Major Gifts Officer

JOB TITLE

Major Gifts Officer

POSITION SUMMARY

The Major Gifts Officer for Catalina Island Conservancy serves as the lead relationship manager responsible for qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major donors to increase philanthropic investment and deepen donor commitment.

This role transforms donor interest into meaningful long-term support through disciplined portfolio management, personalized engagement, and effective moves management. The Major Gifts Officer develops trusted relationships with donors and prospects, aligns philanthropic opportunities with donor passions, and secures significant charitable support that advances the organization’s impact.

The Major Gifts Officer manages a portfolio of major donors and prospective donors, guiding each through a thoughtful engagement process that strengthens their connection to the organization and inspires increased philanthropic investment.

Working closely with the Chief of Development and collaborating across the Development team, the Major Gifts Officer serves as a key driver of fundraising growth and donor engagement. Success in this role requires a proactive approach to relationship building, strong donor-centered communication skills, and the ability to effectively manage a pipeline of cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities.

LOCATION

Hybrid role based in our Long Beach, CA office, with occasional travel to Catalina Island and other locations in Southern California.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Portfolio Strategy & Management

• Manage and grow an assigned portfolio of 50-80 major donors and identified prospects.
• Serve as the primary relationship manager for all assigned donors.
• Maintain active moves management plans and complete an average of 3–6 meaningful donor moves annually per portfolio donor.
• Identify opportunities to increase donor engagement and philanthropic investment.
• Achieve annual major gifts revenue goals of $1.5M–$3M+ through strategic portfolio management.

Donor Qualification & Cultivation

• Assess donor readiness, capacity, inclination, and philanthropic interests.
• Conduct discovery conversations and qualification activities to determine engagement potential.
• Conduct in-person, virtual, and phone meetings with donors and prospects.
• Create individualized cultivation plans tailored to donor interests.
• Qualify and add 10–20 new major gift prospects annually.
• Move qualified prospects from identification to solicitation readiness in less than 12 months on average.

Solicitation Strategy

• Create customized funding opportunities aligned with donor interests and organizational priorities.
• Develop proposals, gift agreements, and supporting materials with support from the Director of Development Operations & Strategy.
• Lead and coordinate the solicitation process for assigned donors.
• Maintain a solicitation conversion rate of 30–50% across qualified asks.
• Secure major gifts that advance annual fundraising goals and strategic initiatives.

Stewardship & Donor Experience

• Ensure timely, meaningful, and personalized stewardship for all assigned donors.
• Coordinate donor recognition, impact reporting, and ongoing engagement activities.
• Build long-term donor loyalty, trust, and philanthropic partnership.
• Implement strategies to increase donor retention, upgrades, and multi-year commitments.
• Create donor experiences that strengthen connection to mission and inspire continued investment.

Prospect Development & Pipeline Growth

• Partner with the Director of Development Operations & Strategy to leverage prospect intelligence, donor analytics, stewardship frameworks, engagement history, and portfolio insights.
• Identify and engage prospective major donors from members, event participants, volunteers, referrals, and other constituent groups.
• Maintain a healthy qualification and cultivation pipeline.

Forecasting & Performance Management

• Maintain accurate revenue projections and donor pipeline forecasts.
• Monitor progress toward annual fundraising goals and portfolio benchmarks.
• Document donor interactions, strategies, and next steps within the donor database.
• Track and report portfolio activity, donor movement, solicitation outcomes, and revenue results.
• Use performance metrics and pipeline analytics to evaluate effectiveness and improve fundraising outcomes.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Skills & Abilities

• Mission-driven, with genuine interest in nonprofit work and the Conservancy’s conservation, education and recreation priorities.
• Strong emotional intelligence, including self-awareness, sound judgment and the ability to manage sensitive conversations professionally.
• Collaborative and service-oriented, with the ability to build productive working relationships across departments and levels of the organization.
• Comfortable working through ambiguity, competing priorities and differing perspectives in a constructive, solutions-focused way.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to listen well, receive feedback and communicate directly and respectfully.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey mission, impact and opportunity clearly and persuasively.
• Reliable follow-through, strong organization and personal accountability in a fast-moving environment.
• Professional discretion and good judgment when working with donors, board members, volunteers, colleagues and confidential information.
• Comfortable using donor data, CRM tools and prospect information to support sound judgment and effective relationship management.
• Flexible and willing to help where needed to support donor experience, department goals and organization-wide priorities.
• Demonstrated success building relationships that lead to significant commitments.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Four to seven years of successful fundraising, major gifts, business development or relationship-management experience.
• Demonstrated success managing a donor, client or prospect portfolio with measurable revenue, relationship-development or fundraising goals.
• Experience cultivating and securing significant gifts, commitments, sales or other high-value support.
• Experience working in a nonprofit, mission-driven, membership-based, conservation, environmental, education, cultural or public-facing organization preferred.
• Experience working collaboratively across departments or functions to advance shared goals.
• Experience managing complex relationships with donors, clients, board members, volunteers, executives or other high-touch stakeholders.
• Experience using a CRM or donor database; Raiser’s Edge NXT experience preferred.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Estimated Starting Salary Range:

$110,000- $130,000 based on skills and experience.

We’re proud to support the health and wellbeing of the people we employ. Our comprehensive benefits package includes a 403(b) retirement savings plan with a 3% employer contribution and a 5% match — fully vested after two years — as well as access to healthcare coverage, flexible spending accounts, paid time off, life and disability insurance, an employee assistance program, and professional development opportunities.

HOW TO APPLY

Please click the "Easy Apply" button to submit your application. Ensure your resume includes an introductory cover letter that outlines your interest and qualifications for this role. Alternatively, you may send a resume and cover letter directly to jobs@catalinaconservancy.org, listing the job title in the subject line.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMMITMENT

Catalina Island Conservancy is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, genetics, marital status, medical condition, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

OUR STORY

The mission of the Catalina Island Conservancy is to be an exemplary steward of Island resources through a balance of conservation, education, and recreation.

The Conservancy’s vision is for a beautifully functioning Island ecosystem for all to enjoy.

Just off the densely populated Southern California coast, Catalina Island is home to approximately 4,000 year-round residents and more than 60 endemic species of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth.

The Catalina Island Conservancy protects 88 percent of Catalina Island’s approximately 48,000 acres, including the region’s longest publicly accessible undeveloped coastline.

The Conservancy is a research and conservation leader, protecting and restoring vulnerable habitats and species in its Mediterranean climate. Conservancy staff guides Island ecosystem recovery with the goal of generating a resilient, self-sustaining ecosystem with no endangered forms of life.

The Conservancy offers recreational experiences and educational programs for not only the 300,000 annual visitors who choose to visit the unique and special Conservancy “Wildlands Ecosystems” but also inspires the nearly 1.2 million visitors to other parts of the Island. Recreation, educational engagement, service opportunities, and partnerships connect the Island’s unique resources to people’s lives, inspiring environmental stewardship and action.

The Catalina Island Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity established in 1972 to protect and restore Catalina Island for future generations to experience and enjoy.