Major Gifts Officer, Eastern Region

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing; Bozeman, Montana; Chicago; New Delhi; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; and Washington, D.C.

NRDC is seeking a Major Gifts Officer to work with the Eastern Region Major Gifts team in our Washington, D.C. Office, and we will consider exceptional candidates based in other U.S. Southeast Metro areas.

The position you are applying for is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild-CWA Local 32035 ).

Position Summary

NRDC is seeking a skilled Major Gifts Officer to join its Major Gifts Eastern Region Team, with a geographic focus on the southeast ranging from Washington, D.C. to Florida. The Major Gifts Eastern Region Team is comprised of seven seasoned fundraisers – one Regional Senior Director, two Directors, and four Major Gifts Officers - in addition to one Development Manager to cover NRDC’s most important fundraising market. This full-time position will preferably be based near NRDC’s Washington, D.C. office or remotely in the southeast region.

The Major Gifts Officer is expected to execute prospecting and renewal strategies for the southeastern states in conjunction with NRDC’s program growth across the southeast. The MGO will cover a wide geography and will be expected to be on the road at least 30% of the year engaging donors across the Southeast. This position will manage a portfolio of existing donors and potential supporters who are capable of giving at the major gifts level defined at $25K – $1M . This position will pursue new and lapsed donors and will take the lead on the relationships they are able to cultivate and bring to solicitation. The MGO will work with a diverse range of development and program staff, including advocates, scientists and litigators, who work to fulfill NRDC’s mission and strategic expansion in the southeastern region, as well as our Membership, Planned Giving, Action Fund and E2 teams. While this is not a management position, the Eastern Region team is highly collaborative, and values input and strategic contributions from all team members.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 100 individuals with the capacity to give at the five, six and seven figure levels.
• Establish strategies and timelines for the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of gifts, including strategic in person and/or virtual donor engagement.
• Collaborate with programmatic leadership responsible to lead in the growth of our work in the region.
• Develop a comprehensive strategy for fundraising efforts that will expand and diversify NRDC’s southeast funding base.
• Contribute to the creation of fundraising materials and regular communications that will resonate with donors in the southeast region.
• Partner with and support NRDC’s leadership with respect to cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship efforts, using their time and talents appropriately; ensure their effectiveness as representatives of NRDC.
• Work with the Donor Engagement, Planned Giving and Membership teams to plan events in the region that maximize donor and prospect cultivation opportunities.
• Develop and maintain expert familiarity with programmatic needs, budgets, institutional priorities, and regional work.
• Adeptly manage Salesforce and other processes such as tracking donor gift projections and list management for your portfolio.
• Collaborate with NRDC’s Action Fund to deploy effective fundraising tactics to raise non-deductible 501c4 funding.
  
  

Qualifications

The Major Gifts Officer, Eastern Region must be a highly skilled major gift fundraiser with a track record of successfully and strategically identifying, cultivating, and stewarding donors from $25,000 to $1,000,000 or more. Other desired skills and qualifications include:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 7 years of major gifts fundraising experience with a proven track record of successfully and strategically identifying, cultivating and stewarding major gift prospects and donors.
• Eagerness to pursue new potential high net worth supporters with significant capacity.
• Strong writing skills to communicate in a regular, compelling manner with donors.
• Familiarity with philanthropic communities across the southeast.
• Collaborative and inclusive approach to inter and intra departmental work.
• Professional demeanor when interfacing with NRDC donors and senior staff members.
• Familiarity with Salesforce or other CRM systems, and their application to performance management and fundraising metrics.
• Experience with political or 501c4 fundraising a plus.
• Experience with advocacy or environmental groups a plus
• Willingness to travel 30%
• Commitment to NRDC mission and values and to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion required.
  
  

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming a diversity of voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment. Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and is commensurate with skills and experience. Internal equity will be reviewed and considered to determine a final offer. For this position, the salary range is $130,000 to $150,000.

Our offices are open and we are operating in a hybrid model. We offer NRDCers flexibility, and we ask them to come into the office and spend meaningful time there in collaboration with their colleagues. We call this purposeful presence.

As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination, those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions via NRDC Employee Relations. NRDC treats all vaccine-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws.