How To Become A Major Gifts Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a major gifts officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Major gifts officers work with NGOs and nonprofit organizations to source funding and maintain relationships with donors and build relationships with potential new donors. As a major gift officer, your major work is to create a strategic way to fund the cause of the organization you are working with. You will be responsible for developing strategies to raise funds by either meeting with an individual potential donor or a profitable organization that believes in your organization's cause. You are also in charge of documenting reports on secured funds. More importantly, you have to make sure the organization's goals and objectives align with that of the members.

As a major gifts officer, you should have sound communication skills, interpersonal skills, speaking skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and you should know about finance and budgeting. Most major gifts officers have a bachelor's degree in business, political science, communication, or a related course. You will earn an average of $73,140 per year.

ScoreMajor Gifts OfficerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,209

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.7

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 5.12%

Black or African American 5.95%

Hispanic or Latino 9.11%

Unknown 4.66%

White 74.75%

Gender

female 53.79%

male 46.21%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

8.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.4

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a major gifts officer

Explore major gifts officer education requirements

Most common major gifts officer degrees

Bachelor's

77.0 %

Master's

16.5 %

Associate

4.0 %

Start to develop specific major gifts officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Moves Management	9.38%
Solicitation Strategies	7.93%
Donor Prospects	6.84%
Figure Gifts	6.73%
Donor Relationships	6.21%

Complete relevant major gifts officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New major gifts officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a major gifts officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real major gifts officer resumes.

Research major gifts officer duties and responsibilities

Manage and monitor donor tracking system via Salesforce to ensure the integrity of organization's donor base.
Develop and manage cause-related marketing partnerships.
Support documentation activities for FDA audits & manage integration activities for acquisitions.
Coordinate the activities of the teachers and non teaching staff in the department.

Prepare your major gifts officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your major gifts officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a major gifts officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable major gifts officer resume templates

Build a professional major gifts officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your major gifts officer resume.

Apply for major gifts officer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a major gifts officer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do major gifts officers rate their job?

2/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Major gifts officer reviews

2.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

Attending and meeting people at events

Cons

- The pressure of securing funds. - comparing the role with sales and/or fundraising - lack of response from donors you are reaching out to. It made me feel as if I wasn't doing my job of connecting with them.