Major Gifts Officer

Make lives meaningful through making.

Who We Are

Penland School of Craft is an international center for craft education offering residential workshops, residencies, community education programs, and exhibitions. Located on 420 acres in the NC Mountains, Penland has 16 teaching studios and 60 historic and contemporary buildings. We are an equal-opportunity employer with a staff of 50+. Penland operates with a $54 million endowment and an annual operating budget of $8.4 million. We are located about an hour northeast of Asheville, NC. 

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

At Penland School of Craft, we believe that fostering a climate of equity, inclusion, diversity, and antiracism are essential to our work. We are committed to creating a campus community free of discrimination, and we welcome everyone who supports this commitment. 

Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, and other people who identify as people of color or BIPOC individuals are encouraged to apply, as are people holding other marginalized identities related to gender, sexual orientation, ability, and class background.

Position Summary

The Major Gifts Officer is responsible for cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual donors and planned giving prospects to grow philanthropic revenue and strengthen long-term donor relationships. This role is a storyteller, strategist, and relationship builder—someone who aligns donor passions with the organization’s mission. This position manages a dynamic portfolio of leadership annual, major gift, and planned giving donors and prospects, plays a key role in advancing donors through the organization’s giving pipeline, and contributes to campaign planning, donor strategy, and campaign fundraising initiatives in support of Penland’s long-term strategic priorities.

The Major Gifts Officer develops and implements individualized cultivation and solicitation strategies; conducts meaningful donor engagement activities; and partners closely with the Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) and Executive Director (ED) to identify and prepare donors for leadership-level gifts.

This is a revenue-generating position with clear performance metrics and portfolio accountability. Following portfolio development and onboarding, this position is expected to manage and influence approximately $1M–$3M in annual philanthropic revenue. This position reports to the CAO and serves on a development team of 7 staff members. This is a full-time, year-round, exempt, benefits-eligible position. 

This is a hybrid position with a regular on-campus schedule throughout the month. This position is externally focused and expected to maintain an active schedule of donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activity, including approximately 10–15 in-person donor visits monthly and 120–150 meaningful donor engagements annually. Regional and national travel will be expected with strategic overnight trips. 

Primary Responsibilities

Portfolio Management & Leadership Gift Fundraising

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 75–125 donors and prospects in the $25,000-$100,000 giving range.
• Develop and implement written cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for each assigned donor.
• Conduct and document 120–150 meaningful donor contacts annually (meetings, substantive calls, personalized engagements). 
• Solicit and close gifts aligned with individual and organizational priorities.
• Prepare briefing materials and coordinate leadership involvement for major gift solicitations when appropriate.
• Maintain accurate and timely documentation of donor interactions and strategy in the CRM.

Campaign Fundraising & Strategic Initiatives

• Support the planning and execution of future comprehensive and capital campaign initiatives.
• Identify, qualify, and cultivate campaign prospects in collaboration with the CAO and ED.
• Assist in developing campaign donor strategies, prospect tracking, and moves management systems.
• Participate in campaign planning activities, donor briefings, leadership volunteer engagement, and campaign stewardship efforts.
• Support campaign pipeline development through proactive donor discovery, qualification, and relationship management.
• Collaborate on campaign-related proposals, case materials, and donor communications.

Pipeline Development

• Identify major donors with upgrade potential. 
• Actively qualify new prospects and advance donors through defined stages of engagement, solicitation, and stewardship. 
• Partner with the development team to move qualified prospects into individual portfolios.
• Recommend top prospects for engagement by the CAO and ED.
• Support campaign readiness and capital initiatives through proactive portfolio development.

Stewardship & Retention

• Ensure timely and meaningful stewardship for assigned donors.
• Collaborate with the development and communications staff to deliver personalized impact communications and recognition.
• Maintain a strong donor retention rate within the assigned portfolio.

 

Legacy & Planned Giving

• Conduct planned-giving introductory conversations and coordinate with development staff and ED as appropriate. 
• Identify and qualify donors with legacy gift potential.
• Steward existing legacy society members to ensure continued engagement and recognition.

 

Collaboration & Department Engagement

• Participates in development department planning and evaluation.
• Collaborate with program, communications, and leadership teams to develop compelling donor engagement opportunities, impact narratives, and stewardship strategies.
• Provides support and assistance to the CAO and ED regarding individual gifts, planning, and other projects as needed.
• Support organization-wide understanding of individual funding priorities and restrictions.
• Support special initiatives and events that advance donor relationships.
• Performs additional duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; equivalent experience considered.
• Minimum of 5-7 years of successful individual fundraising experience.
• Demonstrated success managing a donor portfolio and closing five-figure gifts.
• Strong interpersonal skills and comfort conducting in-person solicitations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience working with donor database systems (Raiser’s Edge or similar CRM preferred). Strong computer skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently while collaborating across teams.
• High degree of professionalism and discretion.
• Preferred experience with planned giving cultivation.
• A sense of humor and high standards of personal and professional excellence.
• Preferred experience in arts, cultural, or creative nonprofit organizations.
• Preferred experience in capital or comprehensive campaigns.

Physical Demands

This position is primarily office-based and requires extended periods of computer work and written communication. The role also requires the ability to meet with donors on and off campus, travel as needed, attend events, and occasionally work evenings or weekends. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

Benefits

Penland is proud to offer a comprehensive and thoughtfully designed benefits package for our staff. We provide a selection of medical plans along with vision, dental, long-term disability, life insurance, retirement options, and an employee assistance program to support your overall wellness. Our generous leave programs include paid time off (PTO), sick, extended sick time. Employees also enjoy limited access to studios, free classes after two years of employment, meals during programming, and additional discounts. We look forward to sharing more about our full range of benefits during the interview process.

Compensation

This is an exempt, full-time, year-round, benefits-eligible position. The salary range for this position is between $80,000 - $110,000 annually and negotiable based on the skills and experience an applicant brings to the position.