Major Gifts Director

Most days tend to involve a blend of donor cultivation, gift officer management, and strategic planning — meetings with major donors and prospects, coaching gift officers through their portfolios, and partnering with leadership on cultivation strategy for top donors. You'll often spend significant time on the road.

The harder part is often carrying both a personal portfolio and team accountability. You'll typically maintain your own significant donor relationships while also coaching gift officers, and you'll absorb the political dynamics of donors whose interests sometimes diverge from institutional priorities or among themselves.

People who tend to thrive here are deeply relational, strategically minded, and comfortable with the long arc of major gift cultivation. The trade-off is the cyclical pressure of campaign cadences and the personal investment that major donor relationships require. If you find satisfaction in partnering with donors to fund work that wouldn't happen otherwise, this role can be a defining destination in fundraising leadership.