Principal Gifts Officer

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

United Way of Greater Atlanta (UWGA) is in the midst of transformational change and is embarking on new and different ways to raise and earn revenue so that it can accelerate and scale its mission to drive sustainable and equitable improvements in the well-being of children, families, and individuals in greater Atlanta. The mission remains the same: To bring together people and resources to drive sustainable and equitable improvements in the well-being of half a million lives across Greater Atlanta. The value proposition is to Unite Greater Atlanta to create, amplify and accelerate solutions that promote child well-being by addressing our communities’ most complex social challenges.

These solutions and the backbone behind them are all in service of the organization’s bold growth ambition: Triple unrestricted revenue by 2029 to be the best-in-class investor in child well-being in Greater Atlanta, ultimately eliminating the barriers of one’s zip code as a hindrance to future success. This transformation will unleash the next generation of UWGA, putting UWGA on a growth pathway that will significantly amplify its impact by increasing its investment in solutions that can make a lasting difference for Child Well-Being in Greater Atlanta.

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW

The Major Gifts team plays a vital role in fostering meaningful philanthropic connections across our community. At United Way of Greater Atlanta, we are committed to sharing validated, data-driven insights that demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of our mission to improve child well-being. As ambassadors of this mission, our Major Gifts team leads with purpose—building trusted relationships with donors, aligning their passions with our work, and offering compelling reasons to invest in lasting change. While we are proud to be leaders in major and transformational giving, we recognize that successful fundraising is a shared responsibility. Every member of our organization contributes to creating the conditions that inspire generosity and ensure accountability to our donors. We are servant leaders who hold ourselves—and one another—to the highest standards, driven by a personal commitment to excellence and a deep dedication to the children and families we serve.

JOB SUMMARY

The Principal Gifts Officer (PGO) is a key member of the United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Office of Development. The PGO is a senior leader in major, transformational and planned giving for the Office of Development and entire organization. This position will adhere to internal policies and best practices related to Major Gift and Multi-Year giving portfolio management and fundraising. This requires a senior level fundraising professional who will collaborate with the President's Cabinet, the Board of Directors, multiple Development Teams and other UWGA staff. The PGO brings deep expertise in donor engagement, stewardship, and strategic relationship-building to advance the organization’s philanthropic goals.

• Strategy and Implementation: Provide direction, planning, and implementation of strategies to drive proposal and gift growth for high-net-worth individuals, family foundations, planned giving donors, new markets and donors.
• Portfolio Management: Build and manage a portfolio of 50-80 high net worth donors, family foundations, and other organizational prospects. Responsibilities include identifying, qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donor prospects in a dynamic, fast-paced fundraising environment.
• Collaboration: Work closely with colleagues across departments, volunteers, boards, community leaders, and others. Must be collaborative, professional, innovative, responsible, and maintain a strong work ethic and attention to detail.
• Expertise: Be well-versed in individual and family foundation stewardship, planned giving strategy and deliverables, fundraising strategy, and the art and science of individual fundraising. Write and produce high level donor solicitation proposals. Significant experience in collaborating with others to close gifts and managing individual portfolios is essential.
• Engagement and Reporting: Implement and guide strategies for the retention, growth, and engagement of individual and family foundation donors, as well as new constituents. Report on at least 8 substantive visits per month.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The PGO will be responsible for the following goals, duties, and responsibilities:

• Develop and execute the Individual donor identification, cultivation, and proposal development, at a net growth rate in revenue raised and membership consistent with both annual and multi-year strategic planning.
• Develop and execute the family foundation identification, cultivation and proposal development, at a net growth rate in revenue raised and membership consistent with both annual and multi-year strategic planning.
• Develop strategic plan for planned giving growth and awareness among existing donors and new donors.
• Develop a strategy, plan, and stewardship of all donors, new donors and additional organization outreach.
• Responsible for ensuring the successful execution of the strategic plan by working with the President, SVP of Revenue, VP of Major Gifts and multiyear giving, and appropriate team members and volunteers.
• Direct and execute all events and activities that support constituency recruitment, stewardship and engagement.
• Establish and manage a quality control system for family foundation, major donor, and planned giving marketing materials and communications, stewardship events etc.
• Work with the Major Gift Team to develop individual strategic cultivation plans for individual donors and key family foundation donors and prospects.
• Ensure all Donor constituency data is currently entered into the system and appropriate to goals and outcomes.
• Secure 80 approved face-to-face visits per year, no fewer than 8 per month.
• Qualifying 15 new individual donors or family foundation portfolio level prospects.
• Submitting a minimum of 25 major gift solicitations per year at the level required by this position.
• Securing annual dollar goal as set by Development leadership.
• Making all contacts necessary via phone, email, other, to achieve the above-mentioned results.
• Documenting all data necessary to track said goals through the timely submission of activity within the UWGA CRM, as required by internal policies.
• Develop, implement, and manage a productive, fluid portfolio of 50-80 prospects through best practices.
• Exceed all yearly revenue and metric-driven goals.
• Promote collaboration, recognizing our shared goals, and regularly collaborate with colleagues within the Office of Development and other departments as needed.
• Ensure the proper stewardship of individuals.
• Increase awareness and knowledge among prospects, donors and other key stakeholders about the Child Well-Being Movement.
• Develop a solid and detailed working knowledge of United Way’s funding priorities and products
• Other duties as assigned by the Vice President of Development

Qualifications & Competencies

Qualifications & Competencies

• Undergraduate degree required.
• Extensive experience with high-net-worth individual donors, family foundations, foundation program development.
• Ten plus years of progressive individual fundraising experience and planned giving experience, including the demonstrated ability to identify, cultivate, and close major gifts.
• Advanced interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.
• Organization skills for a fast-paced work environment.
• Microsoft Office knowledge including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc.
• Experience with CRM/database management.

Competencies

A successful individual in this role will have:

• Ability to manage multiple projects, meet external needs while preserving internal relationships and meeting strict deadlines and requirements.
• Entrepreneurial and highly energetic. Must be a self-starter and able to work effectively independent of direct supervision.
• Highly Advanced fundraising skills and experience in working with executive and C Suite individuals, proposal development and writing ability and knowledge about planned giving, blended giving and gift agreements.
• Exceptional skills managing individual donor portfolios and developing prospects from identification through solicitation while moving them towards increased giving.
• Ability to think strategically and implement strategic policies and practices.
• Ability to work collaboratively to achieve common goals, fostering cooperation, transparency, and communication.
• The ability to motivate others through communication, modeling appropriate behavior, optimism and high achievement.
• Openness to new ideas and their implementation. Ability to react and adapt to changing situations appropriately.
• Ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality and organization.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Dynamic CRM, Raiser’s Edge, or similar CRM software.
• Highly attentive to detail and exceptional grammar required.
• Dedicated to shared and measurable goals and metrics.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced Degree.
• AFP CFRE certification.
• Experience implementing and managing major gifts and planned giving programs and experience with programmatic and capital campaigns.
• Demonstrated fundraising innovation, especially as it relates to portfolio management.
• Successful solicitation of major gifts from individuals.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

A successful individual in this role will be:

• Optimistic and excited about the mission of United Way of Greater Atlanta.
• Willing to work on a team and be a team player and to understand that all major gift team members ‘sweep the porch’.
• Self-starter and strong attention to donor details and relationships.
• Resilient and energetic, willing and able to pivot quickly.
• Servant leader and committed to success of full team.