Relationship Lead, Philanthropy & Major Gifts

We are looking for someone who can play a crucial role in cultivating meaningful, long-lasting philanthropic relationships with a portfolio of major donors and prospects while driving revenue growth by strategically managing individual donors giving $10,000 or more. This position guides donors through all phases of the donor journey ensuring a personalized, impactful, and meaningful experience. This role will develop and execute targeted fundraising strategies, conduct in-depth donor research, and track progress to ensure successful outcomes and activity metrics are achieved on an annual basis. This role fosters long-term connections, acting as a personal point of contact to ensure donors are engaged and connected to United Way’s cause. This externally focused role is dedicated to delivering a donor-centric experience, leveraging strategic philanthropy to also retain and cultivate mid-level donors and elevate them to major giving levels. The position reports directly to the Director of Individual Giving.

The Day to Day:

Customer Relationship Development

• Oversee a portfolio of 125-150 major donors and prospects through all stages of the donor giving cycle - qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, advancing the organization’s philanthropic goals and strengthening our donor relationships.
• Design and implement comprehensive strategies to identify, attract, cultivate, engage, and retain a robust individual donor base, driving the growth of major gifts and strengthening long-term donor relationships.
• Conduct research on current and prospective major gift donors to develop tailored and customized philanthropic strategies that support annual stewardship plans, ensuring that all relevant information is accurately recorded in our database.
• Foster and implement stewardship strategies to strengthen donor relationships and improve retention metrics.
• Build relationships with major donors to identify prospects for our planned giving program.
• Steward confirmed planned giving donors in the portfolio to ensure continued engagement and long-term support.
• Collaborate with workplace relationship owners to identify or create opportunities for engaging with current and potential major gift donors at their workplaces.
• Develop and review tailored philanthropic proposals for support, stewardship materials, and other collateral materials.
• Build and nurture philanthropic relationships with donors and prospects through both digital and in-person interactions, demonstrating expertise in soliciting individual donations across various mediums, including face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, virtual meetings, and written correspondence.
• Demonstrate confidence and professionalism in donor-facing environments, with the ability to proactively initiate conversations, build authentic relationships, and engage comfortably with new contacts and stakeholders. Thrives in dynamic settings, takes initiative independently, and is comfortable stepping outside their comfort zone to foster meaningful connections in support of fundraising goals.

Customer Relationship Stewardship

• Oversee the identification, tracking, analysis, and reporting of major donors and prospects, ensuring thorough documentation of donor meetings and interactions, including detailed action notes within the donor database.
• Work closely with other departments to align fundraising strategies and ensure a cohesive approach to donor engagement.
• Leverage goal tracking data to formulate financial projections, identify potential issues, and refine engagement strategies as necessary.
• Support the development and lead the implementation of donor recognition programs to acknowledge and celebrate major donors' contributions.
• Coordinate and manage Major Gift donor thank-you calls by assigning outreach to staff, Cabinet volunteers and/or Executive Leadership Team members, tracking completion and outcomes in the CRM, and ensuring timely and consistent donor stewardship follow-up.
• Provide personalized reports to major donors, highlighting the measurable outcomes of their philanthropic contributions and clearly demonstrate how their support is driving meaningful progress in advancing the organization's mission.
• Strategically attend United Way and workplace campaign events as required to cultivate and/or steward current and potential major donors.
• Support stewardship, recognition, and major gift prospecting events by fostering personal connections with donors, ensuring they feel valued and engaged in the organization’s philanthropic efforts, while creating a meaningful experience that strengthens their relationship with the organization.
• Lead and coordinate Major Gifts Cabinet activities in collaboration with key internal teammates and stakeholders, including supporting the recruitment, engagement, retention, and stewardship of Cabinet member volunteers; organizing meeting schedules and logistics; coordinating agenda development and meeting facilitation support; and preparing background briefings and materials to equip cabinet members for opportunities with current and prospective donors in support of major gift fundraising strategies and outcomes.
• Stay informed on industry best practices, emerging trends, and innovations to ensure the organization remains at the forefront of major gift fundraising strategies.
• Proactively identify and make recommendations to refine processes and adopt effective practices that drive sustained growth in major donor revenue and philanthropic support.

About you:

It’s important to us that you understand the importance of relationships and how it impacts all our work, resulting in operating with a strong customer service focus. You possess strong interpersonal and relationship management skills and the ability to build engaging relationships through trust, teamwork, and direct communication.

You demonstrate use of critical thinking to analyze and interpret information to make decisions, make recommendations and to solve problems. As a self-motivated relationship builder who works independently, you take initiative, and engage professionally with volunteers, donors, and stakeholders to support fundraising goals.

You possess strong verbal and written communication skills with high level of attention to detail. You will demonstrate knowledge of administrative functions such as writing correspondence, scheduling meetings, maintaining records, and liaising with internal and external stakeholders. You are highly organized with the ability to set priorities and create action plans to complete work while handling confidential donor information by ensuring that all data is managed with discretion and in compliance with privacy standards. Knowledge and experience or training in Donor Relations, Account Management, Fundraising and Sponsorship, Event Management and/or Volunteer Management considered an asset.

You have a knowledge of MS Office (we use cloud-based Office 365), SharePoint, iWave and CRMs and are comfortable in a digitally focused environment.

Your background includes a post-secondary degree in Business, Social Sciences, Humanities or a related area plus a minimum of four (4) to six (6) years related experience. A combination of education and experience will be considered.

A valid driver’s license and vehicle are required as some travel will be involved within Edmonton and surrounding area.

You align with and integrate our core values throughout all organizational and business practices, and you consistently act with personal, professional, and behavioral integrity.

You see yourself in our Values.
We value and operate with a commitment to:

Creating solutions.

Continuous learning.

Being courageous in our work.

Capturing our customers’ hearts and minds.

Being insights driven and utilizing real data.

Applying a lens of equity and inclusion to all that we do.

Why work with us?

We are people who love what we do and are passionate about our work. We offer rewarding work, a positive workplace culture, and a total rewards package. Our work environment is a hybrid - with time spent both collaborating in the office as well as remotely.