Major Gifts Officer

To serve the Lord in daily Donor Development work, promoting the ministry of Forest Home, and furthering the Kingdom of God by glorifying Him with the quality of work completed. With all work leading to the acquisition and retention of Forest Home donors.  And in so doing, developing long-term ministry relationships with donor partners that results in donations that impact lives eternally by souls encountering Jesus, lives being changed, and Forest Home annual donation and donor retention goals being attained.

The Major Gifts Officer works under the direction of the Chief Development Officer in the execution and support of the Forest Home strategies to annually increase donations and annual giving from donor ministry partners.

The Major Gifts Officer is responsible to increase the overall number of major gift and planned giving donors through the identification, qualification, cultivation and solicitation of prospective donors. 

This is a full-time position. The candidate must be in Southern California.

Monthly travel to Forest Home in Forest Falls is required, as well as regional travel throughout Southern California including but not limited to Orange County, San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Arizona, and Nevada.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Operating Responsibilities
  • Achieve 2023 Annual Fund (Unrestricted Giving) goal
  • Oversee a portfolio of ~200-300 donors and prospects
  • Initiate, develop & maintain relationships with donors
  • Increase major gifts and annual giving commitments
  • Connect with unresponsive donors
  • Set weekly in person donor meetings
  • Provide camp tours for prospective donors as needed
  • Develop a pipeline of prospective new donors
  • Proactively establish new donor relationships via prospecting
• Strategic Implementation Responsibilities
  • Increase the number of 25K+/year donors by 5/year
  • Increase Unassigned, Annual Recurring, Foundation/Corporate gifts 10%/yr.
  • Recover lapsed donors
  • Develop individual donor strategies for major donor engagement
  • Maintain consistent stewardship with current donors
• Communication Responsibilities
  • Exceptional responsiveness to all communications (phone, text, email)
  • Effective communicator regardless of the method (face-to-face, email, text, call, etc.)
  • Succinct communication, written and verbal
  • Group presentation experience and communication skills
• Reporting Responsibilities
  • Track and submit a weekly report of activity that leads to donations
  • Enter all weekly activity into Raisers Edge donor management software
  • Develop and track a weekly pipeline of new prospective and existing donors
  • Segment and manage donor portfolios
• Highly motivated and driven person who does not need to be prompted to do their job
• Strong work ethic
• Attention to detail and good discernment
• Demonstrates Godly stewardship managing expenses and timely submission of them
• Performs other duties as assigned

TOP QUANTIFIABLE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

• Achieve 2023 Annual Fund (Unrestricted Giving) goal
• Increase number of 15:1 Partners (25K+) by 5/year
• Increase Unassigned, Annual Recurring, and Foundation/Corporate gifts 10%/yr.
• In person meetings with 50+ donors/potential donors by 12/31/23

WHAT DOES THIS INDIVIDUAL NEED TO ACCOMPLISH IN 90, 180, 365 days?

90 Days

• Develop plan to increase number of 15:1 Partners (25K+) by 5/year
• Develop plan to increase Mid-Level Unassigned, Annual Recurring, Foundation/Corporate donations 10% in 2023, 20%/yr. in 2024 and future years

180 Days

• Create plan to recover lapsed donors

270 Days

• Achieve 2023 Annual Fund (Unrestricted Giving) goal
• In person meetings with 50+ donors/potential donors

MUST-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS

• Uphold and support the Mission, Vision, and Core Values of Forest Home
• Servant heart and Christ-like attitude
• Minimum of 3 years in major gift fundraising securing 25K+ gifts
• Demonstrated success in fundraising for multiple years
• Success growing a donor portfolio, annual giving, and mid-level unassigned donors

NICE-TO-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS

• Raisers Edge donor software experience
• Experience participating in a multi-million/multi-year fundraising campaign

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• Minimum of 3 years in major gift fundraising with demonstrated success securing gifts of $25,000+ and successfully growing a donor portfolio on an annual basis
• Ability to interact professionally with executive leadership team
• Self-starter, energetic, empathetic, and enthusiastic professional
• History of building strong relationships with a variety of individuals
• Experience using Raisers Edge donor management software or similar product

WHY WOULD A CANDIDATE LEAVE THEIR CURRENT ROLE TO JOIN FOREST HOME?

