Major Gifts Officer

KEY DETAILS:

• Location: New York, NY or Boston, MA preferred, but not required
• Salary: $98,000-120,000/year, commensurate with experience
• Benefits: View highlights here
• Rolling applications

The Opportunity for Impact:

Join Keshet as we resiliently work for the full equality of LGBTQ+ Jews and our families, amidst historic rises in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and hate toward our communities. As our Major Gifts Officer, you will play a key role in strengthening the fundraising engine that powers LGBTQ+ belonging in Jewish life across North America. This is Keshet's senior-most position leading our individual giving work, in partnership with the CEO.

In this role, you will inspire our supporters to deepen their investment, cultivating and stewarding relationships with prospective and current major donors nationwide, and fostering an active culture of philanthropy across the organization. Building on Keshet's passionate base of supporters, you will strengthen donor relationships, seek out new champions for our cause, and help fuel the resources that turn our mission into action.

This role is a great fit for an ambitious, entrepreneurial leader who is energized by the art of relationship-building. As our Major Gifts Officer, you are a compelling storyteller and communicator who enjoys the full arc of the fundraising relationship, from that first connection through years of deepening partnership.

Reporting to and collaborating closely with our CEO, and working alongside a passionate team of colleagues across the country, you will play a key role in strengthening Keshet's community of supporters and raising the funds needed to sustain and grow our impactful work.

About Keshet:

Keshet works for the full equality of all LGBTQ+ Jews and our families in Jewish life. We turn values at the heart of Judaism—equality, inclusion, and human dignity—into action in Jewish communities across North America. We equip Jewish organizations with the tools to build LGBTQ+-affirming communities; create spaces for LGBTQ+ Jewish youth and LGBTQ+ Jews of Color to feel joy and belonging; and advance LGBTQ+ rights nationwide.

As an organization that teaches the importance of proactive LGBTQ+ affirming messages and actions, Keshet recognizes the similar need to make our commitment to racial equity and justice clear and explicit. We embed a racial equity and justice lens into Keshet’s leadership and staff structure, political analysis, organizational policies, communications, and program content.

Keshet's national office is in Boston with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, South Florida, Texas, and New York, as well, and other staff across the United States.

Responsibilities:

Donor Portfolio Development & Management

• Manage a robust portfolio of prospective, and lapsed major donors, developing and executing individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
• Encourage existing donors to make larger and/or longer-term gifts that meet Keshet's priorities and support donors' own philanthropic goals.
• Identify, qualify, and engage new major donor prospects through research, referrals, events, and community relationships.
• Build meaningful donor relationships through regular meetings, personalized outreach, and thoughtful stewardship.
• Partner with executive leadership and board members to develop and expand donor relationships, advising them on donor engagement and solicitation.
• Develop a comprehensive plan to upgrade current donors and identify and solicit new donors to meet budgeted goals.
• Document and prepare content for solicitation, cultivation, and development events, correspondence, strategic fundraising plans, reports and tailored proposals.
• Maintain accurate, up-to-date donor records in Salesforce CRM — including meeting notes, research, and stage tracking — and use CRM reporting and analytics to inform strategy, monitor portfolio performance, and measure fundraising outcomes.
• Plan and executive donor engagement events and prospecting/stewardship visits.

Organizational Leadership & Collaboration

• Partner with colleagues across Keshet to strengthen organization-wide major donor engagement and foster a culture of philanthropy.
• Develop deep fluency in Keshet's programs and impact, working with program and communications staff to connect donors with meaningful funding opportunities and compelling stories.
• Engage program staff to enhance donor meetings and cultivation events, fostering stronger emotional proximity between donors and Keshet’s impact.
• Collaborate on persuasive written communications that support fundraising efforts.
• Other duties as assigned.

Travel:

Regular travel around the U.S. (1–2 trips per month) to meet donors and execute donor events.

3-4 trips per year for larger events and staff retreats.

Qualifications:

• Passionate commitment to Keshet’s vision and mission of advancing LGBTQ+ equality in Jewish life.
• Extensive knowledge of LGBTQ+ identities and experiences and the ability to articulate the intersections among diverse Jewish and LGBTQ+ identities.
• Significant knowledge of Jewish tradition, identity, and experience is preferred; ease working across a wide range of Jewish communities is essential.
• Ability to skillfully navigate the Jewish communal landscape.
• Contributes to a strong, healthy workplace culture in alignment with Keshet's values.
• Committed to bringing a racial justice and gender equity lens to programs, fundraising, and staff culture.
• Track record of developing and maintaining trusting relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders; demonstrated ability to meet people where they are, find common ground, and inspire people to give to and act on what they believe in.
• Outstanding, persuasive verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage a range of audiences.
• Excellent analytical, planning, and project management skills.
• Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major donors and achieving fundraising goals.
• Demonstrated understanding of nonprofit fundraising, governance, management, and volunteer engagement models.
• Prior experience with a constituent data management or similar record-keeping system required; Salesforce familiarity a plus.
• Strong ability to motivate, monitor, measure, and improve performance and morale of others, while giving and receiving feedback constructively.
• Comfortable with ambiguity in a fast-paced organization; flexible enough to meet changing demands.
• Works well with colleagues across multiple geographic locations, using technology to support daily work and collaborative projects.

Experience:

5+ years of development experience managing major donor relationships.

Important Note:

Frequently cited statistics show that women, trans, and nonbinary people as well as other structurally marginalized groups are more likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Keshet encourages you to break that statistic and to apply for stretch positions. No one ever meets 100% of the qualifications. We look forward to your application. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until we find the right candidate for the position.

Keshet Equal Employment Opportunity:

Keshet is dedicated to building a culturally diverse and pluralistic staff. Keshet provides equal opportunity to all people regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, veteran status, disability, citizenship status, or any other proscribed category set forth in federal or state regulations. This policy applies to all employees and candidates for employment.