Director of Major Gifts

VCP PROVIDES EXCELLENT BENEFITS!!

• Employees pay $0 out-of-pocket towards health, vision and dental premiums 
• VCP offers a 401k plan at a 4% match 
• Employees receive 6 weeks of paid time off in addition to major holidays 

Veterans Community Project (VCP) Overview

VCP was founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2016 by a group of combat Veterans shaped by their military service and began with a determination to do better for Veterans in need. Today, we’re growing nationwide to serve more Veterans everywhere, ensuring no one is left behind. Our founders’ solution was simple: provide Veterans experiencing homelessness with a home of their own and wraparound case management services that leverage the support of the community to not only get them back on their feet, but ensure they continue standing. Our proven model has an 85% success rate at getting Veterans back on their feet.

The Team

We, the team members and co-founders of VCP, operate with innovation, entrepreneurism, and grit in our mission to serve those who served. We move with swift, bold action, driven by purpose. We believe in collaboration, community, compassion, and above all, serving Veterans with dignity and respect. We serve all Veterans with that ethos—regardless of length or type of service, or discharge status.

Position Summary

The Director of Major Gifts will build and manage a diverse portfolio of individual, family, foundation, corporate, and other philanthropic prospects to advance Veterans Community Project's mission to fix Veteran homelessness. VCP operates as a network of Villages nationwide, each supported locally, alongside a Central Services Team (CST) that provides the shared infrastructure, systems, and support that keep every Village running. While VCP is a $20 million organization, this role is dedicated specifically to securing unrestricted, capacity-building, and strategic gifts for CST, which operates on an approximate $3 million budget separate from site-level fundraising, with the support of other CST team members. The Director of Major Gifts reports directly to the National Director of Philanthropy.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Major Gift Fundraising

• Build and manage a portfolio of approximately 75–125 qualified major gift prospects and donors, with an emphasis on donors capable of making gifts of $10,000 or more annually.

• Develop and execute individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for assigned prospects.

• Conduct donor meetings, calls, visits, and other meaningful engagement activities.

• Make direct fundraising asks and close gifts, including unrestricted, multi-year, planned giving, capacity-building, and strategic investments.

Portfolio Management

• Maintain accurate and timely prospect and donor information in VCP’s CRM.

• Use moves management to track relationships, next steps, solicitation strategies, and outcomes.

• Regularly evaluate portfolio health and move prospects through qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.

• Collaborate with the National Director of Philanthropy and other leadership team members on strategy for top prospects and donors.

Proposal & Donor Communications

• Develop customized proposals, briefing materials, impact updates, and other donor communications.

• Work with Marketing/Communications and program leadership to translate VCP’s national impact into compelling funding opportunities.

• Ensure donors receive timely and meaningful stewardship following their gifts.

National Philanthropy

• Develop relationships with donors whose interests align with VCP’s national mission, organizational growth, and capacity-building priorities.

• Identify opportunities for donors to make transformational investments in VCP beyond traditional program funding.

• Support national fundraising campaigns and special initiatives as assigned.

Research and Qualification

• Develop a more robust, diverse new national major gift prospects through research, referrals, networking, and prospect identification.

• Research, rate and qualify new national prospects who are aligned with VCP’s mission, to build a richer national portfolio.

Qualifications & Experience

Required:

• 5–8 years of professional fundraising experience, with demonstrated experience cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual major donors.
• Ability to independently manage a donor portfolio and fundraising pipeline.
• Strong relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written communication and proposal-writing skills.
• Comfort making direct fundraising asks.
• Strong organizational skills and consistent CRM/data management practices.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across a national development team.

Preferred:

• Demonstrated experience securing gifts of $100,000 or more.
• Experience structuring complex gifts, including planned gifts, stock or other appreciated-asset gifts, and gifts through donor-advised funds or trusts.
• Experience building and scaling a major-gift portfolio or prospect pipeline, rather than solely managing an established one.
• Experience with unrestricted, capacity-building, or multi-year gifts.
• Experience working with family foundations or high-net-worth individuals.
• Experience in a growing nonprofit or national/multi-site organization.
• Knowledge of Veteran services, housing, homelessness, or related social-impact issues.

Success in This Role

• A healthy and qualified national major gift pipeline.

• Consistent movement of prospects through qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.

• Growth in unrestricted and strategic national philanthropy supporting the Central Services Team and VCP’s organizational priorities.

• Strong, long-term relationships with national donors and prospects.

• Accurate, actionable CRM data and clear visibility into portfolio activity and expected revenue.

• Collaboration across CST departments, Development team members across the organization and leadership.

Organizational Scope

This is a national fundraising position housed within VCP’s Central Services Team. The role is responsible for national/CST fundraising and does not include ongoing site-level fundraising support. The Director of Major Gifts will coordinate with site development teams when appropriate for donor engagement or national opportunities, while maintaining ownership and support of the national major gift portfolio.

This job description should not be interpreted as all-inclusive. It is intended to identify the essential functions and requirements of this job. Incumbents may be requested to perform job-related responsibilities and tasks other than those stated in this description. Any essential function or requirement of this job will be evaluated as necessary should an incumbent or applicant be unable to perform the function or requirement due to a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Reasonable accommodation(s) for the specific disability will be made for the incumbent or applicant when possible.

Veterans Community Project is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. We strictly prohibit and do not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. All VCP employees, other workers and representatives are prohibited from engaging in unlawful discrimination. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, training, promotion, discipline, compensation, benefits, and termination of employment.