Major Gifts Officer at the Metropolitan Opera
Job Title: Major Gifts Officer
Job Status: Full-time
Location: New York, NY
Salary: $75,000 – $80,000
The Major Gifts Officer is responsible for cultivating and soliciting a portfolio of Major Gifts donors and prospects capable of giving $25,000+ and managing benefits fulfillment and donor care for the Major Gifts team. They will solicit donors for annual support as well as for the Transforming the Met Campaign. They will develop relationships, write solicitation letters and other donor correspondence, and participate in departmental events and administrative functions as needed. They will be a strategic thinker focusing on donor retention, increased giving, and identifying new prospects. They will have an eye for detail, excellent writing skills, and a proactive attitude in seeking new fundraising opportunities for the Met.
Primary Responsibilities
- Manage a personal portfolio of current Major Gifts and Patron donors for solicitation and cultivation purposes: provide excellent patron service; cultivate and solicit strategically with an emphasis on upgrades.
- Acquire and develop prospects for annual gifts and special projects; partner with other staff members in Major Gifts, Patron and Individual Giving, and Research as needed.
- Assist with Major Gifts benefit fulfillment and support donor care efforts such as donor events, dress rehearsals, priority ticketing, etc.
- Manage special solicitation efforts as needed, including creating well-written materials, tracking progress, and producing detailed reports.
- Evening and weekend hours required.
- Utilize database for reporting and analysis.
- Staff and work with Board volunteers as needed.
- Staff special events as needed.
- Assist with Major Gifts administrative functions, such as tracking matching gifts.
- Other tasks as assigned.
Skills & Qualifications
- BA degree.
- 4-5 years experience in fundraising with an emphasis on individual solicitation.
- Ability to write clearly and elegantly with an expert grasp of language, grammar and punctuation.
- Experience writing original development documents.
- Excellent interpersonal and oral communication skills.
- Excellent computer program/database skills. Familiarity with Tessitura is a plus.
- Ability to exercise excellent judgment working with high-level donors, volunteers and Board members.
- Ability to multi-task.
- Familiarity with the performing arts, particularly opera, is a plus.
Physical Demands
- Ability to work well with all personality types.
$75,000 – $80,000 a year
The Metropolitan Opera believes that diversity is critical to our success and growth as a leading performing arts institution and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the communities we serve.
The Metropolitan Opera is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and existing employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, citizenship status, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.