• Spiritual benefits, strong Christian culture
• Work in the San Bernardino mountains in the beautiful outdoors
• Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement 2022 annual survey says we are a top-rated workplace
• Company Benefits
• Medical, Dental, Vision (high % of the plan is paid for by the organization)
• Life insurance
• Matching 403B
• Paid vacation and sick time
• Staff stays and retreat benefits

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Uphold and support the Mission, Vision and Core Values of Forest Home
• Signed statement of faith
• Ability to hear from God and pray for people, both in person and on the phone
• Actively supports and participates in staff and personal spiritual life activities
• Display a professional attitude through performance, appearance, and demeanor
• Ability to work well and collaborate in a team environment
• Flexibility and willingness to adjust to changing environments
• Regular, timely attendance
• Servant heart and Christ-like attitude
• Must possess an excellent “can do” attitude of love, care, and collaboration
• Excellent time management and ability to perform high quality work within assigned deadlines
• Leadership ability to correctly guide expectations and recommend ideas
• Availability for business travel as needed
• Must see problems as opportunities to build relationships
• Exceptional problem-solving skills
• Passion to encourage the body of Christ to invest in retreating with Jesus

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with a disability to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, sit, and requires sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate office machines. Requires mild physical work; some lifting, pushing, or pulling of objects over 30 pounds. Requires visual acuity to read words and numbers and speaking and hearing ability sufficient to communicate in person or over the phone.

FOREST HOME EMPLOYMENT STATEMENT: Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. All terms and conditions of employment, duties, and responsibilities are subject to the Forest Home Employee Handbook. 

FOREST HOME CORE VALUES

Surrender to Christ (Romans 12:1-2)

• Abide with the Lord daily through study of His Word and prayer
• Surrender to the Lord daily through obedience to His Word
• Worship the Lord with the Forest Home Community
• Commit to grow in your faith through regular attendance at a local church
• Prioritize God, Family, and Work appropriately
• Be prepared to share your testimony with staff or guests

·      Walk in Biblical purity (1 Timothy 4:12) by rejecting one’s sinful nature

Love (I Corinthians 13)

• Display the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22)
• Be respectful to others
• Demonstrate compassion

Serve (Philippians 2:3-11)

• Give generously to God and others through time, talent and treasure
• Seek to put others’ needs above your own
• Demonstrate humility in both spirit and deed
• Actively look for ways to serve

Walk in Integrity (Titus 2:11-12, Proverbs 4:23-27)

• Show loyalty to others, even when they are not present
• Do the right thing, even when others are not present
• Extend trust and seek to believe the best in others
• Ask for forgiveness quickly when necessary
• Be truthful and transparent with others

Strive for Excellence (Colossians 3:23-24)

• Demonstrate accountability with time and resources
• Request and receive training
• Desire to improve, and challenge others to do the same
• Commit to exceeding guest expectations
• Refuse mediocrity

Engage in Community (I Thessalonians 5:11-13)

• Seek first to understand before being understood
• Communicate clearly, empathetically and respectfully
• Work through conflict Biblically (Matthew 18-15-17)
• Participate in intentional and purposeful community activities
• Partner with teammates for the goal of unity and team effectiveness
• Play and appreciate “campy” fun
• Faithfully pray for one another

Innovate (Ephesians 3:20-21)

• Dream Big
• Proactively seek solutions
• Think outside the box
• Dream, plan and execute new ideas
• Acknowledge and trust that all things are possible through Jesus Christ our Lord (Matthew 19:26)