JOB SUMMARY

To serve The Lord in outreach to donors with responsibility for developing, implementing and managing the strategies for the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of donors with a primary focus on acquiring five and six figure multi-year gifts to support the Forest Home Unrestricted Giving Fund. 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 unrestricted and campaign donation revenue goals being attained.

This position has direct impact on the department’s reputation among customers, donors, and directly impacts the financial and operational performance of the department. 

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, remote position working out of a home office. Occasional 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
  • Oversee portfolio of ~150 donors and prospects
  • Initiate, develop & maintain relationships with donors to increase major gifts and annual giving commitment donations
  • Participate in each step of the donor development pipeline including: identification; qualification through research; cultivation; briefing; request for support (ask); prompt and consistent follow up, stewardship, and recognition
  • Proactively establish new donor relationships via prospecting targeted lists, referrals, networking opportunities, and proactive development of donor referrals 
  • Initiate and participate in daily outbound phone calls and face-to-face appointments to secure new donations and to maintain existing donor relationships.
  • Meet weekly face to face with 3-5 donor/potential donors
  • Provide camp tours for prospective donors as needed
• Strategy Implementation Responsibilities
  • Develop individual donor strategies for major donor engagement through cultivation and opportunities to deepen relationships with the ministry
  • Develop and implement strategies to increase donor giving levels to $70K+
  • Maintain consistent stewardship with current donors and determine appropriate solicitation strategies to secure renewals and increase annual giving
• Communication Responsibilities 
  • Demonstrates exceptional responsiveness to all communications (phone, text, email)
  • Communicate effectively through different mediums (face-to-face, email, calls, etc.)
  • Ability to communicate succinctly and to the point in written communications
  • Group presentation experience and communication skills
• Reporting Responsibilities 
  • Track weekly activity and submit a weekly report of activity that leads to donations 
  • Enter every call, appointment, activity in Raisers Edge donor management software 
  • Develop and track Pipeline of new prospective donors and opportunities with existing donors
  • Utilize Raisers Edge Wealth Screening to segment and manage donor portfolio
• 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.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: 

• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• Minimum of 5 years in major gift fundraising with demonstrated success securing gifts of $70,000+ and successfully growing a donor portfolio on an annual basis 
• History of building strong relationships with a variety of individuals

QUALIFICATIONS: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. 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
• Ability to hear from God and pray for people, both in person and on the phone
• Actively support and participate in the staff spiritual life activities
• Agree with and sign the Statement of Faith
• Display a professional attitude through performance, appearance, and demeanor
• Ability to work well and collaborate in a team environment
• Ability to interact professionally with executive leadership team
• Self-starter, energetic, empathetic, and enthusiastic professional
• Flexibility and willingness to adjust to changing environments 
• Maintain regular, timely attendance
• Operate out of a 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
• Participate in spiritual life activities, including regular church attendance and daily Bible reading.
• Leadership ability to correctly guide expectations and recommend ideas
• Availability for business travel as needed 
• Must see problems as opportunities to build relationships and possess 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.

ADA: The employer will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This job description will be reviewed periodically as duties and responsibilities change with business necessity.WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Work involves moderate exposure to unusual elements such as extreme temperatures, dirt, dust, fumes, smoke, unpleasant odors. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate but can be loud at times.

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 Forest Home’s at-will 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)