Major Gifts Officer  

Location: The Watershed Institute – Pennington, NJ   
Job Type: Full-Time | Hybrid (3 days in person)   
Reports To: Senior Director of Advancement  

About Us 

The Watershed Institute is dedicated to keeping central New Jersey’s water clean, safe, and healthy. Through a combination of conservation, advocacy, science, and education, we work to protect and restore our environment and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards.  

Position Overview

The Major Gifts Officer (MGO) will manage a portfolio of approximately 75 major gift donors and planned giving prospects. The MGO will be responsible for identifying strategic opportunities and developing and implementing initiatives to identify, cultivate, and solicit high-net-worth donors and planned giving prospects to ensure an ongoing, strong base of perpetual financial support. Reporting to the Senior Director of Advancement, the MGO will work closely with the Assistant Director of Advancement, to build a strong portfolio of prospects and successfully engage them through the moves management process. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Designs and implements innovative strategies to identify, cultivate, and solicit high-net worth donors and planned giving prospects for major gifts ($5K and above);  
• Works with the Senior Director of Advancement to develop an acquisition strategy for the next generation of donors;  
• Performs prospect management activities such as identifying and rating individual major gifts and planned giving prospects. Obtains information concerning financial capability, special interests, giving history, and current connections to The Watershed Institute and other charities; 
• Effectively prepares meeting materials, stewardship reports, and major gift solicitations, including, but not limited to, high-quality solicitation materials, proposals, and investment decks;  
• Manages communication and donor interactions with programmatic leadership; 
• Make direct, face-to-face solicitations (e.g. provide portfolio development support, strategic counsel, and help with donor communications); 
• Analyzes prospect research with a keen understanding of moves management to steward donors toward major gifts; 
• Utilize database movemanagement to track and manage donor/prospect portfolio and monitor individual results toward fundraising goal; adhere to timely reporting of results to ensure accuracy of the fundraising pipeline and year-end projection forecasts; 
• Provides stewardship over existing and future individual major gift and planned giving donors; 
• Maintains current, accurate files for all individual donors; 
• Ensures compliance with The Watershed Institute policies, procedures, rules, and regulations. 

Qualifications and Skills 

• A Bachelor’s degree from a four-year accredited college or university; 
• At least 5 years of experience in fundraising, with 2-3 years of specific expertise in cultivating individual gifts–Capital Campaign experience is a plus; 
• Quantifiable experience conducting major fundraising activities at the half-million dollar level and above as well as capital and annual giving campaigns; 
• Excellent organizational, written, and verbal communication skills; 
• Volunteer management skills; 
• Strong planning skills and the ability to multitask; 
• Outstanding human relations and managerial skills; 
• Demonstrative initiative with the ability to work with minimal supervision; 
• A working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite and other fundraising databases within the Salesforce Suite. 

Compensation & Benefits 

• Salary range $ 70,000 – $85,000 annually based on experience; 
• Professional development opportunities in a collaborative and mission-driven work environment; 
• On-site shared housing is available for rent; 
• Benefits including health, dental and vison insurance, a 403b, and a generous time off policy.