful completion of a background check and drug screen.