Position: Director of Major Gifts
Reports to: Vice President of Philanthropy
Department: Philanthropy
Location: U.S. Remote
Who you are:You are an experienced, resilient, and curious fundraiser who is equally comfortable opening new relationships and advancing established ones. You understand that discovery requires persistence, sound judgment, and the ability to distinguish genuine opportunity from polite interest. You are motivated by results, but you also know that sustainable fundraising is built through trust, disciplined follow through, and strong internal collaboration,
What you'll do:
- Build and manage a growing portfolio of major and leadership gift donors and prospects, with an initial emphasis on discovery, qualification, and relationship development.
- Conduct substantial proactive outreach to CIEE alumni and high-net-worth individuals who care about international education, including those with limited recent engagement with CIEE, and move promising relationships from initial contact to meaningful next steps and solicitation.
- Prioritize and develop relationships with current donors who demonstrate potential for increased support, while also qualifying new prospects from CIEE's broader constituencies.
- Develop and execute individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies that align donor interests with CIEE's established priorities and campaign goals.
- Secure significant gifts and develop donors toward major-gift support, recognizing that a donor's first meaningful gift may be below CIEE's formal major-gift threshold.
- Leverage the 80th anniversary and matching-gift opportunity to create timely, compelling pathways for engagement and giving while building relationships that extend beyond the campaign.
- Prepare donor strategies, briefing materials, correspondence, proposals, and other materials tailored to donors' interests and decision-making needs.
- Engage philanthropy leadership, executives, program leaders, alumni, board members, and other partners at the right moments in cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
- Use available wealth-screening, donor data, institutional knowledge, and research resources to identify, prioritize, and evaluate donor prospects.
- Recommend strategic travel plans that maximize donor engagement and make responsible use of organizational resources.
- Maintain timely and accurate donor records, contact reports, next steps, gift opportunities, and revenue forecasts in Salesforce.
- Coordinate closely with annual giving and alumni engagement to support high[1]volume outreach, avoid conflicting communications, and transition responsive prospects into personalized relationship development.
- Help establish and refine qualification, portfolio management, moves management, stewardship, travel, and donor-engagement practices in partnership with philanthropy leadership and operations.
- Identify appropriate planned-giving, family foundation, donor-advised fund, corporate, or other opportunities that emerge through assigned relationships, coordinating with colleagues as needed.
- Contribute to a collaborative fundraising culture in which relationship strategy and revenue credit reflect meaningful team contributions.
What you'll bring:The ideal candidate will possess:
- Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
- Seven to ten years of progressively responsible fundraising experience preferred, including substantial experience with individual giving.
- Proven track record of cultivating, soliciting, and closing significant gifts, including five- and six-figure commitments.
- Demonstrated success initiating and developing donor relationships through proactive outreach, including relationships that were not previously qualified or fully developed.
- Experience building or substantially expanding a donor portfolio rather than only managing a mature, inherited caseload.
- Strong judgment in donor qualification, strategy development, solicitation timing, and the use of organizational leaders and partners.
- Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, including comfort engaging high-net-worth individuals and navigating complex relationships.
- Ability to work effectively in a team-based environment where several colleagues may contribute materially to a donor relationship or gift.
- Strong organizational skills, disciplined follow-through, and comfort working toward clear activity, pipeline, and revenue expectations.
- Experience using fundraising CRM systems; Salesforce experience is strongly preferred.
- Comfort using donor data, wealth-screening results, and qualitative information to prioritize outreach without treating capacity alone as qualification.
- An entrepreneurial and practical approach to building systems, testing strategies, and improving results in an evolving program.
- A genuine interest in international education, cultural exchange, and CIEE's mission. Prior CIEE involvement is valued but not required.
- Ability to work effectively across cultures and with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
- Ability to embrace CIEE's Core Values: Excellence, Integrity, Respect, Inclusion, and Problem Solving.
CIEE believes that professionals with varied backgrounds bring unique approaches and ideas to solving problems and advancing our mission to bring the world together. Qualified candidates from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
