Major Gifts Officer

Description

Job Summary:

The Major Gifts Officer (MGO) reports directly to the Senior Vice President for Advancement and serves as a frontline fundraising professional responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major donor relationships to advance the mission, strategic vision, and spiritual growth of Arizona Christian University. This role builds long-term partnerships with alumni, parents, foundations, and friends of the University. The ideal candidate combines a proven track record of relational fundraising with a personal commitment to the integration of faith and biblically-based higher education.


This role also requires a comprehensive understanding of and commitment to the unique, conservative Christian mission and vision of ACU to Transform Culture with Truth, and the ability to advance that mission and vision through building relationships and soliciting gifts from current and potential University financial partners.

Typical Duties:

• Portfolio Management : Manage an active portfolio of 120-150 major gift prospects and donors. Maintain steady movement through the donor lifecycle: identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. This includes the pursuit of relevant public and private grant opportunities along with planned giving opportunities.
• Direct Solicitations: Plan, schedule, and execute face-to-face donor visits and gift proposals, leading to the successful acquisition of individual, corporate, and foundation gifts.
• Strategic Collaboration: Partner closely with the Senior VP for Advancement, VP for External Relations, President, and Board of Trustees to build tailored solicitation strategies that align with approved fundraising needs.
• Moves Management and Tracking: Accurately and timely document all donor touches, visits, stewardship moves, strategy shifts, pipelines, and pledge agreement's within the university's database CRM (Virtuous CRM).
• Stewardship Programming: Work alongside the advancement team to execute custom stewardship plans that communicate the deep spiritual and academic impact of donor gifts on ACU students and our culture. Maintain confidentiality regarding donor information, University business matters, and sensitive communications.
• Team Player: Be a team player with the advancement team, administrative team, faculty and staff. Support and help with the advancement planned events and communications that are conducted throughout the year. Engage in Advancement Team Meetings
• Travel: Regularly travel to meet with donor prospects.
• Perform other duties as assigned in support of the Advancement department.

Qualifications:

• A personal and growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ,
• A commitment to the mission and values of Arizona Christian University and agreement with ACU's statement of faith

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Completing other duties and tasks with utmost integrity and professionalism, as directed, and not necessarily mentioned in this description, may be asked on a volunteer basis.
• Commitment to the University's faith statement, mission, and purposes; and an active Christian faith.
• Comfort and familiarity with the practice of praying with and for others, including students, faculty, and fellow University staff.
• The ability to meaningfully support and encourage students, faculty, and staff from a biblical worldview perspective, using relevant and applicable references from the Old and New Testaments and orthodox Christian writings.
• Demonstrated alignment with and enthusiastic support for the Christian Mission and Core Commitments of the University, including signing the University's Statement of Faith and Core Commitments annually.

Education and Experience :

• Bachelor's degree preferred.
• Three to five years of experience in fundraising, sales, or customer relations, or related experience.
• Experience using CRM or donor database systems (Virtuous, Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, etc.) preferred.
• Strong written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational and project management skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Commitment to ACU's mission, statement of faith, and biblical worldview

Ability and Skills :

• Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and the Google Workspace.
• Self-disciplined, well organized, efficient at time management, and works well independently
• Excellent interpersonal skills and team leadership.
• A genuine love for people and a natural curiosity about how to best serve and engage with them.

Fair Labor Standards Act:

This position is considered to be full-time, exempt from overtime pay provisions as provided by the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and any applicable state laws.