Special Gifts Officer

About the role

The Special Gifts Officer is a frontline fundraiser who plays a vital role in growing OHSU Foundation's base of philanthropic support. You'll build and deepen relationships with recurring, leadership ($1,000), and mid-level ($5,000+) donors who are passionate about impact areas like cancer, pediatrics, brain health, vision, and education — connecting them more meaningfully to the work at OHSU. As part of the Discovery and Donor Development team, you'll work alongside major gifts officers to qualify prospects, support donor journeys, and help move relationships forward.

Responsibilities

• Direct Fundraising and Qualification
• Manage a tiered portfolio of donors giving recurring, leadership, and mid-level gifts aligned to key impact areas, ensuring each person receives thoughtful, timely stewardship and meaningful engagement
• Design and execute strategies for donor retention, acquisition, and upgrades, with a focus on moving donors below $1,000 to higher-impact giving levels
• Qualify prospects from current donor and non-donor pools — including grateful patients, alumni, and community members — with a particular emphasis on individuals capable of annual gifts of $5,000 or greater
• Follow up on grateful patient and family referrals from OHSU partners, and facilitate smooth introductions and transitions to major gifts officers when prospects are ready to advance
• Serve as a responsive, warm point of contact for donors reaching out to the Foundation by phone and email
• Support stewardship activities like new donor thank-you calls, memorial giving acknowledgments, impact report distribution, and giving milestone recognition
• Assist with pre- and post-event outreach for major events, such as the annual Doernbecher Freestyle, and support giving societies and volunteer groups in assigned areas as needed
• Fundraising Central Services
• Partner with Annual Giving and broader development teams to support donor acquisition, retention, and upgrades through campaigns, events, and direct solicitations — including Doctor's Day, Nurses Week, Giving Tuesday, and giving days
• Enter timely, accurate activity reports and maintain strong data hygiene in donor records
• Stay current on OHSU's top stories, priorities, and impact areas, especially within your assigned focus areas
• Keep up with best practices in mid-level giving, recurring giving, academic medical fundraising, and discovery work
• Operations and Administrative
• Manage a tiered portfolio of donors giving recurring, leadership, and mid-level gifts aligned to key impact areas, ensuring each person receives thoughtful, timely stewardship and meaningful engagement
• Support stewardship activities like new donor thank-you calls, memorial giving acknowledgments, impact report distribution, and giving milestone recognition
• Assist with pre- and post-event outreach for major events, such as the annual Doernbecher Freestyle, and support giving societies and volunteer groups in assigned areas as needed
• Enter timely, accurate activity reports and maintain strong data hygiene in donor records
• Stay current on OHSU's top stories, priorities, and impact areas, especially within your assigned focus areas
• Keep up with best practices in mid-level giving, recurring giving, academic medical fundraising, and discovery work

Requirements

• You can engage comfortably and confidently with donors, clinicians, community members, and colleagues at all levels
• You're a strong communicator in every medium: emails, phone calls, video meetings, and in-person conversations all feel natural to you, and you know how to translate complex information into stories that move people
• You understand the fundamentals of fundraising — individual giving, stewardship, pipeline development, planned giving, and donor relations — and you're always looking to deepen that knowledge
• You're organized, self-directed, and comfortable managing many priorities and relationships simultaneously without letting things slip through the cracks
• You approach collaboration with a team-first mindset and genuinely enjoy building partnerships across departments
• You bring sound judgment, a high ethical standard, and a strong sense of accountability to everything you do
• You're compassionate and culturally responsive, with a real ability to connect with people from all walks of life

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in a nonprofit customer-facing role engaging with donors, volunteers, or prospects as a donor relations officer, donor experience officer, or similar position — OR 2+ years of experience as a frontline fundraiser

Working Conditions

• Occasional hours outside of normal business hours for meetings and events
• Local travel required; must have a valid driver's license, reliable access to a vehicle, and appropriate insurance coverage that meets Foundation requirements
• Hybrid work environment within the Portland Metro area, with approximately 1–3 days of on-site work per week

Pay

Salary is dependent on experience. Each salary band is broken into three "steps," which correspond with an employee’s experience/tenure, proficiency and performance in that specific role. New employees will typically start at step I of our pay band to allow for later growth, although more experienced candidates may be eligible to start at step II or III. The OHSU Foundation has a structured process for determining starting compensation, taking into account years of related experience, applicable skills, knowledge and abilities, market parity, and internal equity.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical and dental insurance
• Pension program (The Foundation contributes 12% of your annual salary to a pension)
• 22 days of paid vacation, 11 paid holidays, 1 float holiday and 2 days of volunteer time off
• Professional development dollars for each employee
• Hybrid work allowance and much more!