Major Gifts Officer

Who We Are

We are hiring a Major Gifts Officer who can identify, find pathways to, and cultivate new prospective donors for The Marshall Project. This role is key in our expansion effort: The Marshall Project plans to grow its budget to develop new local newsrooms, enhance our national newsroom, and increase engagement with incarcerated and other justice-affected audiences.

The successful candidate will be entrepreneurial, with excellent presentation skills and the ability to deeply understand and communicate the importance of a top-notch newsroom focused on the criminal justice system. The successful candidate will thrive in a fast-paced environment. We are looking for someone who can roll up their sleeves, taking on their own projects while also working seamlessly as a member of the team.

The Major Gifts Officer reports to the Chief Development Officer.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The Major Gifts officer will work with the Chief Development Officer on new business development. Responsibilities include:

• Working with the President and Chief Development Officer to set short- and long- term goals for growth.
• Researching and identifying new prospective donors for The Marshall Project who are capable of making six-figure gifts.
• Working with the President and Chief Development Officer to shape strategies for reaching out to and cultivating new and existing major donors.
• Closing gifts at the six- and seven-figure level, either directly or by deploying the President or others at The Marshall Project.
• Creating a "moves management" system to track portfolio of donors.
• Developing elevation strategies for existing donors who have the potential for greater investment.
• Stewarding major donors, including establishing a high-level stewardship plan for donors making gifts over $100,000.
• Innovating communications, events and outreach for cultivating and stewarding major donors.
• Working with the Senior Development Writer and Chief Financial Officer to create written and financial materials to solicit and steward donors.
• Creating regular reports to apprise the Chief Development Officer of progress.

Job Requirements

• At least five years of nonprofit development experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, with proven experience in creating persuasive and compelling cases for support.
• Keen prospect research skills.
• Excellent follow-through and organizational skills.
• Aptitude for tracking and moving prospective donors through a pipeline, from identification to cultivation to solicitation and stewardship.
• Creativity in approach to stewardship. Fearlessness in trying new approaches to donor engagement.
• Organized approach with extreme flexibility and ability to tailor strategies to individuals’ proclivities and interests.
• Ability to educate prospective donors about The Marshall Project’s work, in clear and compelling language, and to generate enthusiasm for our work and our goals.
• Event-planning experience is a plus.
• Ability to execute and manage multiple projects while meeting tight deadlines.
• A strong commitment to accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to develop and maintain productive relationships within a team and across the broader organization.
• Commitment to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and/or conflicts.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, valuing all individuals and respecting differences in regard to race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability and socio-economic circumstance.
• Commitment to the mission of The Marshall Project.

We are headquartered in New York City. This position can be based in New York or the San Francisco Bay Area.

We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity. We welcome qualified applicants of all races, ethnicities, physical abilities, genders and sexual orientations, including people who have been incarcerated or otherwise involved with the criminal justice system.

We do not expect every candidate to be equally skilled in all these areas, and this is not a complete list of all relevant qualifications applicants might bring to the job. Please tell us about your other assets not mentioned here that may be valuable to this role. Reaching talent across a range of backgrounds and experiences is deeply important to us. If you do not have the exact combination of skills listed here, but are still interested in this role and/or in The Marshall Project, we'd love to hear from you.

Compensation and Benefits

This job is full-time, with a competitive salary and benefits including:

Annual Minimum Salary: $95,000

100% employer-paid medical, employer subsidized vision and dental insurance; matching traditional and Roth 401k (immediate vesting). Voluntary benefits include: Health and Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, pet insurance, short and long term disability insurance, employee and dependent life insurance, AFLAC accident, hospital indemnity and critical illness coverage, legal benefits, personal excess liability insurance, and employee discount marketplace. We also observe 17 days of paid time off each year (in addition to office closure between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2) and provide paid parental leave.

How to Apply 

To apply, use this form to send a cover letter, resume, and two work samples.

Due to the expected volume of applications, we will follow up with the most promising candidates, but cannot respond individually to all applicants. Please know it usually takes us more than a month to review applications.