Major Gifts Officer (Remote)

Institute for Humane Studies; Arlington (VA); Remote; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) in Arlington, VA, seeks a Major Gifts Officer to qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of major-gift donors capable of five- and six-figure commitments. Reporting to the Director of Development, this role leads the full gift cycle for the Intellectual Builders donor community and the corporate giving segment.

This frontline role requires portfolio moves management, personalized cultivation plans, donor visits, and collaboration with

Qualifications

• 3+ years of front-line fundraising experience with a track record of closing five-figure commitments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with donors and prospects.
• Ability to qualify prospects and initiate donor relationships from first contact, including cold outreach.
• Experience with CRM platforms (Salesforce) and independent record-keeping of opportunities.
• Excellent organizational skills for a complex national portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Manages a portfolio of 100-150 major-gift prospects and donors across the full gift cycle.
• Develops individualized cultivation and solicitation plans for each relationship.
• Builds and manages a solicitation calendar, conducts donor visits, and closes five- and six-figure gifts and multi-year commitments.
• Participates in moves management and portfolio reviews.

Skills

Strong written communications

Verbal communication

Donor relationship building

Prospect qualification

Multi-stage portfolio management

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

About IHS

The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a think network advancing the principles and practices of freedom in the academy, public policy, and civil society.

Founded in 1961, IHS believes that the liberal tradition has yielded unprecedented freedom and human flourishing. And in this moment, when the forces of illiberalism on both the left and right are gaining ground at an alarming pace, our vision is to spark a new spirit of liberal freedom.

Our Work

• Cultivating a pool of intellectual talent for partners in policy, civil society, philanthropy, and the academy through $1.5 million in fellowship and career development programs.
• Catalyzing scholarship and academic networks to strengthen the fields of foundational and applied research that matter most to a free society.
• Equipping freedom-focused research centers, think tanks, foundations, and civil society organizations with the research and experts they need to maximize their impact in policy and in communities across the country.

EEO Statement

We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Position Summary

The Major Gifts Officer is a front-line fundraiser responsible for qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding a portfolio of major-gift donors and prospects capable of five- and six-figure commitments. Reporting to the Director of Development, this role leads the full gift cycle for a defined portfolio within the Intellectual Builders donor community and the corporate giving segment, balancing sustained management of active relationships with active qualification and development of new prospects. Core areas of ownership include portfolio and moves management, major-gift solicitation and closing, corporate relationship development, and accurate maintenance of the portfolio’s pipeline data.

IHS is concurrently recruiting a Director of Development; should that search conclude, this position would report to the Director of Development. This is a second frontline major gifts role, joining a Senior Major Gifts Officer on the development team.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Portfolio Management & Donor Engagement

• Manages a portfolio of 100-150 major-gift prospects and donors, with primary accountability for qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship across the full gift cycle for five- and six-figure commitments.
• Develops and implements individualized cultivation and solicitation plans for each relationship, aligned with donor interests and IHS programmatic priorities.
• Builds and manages a personal solicitation calendar, conducting donor visits, presenting funding opportunities, and closing five- and six-figure gifts and multi-year commitments.
• Participates in the moves management program and portfolio review cadence maintained across the development team.

Prospect Development

• Identifies and qualifies new prospects and initiates relationships from first contact, including a substantial volume of direct, cold outreach to prospects not yet active in the portfolio.
• Owns relationship development within the Intellectual Builders donor community and establishes sustained staff ownership of the corporate giving segment as a dedicated internal portfolio.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Executive Engagement

• Coordinates with Development Operations on pipeline data, projections, gift processing, and acknowledgments; with Portfolio Management on moves strategy and executive engagement requests; and with the Foundations team where individual or corporate relationships intersect institutional funders. Partners with Communications & Marketing on donor-facing proposals and cases for support.
• Engages executive leadership, program scholars, and Programs staff for high-level donor relationships, intellectual content, site visits, and key commitments in accordance with established engagement criteria, retaining ownership of relationships and decisions below that threshold.

Portfolio Administration & Reporting

• Creates and maintains accurate, current records of all portfolio activity in Salesforce, including opportunities, contact reports, cultivation status, and solicitation plans, with independent ownership of the officer’s own records.
• Supports pipeline planning and gift forecasting through timely documentation and portfolio review participation.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of front-line fundraising experience across the donor gift cycle, including a documented record of closing five-figure commitments. Candidates at the upper end of the posted salary range will bring 5+ years of experience and a record of six-figure closes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to build trust and sustain professional relationships with donors and prospects.
• Demonstrated ability to qualify prospects and initiate donor relationships from first contact, including sustained cold outreach.
• Experience with CRM platforms (Salesforce), including independent creation and maintenance of the officer’s own opportunities, activities, and contact reports.
• Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to independently manage a complex, multi-stage national portfolio with consistent follow-through.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in corporate or institutional giving, including developing an under-built giving segment.
• Substantive knowledge of and appreciation for the classical liberal intellectual tradition, with the ability to engage donors substantively on policy, economics, and related ideas central to the IHS donor community.
• Experience fundraising within a think tank, university, or policy-oriented nonprofit.

Travel

• IHS operates remotely; this role requires approximately 2-3 weeks per year of travel for organization-wide staff gatherings and on-site collaboration.
• In addition, this role includes donor-related travel of approximately 30-40% to support donor and prospect visits, cultivation events, and institutional engagement activities.

Schedule / Hours

Full-time, Monday - Friday, 9:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. ET.

Salary

The salary range for this position is $85,000-$120,000, commensurate with experience. This position is also eligible for annual performance-based incentive compensation; specific terms are discussed at the offer stage.