The Major Gifts Officer, Family Philanthropy is a senior frontline fundraiser responsible for cultivating, soliciting, and
stewarding The Marine Mammal Center's highest-capacity philanthropic relationships, with particular emphasis on high-
net-worth family foundations, private family offices, donor-advised funds, and proposal-driven giving. A key member of
the Institutional Giving Team and reporting to the Senior Director, Development, this individual-contributor role brings
highly developed specialist expertise to the qualification, solicitation, and stewardship of major and principal-level gifts.
Through sophisticated relationship management and customized, compelling proposals, the Major Gifts Officer secures
transformational support for marine mammal rescue, research, and education. This position independently develops its
own proposals, budgets, and reports, and partners closely with the Senior Director, Development, the Institutional
Giving Operations Manager, the Grants Manager, executive leadership, and program staff to investigate, identify,
pursue, and secure funding aligned with donor interests and the Center's strategic priorities.
Essential Functions: Portfolio Cultivation, Solicitation, and Stewardship: 50%
• Manage a focused portfolio of approximately 100 to 125 of the Center's highest-capacity relationships, with
emphasis on high-net-worth family foundations, private family offices, and donor-advised funds, and on five, six,
and seven-figure gifts.
• Serve as the Center's lead relationship manager for complex family philanthropy, navigating principals, family
members, advisors, trustees, and intermediaries such as wealth advisors, family-office staff, and foundation
program officers.
• Develop and execute individualized, multi-year cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies, employing
disciplined moves management to advance relationships through the donor cycle.
• Conduct in-person and virtual donor visits, solicitations, and stewardship touchpoints; personally solicit and close
major and principal level gifts.
• Provide donor tours and meetings at the Center's hospital and facilities, conveying mission and impact with
warmth, accuracy, and credibility.
• Represent the Center at donor meetings, site visits, and philanthropy offices, including periodic regional and
national travel to meet with donors, family foundations, and their advisors.
Proposal, Budget, and Report Development: 30%
• Independently research, write, and produce compelling, customized proposals, letters of inquiry, and concept
memoranda tailored to family foundations, family offices, and donor-advised fund advisors.
• Develop accurate program and project budgets, in coordination with program and finance staff, that align donor
interests with the Center's funding priorities.
• Prepare timely, high-quality stewardship and impact reports that fulfill donor and foundation requirements and
demonstrate measurable results.
• Maintain a disciplined calendar of proposal and report deadlines, ensuring that all commitments are met with
excellence and on schedule.
Strategy, Collaboration, and Pipeline Development: 15%
• Partner with the Institutional Giving Operations Manager and the Grants Manager to coordinate pipeline activity,
prospect tracking, and operational support, while retaining direct responsibility for the portfolio's donor-facing
strategy and written deliverables.
• Collaborate with prospect research, program staff, and executive leadership to identify, qualify, and prioritize new
family philanthropy prospects.
• Maintain proposal and report information in the Center's CRM and shared repositories so that active and planned
thematic requests are visible across the team, and review those records before approaching program staff or
initiating a new request, to prevent duplication of solicitations and of demands on program and
development staff.
• Work closely with the Development Associate, Individual and Institutional Giving, who provides portfolio support
including meeting scheduling, preparation, CRM entry, data pulls, and basic proposal and report assistance and
who supports coordination and resource-sharing across individual and institutional giving.
• Collaborate with other frontline fundraisers sharing report and proposal information to reduce potential for
duplication of efforts by development and program staff.
• Contribute to the strategic direction of the Institutional Giving Team and to departmental revenue goals through
accurate forecasting and pipeline management.
Other Duties as Assigned: 5%
? Perform special projects and research as assigned.
? Perform other duties as assigned.
Requirements
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:- Strong commitment to the mission and strategic priorities of The Marine Mammal Center.
- Strong knowledge of major and principal gifts fundraising principles, including prospect identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, moves management, and portfolio planning.
- Demonstrated success securing meetings with prospective donors and personally cultivating, soliciting, closing, and stewarding five-, six-, and seven-figure gifts.
- Knowledge of family philanthropy and the relationship structures associated with high-net-worth family foundations, private family offices, donor-advised funds, and proposal-driven giving.
- Sophisticated relationship management skills, including the ability to build trust and navigate relationships involving donors, family members, trustees, advisors, foundation staff, and other intermediaries.
- Ability to understand organizational priorities, assess donor interests, and develop individualized, multi-year strategies that connect donors with the Center's programs and funding needs.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to independently research, write, and produce compelling proposals, letters of inquiry, concept memoranda, budgets, stewardship reports, and donor
- communications.
- Ability to understand and synthesize complex program information and communicate it persuasively and accessibly to donors, family foundations, family offices, donor-advised fund advisors, and other audiences.
- Strong strategic, analytical, and problem-solving abilities, including using data, research, and forecasting to inform portfolio decisions.
Salary Description
$105,000 - $115,000 per year
