Major Gifts Officer (MOHAI)

Museum of History and Industry; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

403(b) plan

Job summary

MOHAI seeks a Major Gifts Officer to lead donor relations and fundraising strategy, bridging MOHAI’s past and future through compelling campaigns.

You will cultivate a portfolio of donors, work with leadership and the Board, and develop major gift and planned giving programs within MOHAI’s Advancement team.

Qualifications

• Seven years of successful development experience (including five years of major gifts) with a track record in planning and implementing fundraising campaigns, closing gifts and meeting goals.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills; ability to match donor interests to museum needs.
• Experience working with Board members to cultivate and steward donors and secure significant gifts.
• Demonstrated ability to initiate and manage projects, work independently, and meet deadlines.
• Ethical standards in professional fundraising and confidentiality.

Responsibilities

• Grow the major gifts fundraising program, including moves management and special fundraising initiatives.
• Manage a portfolio of 100–125+ major donors with capacity to give $5,000+ annually or provide planned gifts.
• Collaborate with staff leadership, board, and advancement team to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors.
• Solicit contributed support for unrestricted operations, exhibits funds, endowment, and foundations.
• Develop marketing materials for major gift efforts with the Advancement team.
• Support volunteer engagement in fundraising initiatives with committees and staff.
• Ensure interactions reflect MOHAI’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.

Skills

Verbal communication

Written communication

Project management

Relationship management

MS Office

Altru

Interpersonal skills

Team collaboration

Cultural competency

Tools

Altru major gifts module

Blackbaud

Donor CRM

Job description

MOHAI is treasured locally and respected nationally as a vibrant resource where history inspires us to be our best, individually and collectively. By collecting and preserving artifacts and stories of our diverse history, MOHAI highlights our regional tradition of innovation and imagination. Through compelling exhibits, scholarship, education, public programs, and community engagement, MOHAI bridges the past, present, and future. MOHAI is a place and a community of people with histories of successes and failures that: bind us together; amuse, disturb, and inspire us; inform and guide us; and deepen our connection with our heritage.

Position Title: Major Gifts Officer

Reports to: Chief Advancement Officer

Location: MOHAI Resource Center at Georgetown

Benefits include: Medical and dental insurance, and participation in 403 (b) savings plan

Position Description:

The Major Gifts Officer is responsible for building relationships with individuals and inviting them to make investments in MOHAI’s missions to bridge the past, present, and future through compelling and engaging exhibits and programs. The Major Gifts Officer is a pivotal position on the museum’s Advancement team, working collaboratively with staff across the museum in initiating and growing philanthropy for MOHAI. The Major Gifts Officer matches museum funding priorities and projects with donor interests, builds industry and community partnerships, and provides strategic guidance and support to staff on fundraising projects as assigned and appropriate to the specific job duties. The Major Gifts Officer will manage overall major gift strategy, collaborate with senior staff on all major gift strategies including the Executive Director, Chief Advancement Officer, and Advancement staff and facilitate critical collaboration with MOHAI’s Board of Directors. This position will also manage the creation and launch of a robust planned giving program.

Key Responsibilities:

• Growth of major gifts fundraising program, including oversight of individualized moves management strategies and implementation of special fundraising programs.
• Manage a relationship portfolio of approximately 100-125+ major donors and prospects with capacity to give a minimum of $5,000 annually, and/or ability to provide planned gifts.
• Work collaboratively with staff leadership, board members, and advancement team, to direct the strategic identification, cultivation, and solicitation of donor prospects, and implement effective fundraising strategies for giving.
• Actively solicit contributed support from major donors for unrestricted museum operations, exhibits fund, legacy endowment, MOHAI Foundation, and others.
• Partner with Advancement team in the development of marketing materials for major gift efforts.
• Partner with Development and Marketing Committee on key major gift activities to ensure volunteer engagement in fundraising efforts.
• Ensure that all interactions are culturally responsive, respectful, and based on a foundation of MOHAI’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.
• Set weekly and monthly donor contact goals (calls and visits), and achieve annual goals for substantive contacts, independently and with board members, to identify, cultivate, solicit and steward donors.
• Oversee major donor cultivation and stewardship events, including History Makers, Innovation Event, donor receptions and exhibit opening preview events.
• Maintain accurate and detailed records of donor communications and prospect management including documentation of major gifts interactions within Altru major gifts module.
• Create and launch a planned giving program to steward planned giving donors and cultivate prospects, resulting in a planned giving pipeline.
• Work with the Advancement team to analyze strategies and results of major gifts campaigns.
• Opportunity to serve on IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) Committee.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Seven years of successful development experience (including five years of major gifts experience) with track record in planning and implementing fundraising campaigns, closing gifts and meeting goals.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to communicate ideas with enthusiasm to donors, and an ability to effectively match interests of donors to museum needs.
• Experience working with Board members to cultivate and steward donors, and secure significant gifts.
• Demonstrated skills initiating and managing projects, working independently, and meeting deadlines.
• Exemplify ethical standards of professional fundraising, including confidentiality as warranted.
• Adept at working with MS Office Suite and experience with fundraising software (Blackbaud preferred).
• Excellent interpersonal skills with collegial approach.
• Knowledge of Seattle and Puget Sound Region donor community preferred.
• Flexibility as needed to work evenings and/or weekends for special events.
• Bilingual and multilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.
• Enthusiasm for MOHAI’s vision and mission.

For more than 60 years, MOHAI has been dedicated to enriching lives by preserving, sharing, and teaching the diverse history of Seattle, the Puget Sound region and the nation. With a collection of nearly 4 million artifacts, photographs, oral histories and archival items, and an expansive schedule of exhibits and programs, MOHAI is the region’s premier history center. MOHAI operates a dramatic and award-winning museum in Lake Union Park in Seattle’s vibrant South Lake Union neighborhood, and a Resource Center in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. MOHAI also hosts the Bezos Center for Innovation, focusing on the history and future of innovation in the Puget Sound region.

MOHAI is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is an official affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. For more information, please visit www.mohai.org .

MOHAI is a 501(C)3 Organization and an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility and building a diverse staff. We encourage candidates of color to apply.