At a nonprofit, university, or institutional advancement office, you coordinate the major-donor program — supporting gift officers on portfolios, managing donor research, organizing cultivation events, and the operational backbone of major-gift work.
The day tends to mix prospect research, donor briefings, event coordination, and the steady support of gift officers' calendars. You're often the operational engine beneath the major-gifts officers who carry visible portfolios. Briefing memos, donor profiles, and event run-of-show are recurring deliverables.
The harder part is often the volume of small touches that shape major-donor experience — a misspelled name in a briefing memo, a wrong dietary preference at a dinner, a poorly-staged tour all erode the cultivation work. Variance across employers is wide: at universities and major nonprofits the work is structured with specialty teams; at smaller organizations you may also handle gift entry and stewardship.
Coordinators who thrive tend to carry organizational discipline and warmth toward donors. CFRE eligibility builds across years. The trade-off is the back-office positioning — the credit flows to officers closing gifts, while the operational support runs in the background.
Don't do Truest if you aren't ready
to invest in yourself and your career.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Still figuring out what you want to become
when you grow up?
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Business Operations roles →At a nonprofit, university, or institutional advancement office, you coordinate the major-donor program — supporting gift officers on portfolios, managing donor research, organizing cultivation events, and the operational backbone of major-gift work.
Median pay for a Major Donors Coordinator is about $66K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $43K to $107K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Persuasion, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, and Writing.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 4.3% through 2034, with roughly 105,930 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Major Gifts Director, Development Associate, and Development Coordinator.
Remember “your permanent record”?
This time it works for you.