Reach Out and Read National Major Gifts Officer / Associate Director of Development

Job Description

Job Description

The Opportunity

Reach Out and Read is seeking an experienced Associate Director of Development (Major Gifts Officer) to lead the qualification and cultivation of individual donors who give between $1,000 and $25,000. This dynamic frontline role offers the chance to work directly with high-capacity donors, developing personalized engagement strategies to inspire significant support for our mission.

The Major Gifts Officer is responsible for establishing and managing a portfolio of qualified donors and building strong relationships. They understand and apply fundraising best practices to develop donor strategies and provide opportunities for donors to receive recognition and increase future giving. The Major Gifts Officer will travel frequently and work flexible hours as needed.

Reporting to the National Senior Director of Development, Individual and Major Gifts, the successful candidate will bring a proven track record in securing major gifts. As a key contributor to our growth focused team, you will play a pivotal role in expanding our donor base. This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic development professional who thrives in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment to help build a major gift program from the ground up while fostering donor relationships with long-term potential that can fuel transformational impact.

Your Key Responsibilities Will Include:

Donor Cultivation and Strategic Engagement (75%)

• Qualify and cultivate a pool of ~300 donor prospects, developing a caseload of 100-125 major donors through strategic moves management.

• Build meaningful relationships with donors and prospects, with a focus on those capable of giving $1,000-$25,000, understanding that current gift levels reflect the early stage of the program, not donor capacity.

• Lead the creation of engagement plans for donors and prospects–including revenue projections–to retain, upgrade, and steward their giving.

• Work with National and Affiliate staff to identify funding opportunities and create offers, proposals, and asks that align with donors' capacity and organizational priorities.

Internal Collaboration and Leadership (15%)

• Strategize opportunities for the Chief Advancement and Strategy Officer, Senior Director of Development, Individual and Major Gifts, and key staff members to participate in donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities.

• Promote a culture of philanthropy across the Reach Out and Read enterprise and among colleagues across the affiliate network.

Data Management and Best Practices (10%)

• Record donor information (interactions, tasks, notes, and opportunities) in the database promptly.

• Assist in developing and supporting fundraising strategies, campaigns, and best practices

Qualifications and Experience:

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. We want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. We’ll honor your lived and professional experience as key aspects of your candidacy for the role and prioritize applicants with experience dismantling the structural inequities that disproportionately impact children and families with traditionally marginalized identities. We are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate most of the qualifications and experiences listed below:

• Commitment to increasing equity in opportunity and outcomes for children and a recognition of factors known to significantly impact differential outcomes for children, including race, ethnicity, language, and socio-economic status

• Bring at least seven years of successful experience in donor-facing fundraising, ideally within large nonprofit organizations or across diverse communities with varying perspectives and values

• Demonstrable experience soliciting and closing gifts of 5 figures or more

• Ability to engage, influence, and inspire donors and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints, including across the social and political spectrum, while building meaningful, lasting relationships with both new and existing supporters

• A strong track record of soliciting and securing major gifts, managing a donor portfolio, and cultivating long-term relationships with high-net-worth individuals

• Highly self-motivated, proactive, and capable of independently driving activities that meet or exceed individual and team fundraising goals

• Strong ability to collaborate effectively across all levels of the organization, including senior leadership, development officers, local teams, board members, and donors.

• Experience using data and analytics to inform donor cultivation strategies, segment donor pools, and optimize solicitation efforts

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment, with a growth mindset focused on continuous improvement and learning

• Experience using donor management systems, with a preference for Salesforce or similar CRM platforms

Position Specifications

This is a full-time (40 hours/week) exempt position, with flexible remote work options from a home office anywhere in the country. The role requires 25-35% national travel.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary will be competitive with similar roles at non-profit organizations of a comparable size, and you will also receive a robust benefits package. The salary range for this position is $105,000-$115,000 commensurate with experience. We offer medical and dental insurance, 401(k) retirement plan with match, paid vacation, professional development stipend, and more.

Commitment to Diversity:

Reach Out and Read is committed to building an organization that embraces diversity, pursues equity, and fosters an environment of inclusion. Reach Out and Read sits at the intersection of health and education, uniquely positioned to play a critical role in addressing systemic disparities and inequities in the public health framework. Reach Out and Read strives to be an antiracist organization, using its influence to fight against social injustice by supporting a culture of learning, empowerment, equity, and a deep appreciation for the unique experiences that we each bring to our communities. And, we believe that changing the world begins with holding ourselves and our workplace to that same standard.

About Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read gives young children a foundation for success and reaches 4.8 million children across the country – half of whom identify as BIPOC and two thirds of whom come from low-income families.

In deep partnership with a network of clinicians, Reach Out and Read leverages the near-universal reach of the pediatric well-child visit. It uses children’s books and shared reading to support parents and caregivers in strengthening healthy relationships with their infants and young children from birth through 5 years old.

Reach Out and Read works directly with pediatric care providers to share the lifelong benefits of parents reading aloud with their children daily. Nurturing, language-rich interactions like shared reading give young children a foundation for success — building early language and literacy skills; teaching curiosity, patience, and empathy; and creating deep bonds between parents and their children. By integrating our evidence-based model into pediatric care and providing the tools and encouragement families need to read aloud together, we can transform pediatric care practices, foster healthy families and communities, and give children of all backgrounds and means a better start to life.

The Impact:

• Reach Out and Read program sites are located in 6,800 clinics, safety net hospitals, medical systems, and other healthcare settings in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

• Reach Out and Read serves 4.8 million children and their families annually.

• More than 9 million new, developmentally appropriate books are integrated into well-child visits with families annually.

• 41,000 clinicians currently participate in Reach Out and Read

• Our peer-reviewed body of evidence demonstrates that Reach Out and Read parents are two-and-a-half times more likely to read regularly to their children, and that children experiencing Reach Out and Read show enhanced language development.

To learn more about Reach Out and Read, visit

Reach Out and Read is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Reach Out and Read is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, cultural heritage, ancestry, political belief, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability or veteran status. Reach Out and Read is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and we are committed to making special accommodations for your interview or work as a member of our team. If specific accommodations are needed, please email HR @ reachoutandread.org and our HR team will work to accommodate your needs.

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