Associate Director, Major Gifts

Sfcg; California (MO); Remote; USD 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking an Associate Director to lead major donor fundraising efforts on the West Coast. This exciting role involves building a major donor program, cultivating relationships with high-net-worth individuals, and ensuring a rewarding philanthropic experience. The ideal candidate will thrive in a collaborative environment, leveraging their expertise to drive significant fundraising goals while emphasizing the importance of women and youth in peacebuilding efforts. Join a dynamic team dedicated to transforming conflict resolution and making a lasting impact in communities around the world.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in major gift fundraising and donor relations.
• Proven track record of managing high-net-worth donor portfolios.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a major donor program on the West Coast.
• Cultivate and solicit major gifts from individual donors and foundations.

Skills

Fundraising

Relationship Management

Strategic Planning

Communication Skills

Portfolio Management

Prospect Research

Donor Stewardship

Education

BS/BA

Tools

Salesforce

Microsoft Office

Job description

Search for Common Ground

In a world often divided, Search for Common Ground stands for the power of bringing diverse people together to find solutions. We work to transform the way people deal with conflict, building healthy, safe, and just societies around the world. We do this through building trust and creating collaboration opportunities for adversaries, ultimately leading to breakthroughs for peace. By meeting this moment with Search, you join a powerful global peace movement that believes that all voices should be heard and respected in shaping a better, more connected world and that a collaborative vision is essential for lasting peace.

Search for Common Ground is the world’s largest nongovernmental peacebuilding organization and has been doing this work since 1982. We take a dynamic, unique approach by building solutions that are based on inclusion and locally-led programs. We are community leaders. We are youth activists. We are women. We are peacebuilders. Peace moves at the speed of trust, so we invest for the long haul. When we’re no longer needed, we leave, leaving behind people and institutions with the ability to manage future conflicts.

Department Summary

The Development team is composed of driven, collaborative, supportive, and passionate fundraising professionals who create synergies among donors, prospects, and the mission of Search for Common Ground. We bring our individual experiences and expertise to walk alongside our current and future peacemaking philanthropic community, cultivating, maximizing, and stewarding their financial resources with the needs and development of the communities we serve to stop the spread of violence. The Associate Director, who joins our effort thrives on challenges, especially creating a new major donor program and the opportunity it presents to realize the goals of an ambitious 5-year, $60 million fundraising campaign.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Development, the Associate Director, Major Gifts (Western Region), is an exciting new position, responsible for building a major donor program for the organization on the West Coast and ensuring those major donors have a positive and rewarding philanthropic experience.

The Associate Director will identify, cultivate, solicit, and successfully steward qualified prospects and donors at the $10,000 and above level, including rallying Jewish American philanthropists, with a medium-term goal of managing a 150+ person portfolio. This person will be responsible for creating a strategy and leading major gift fundraising for all of SFCG’s conflict resolution work around the world, including Israel and Palestine. Our strategy emphasizes the significant roles of women and youth in driving social cohesion, offering a vision of empowerment, dialogue, and economic resilience as crucial components of lasting peace.

This work and the person in this position value relationship-based fundraising and strategic year-round moves management, with an emphasis on long-term stewardship and engagement. The Associate Director position will work closely with Search board members and leadership to advance major fundraising priorities and goals and support the board/leadership’s fundraising efforts. The ideal candidate has strong knowledge of and comfort with the West Coast philanthropic community and has demonstrated leadership and success with major donor fundraising.

The candidate should be based on the West Coast and will be required to travel frequently throughout the region to cultivate and advance door relationships.

Key Responsibilities

This position will build a major donor program on the West Coast through the following responsibilities:

• Identify, cultivate, and solicit major gifts from individual donors, family foundations, and other prospective high-net-worth supporters aligned with the organization's mission and values
• Provide leadership on, and build and manage a portfolio of 150+ donors and prospects
• Create individual goals for each prospect in the portfolio based on the donor’s history of giving and the organization’s knowledge of the prospect’s capacity
• Develop and execute personalized cultivation and stewardship strategies, including meetings, events, and communication plans, to foster long-term relationships and maximize donor engagement
• Work closely with our CEO and Director of Development to strategically prioritize and make requests for gifts of five- and seven-figures, tailoring proposals and solicitation materials to align with individual donors' interests and philanthropic goals
• Collaborate with the CEO and fundraising team to create compelling fundraising materials, proposals, and impact reports tailored to the interests and priorities of major donors
• Establish a robust donor stewardship program to ensure continuous donor engagement, recognition, and appreciation through correspondence, professional proposals, mailings, and acknowledgements
• Conduct in-depth prospect research to identify new major gift opportunities and expand the organization's network of potential philanthropic supporters
• Coordinate closely with program staff to stay updated on the organization's initiatives, impact, and success stories, effectively communicating the organization's programmatic achievements to donors
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date donor records, donor correspondence, and gift documentation in compliance with organizational policies and procedures
• Act as an ambassador for Search for Common Ground, representing the organization at donor-related events, conferences, and networking opportunities to promote its mission and philanthropic initiatives

Competency Behavior Indicators (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

• Demonstrates a proven track record serving in a development leadership position and closing major gifts of five, six, and seven-figures from individuals and family foundations
• Has documented experience with launching and building new fundraising campaigns
• Works collaboratively with senior managers and colleagues sharing senior expertise; builds teams for successful implementation of projects and programs
• Effectively influences vendors, organizations, professional associations, partners, funders, and Search's network of experts critical to the area of purview
• Makes decisions on existing information when it may not be complete
• Adapts to the personal style and preferences of colleagues to assess their needs and preferences; tolerates ambiguity
• Articulates Search/function program/project goals and objectives within and external to Search; develops program objectives, indicators, and results; and participates in strategy development for the team
• Creates standards across functions globally within Shared Services teams with the ability to create a best fit that considers international norms and compliance while supporting an organizational culture for work
• Overcomes obstacles, including personal biases, by following Search's ethics code in complex situations, displayed in activities as ethical principles and values that guide professional interactions
• Assesses risks and opportunities in a complex environment and convenes discussions to lead to a favorable outcome
• Establishes tools to monitor the quality of work and verification of information
• Has knowledge of project management tools, including technology as resources, and applies delegation skills to support the development of others, as well as the building of efficiency and reduction of stress
• Supports employees in their efforts to achieve job goals (e.g., by providing resources, removing obstacles, acting as a buffer)
• Engages with Shared Services teams, cross-functional teams, and colleagues to produce innovative solutions
• Uses analysis (costs, benefits, risks) to manage within a global standards and best practices framework
• Guides colleagues, Shared Services teams, and cross-functional teams and direct reports toward learning resources to broaden their skill sets and understanding and continue to grow in both breadth and depth of knowledge of organizational functions, standards, and objectives
• Remains alert and responsive to any safeguarding risks, acquires relevant knowledge and skills that will enable you to promote strong safeguarding practices, understands the safeguarding policy and procedures, and conducts yourself in a manner consistent with the Safeguarding Policy.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven track record of successful portfolio management of 100+ high-net-worth individual (HWNI) donors, campaign experience, and closing major gifts in the five-, six-, and seven-figure range
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to articulate complex issues in a clear and compelling manner
• Excellent attention to detail
• High degree of integrity, initiative, resourcefulness, and decision-making skills
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment, meet concurrent deadlines, organize time and priorities, and do so in collaboration with diverse stakeholders
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build rapport with donors, board members, program staff, and other diverse stakeholders
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications especially Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, and experience managing donor databases and utilizing fundraising software for donor relationship management (Salesforce preferred)
• Demonstrated understanding of philanthropic trends and best practices in major gift fundraising and donor stewardship, especially related to Jewish American philanthropy
• Prior successful experience with a fundraising campaign
• Demonstrated experience engaging celebrities around visibility and fundraising
• An advanced degree or certification in fundraising is a plus
• Interest in and ability to visit field offices on official Search trips, e.g., donor missions, etc.

Education and Experience

• BS/BA with a minimum of 8 years direct experience securing major gifts ($10,000 and up) and cultivating relationships with high-net-worth individuals and philanthropic donors.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements

• Remote-based on the West Coast only, with preference for California. The candidate must be able to travel at least 40% of the time throughout the United States West Coast region.

Supervisory and Budget Responsibility

• Typically manages one or more direct reports and/or consultants and/or manages one or more functional areas.

How to Apply: Search for Common Ground has retained S+R Consulting for recruitment support. To apply, please complete this form and in it you can attach a cover letter (no longer than two pages) and your resume. We ask that your cover letter include a high-level summary of how your experiences and skill set complement the requirements of this position. Please combine your cover letter and resume as one file in PDF form and use this subject line: “Last Name-SFCG Associate Director.” We are accepting applications on a rolling basis.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.