Post job
zippia ai icon

Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Major gifts officer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical major gifts officer skills. We ranked the top skills for major gifts officers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 9.4% of major gifts officer resumes contained moves management as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a major gifts officer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 major gifts officer skills for your resume and career

1. Moves Management

Here's how major gifts officers use moves management:
  • Developed and implemented effective moves management strategy for increasing gifts and strengthening donor relationships including stewardship and engagement opportunities.
  • Introduced Primary Relationship Manager strategy to enhance moves management process and increase efficiency of donor contact.

2. Solicitation Strategies

Here's how major gifts officers use solicitation strategies:
  • Create individual cultivation and solicitation strategies for an assigned portfolio of more than two hundred leadership donor prospects.
  • Created customized solicitation strategies based on strategic objectives of organization and interest of donor.

3. Donor Prospects

Here's how major gifts officers use donor prospects:
  • Identified, cultivated, solicited and stewarded high-level foundations and individual major donor prospects regionally and nationally.
  • Designed and implemented effective cultivation, solicitation and stewardship plans for donor prospects.

4. Figure Gifts

Here's how major gifts officers use figure gifts:
  • Cultivate relationships with in-person meetings, securing seven-figure gifts for the University.
  • Converted 6 donors at sub $1000 levels to 5 figure gifts increasing revenue by 18% in FY11.

5. Donor Relationships

Here's how major gifts officers use donor relationships:
  • Cultivate and manage new donor relationships and effectively grow existing relationships.
  • Developed strategies for maintaining donor relationships through consistent personal contact.

6. Relationship Building

Relationship building is the act of building a lasting social connection with people whether online or in person. It's a soft skill required for those going into marketing, communication, and every other field that requires dealing with the public to help them connect better with people. It's also great as a personal skill for gaining meaningful relationships that can help one in the future.

Here's how major gifts officers use relationship building:
  • Managed gifts to the hospital foundation applying fundraising techniques; data mining, relationship building, stewarding donors.
  • Managed a team of 3 Employer Development associates responsible for relationship building and day-to-day operations of the Career Management Center.

Choose from 10+ customizable major gifts officer resume templates

Build a professional major gifts officer resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your major gifts officer resume.

7. Donor Database

Donor database refers to the system or central hub that nonprofits use to store the information they have about their contacts.

Here's how major gifts officers use donor database:
  • Campaign included 6,000 donors, a 20,000 donor database, and over 200 volunteer solicitors.
  • Maximize the management and reporting of a 20,000 donor database to reach strategic objectives.

8. Cultivation Events

Here's how major gifts officers use cultivation events:
  • Planned and implemented major donor-related cultivation events and activities, including facility tours, and participated in department-wide events.
  • Organized cultivation events at high capacity donor/membership constituents' homes.

9. Salesforce

Salesforce is an American cloud-based software company based in San Francisco, California. This company provides customer relationship management services that enable the customers to be closer to the company. It gives the company detailed information about each customer, including marketing, sales, commerce, and services. Salesforce also helps market a product to attract more buyers, and helps win more customers by targeting the right audience.

Here's how major gifts officers use salesforce:
  • Manage and monitor donor tracking system via Salesforce to ensure the integrity of organization's donor base.
  • Utilize CRM system, Salesforce, to record and store critical donor/prospect data and gift information.

10. Capital Campaign

Here's how major gifts officers use capital campaign:
  • Fostered relationships with constituents related business and community organizations to assist in cultivating donor contacts for $100 million capital campaign.
  • Launched donor solicitation and relationship-management programs contributing to $55M capital campaign.

11. Individual Prospects

Here's how major gifts officers use individual prospects:
  • Advised Campaign Steering Committee about individual prospects.
  • Identified, cultivated, solicited, and stewarded a portfolio of 150 individual prospects and donors.

12. Personal Portfolio

Here's how major gifts officers use personal portfolio:
  • Managed a personal portfolio of 100+ high level prospects and responsible for over $500,000 in ask proposals.
  • Managed a personal portfolio of 150 major donors/prospects in the Northeastern U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

13. Phone Calls

Phone calls are a wireless or wired connection made over a telephone or a mobile phone between two people. Two parties are involved in a phone call, the caller and the receiver. A caller dials the number of the one he wants to call, and the recipient hears a bell or a tune to which he picks up the call. The call establishes a connection between them through which they can communicate. The voice is converted into signals and is transmitted through wired or wireless technology.

Here's how major gifts officers use phone calls:
  • Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors through face-to-face meetings, phone calls, letters, and events.
  • Prospect and solicit donors by giving group presentations, face to face asking and/or phone calls.

14. Financial Support

Financial support is the financial resource or money provided to an organization to support its operations. Financial support is generally provided by the government, or private institutes such as non-profits, or aid institutes. Financial support usually does not have any interests or benefits to be returned.

Here's how major gifts officers use financial support:
  • Served as a Major Gift Officer growing financial support for Children's Hospital from businesses and individuals across the state.
  • Solicited and secured major gifts with the goal of $1-5 million in annual financial support for the organization.

15. Individual Donors

Here's how major gifts officers use individual donors:
  • Developed relationships with affiliated physicians for assistance in cultivation strategy for individual donors.
  • Cultivate relationships with individual donors personally and by supporting volunteer leaders.
top-skills

What skills help Major Gifts Officers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

List of major gifts officer skills to add to your resume

Major gifts officer skills

The most important skills for a major gifts officer resume and required skills for a major gifts officer to have include:

  • Moves Management
  • Solicitation Strategies
  • Donor Prospects
  • Figure Gifts
  • Donor Relationships
  • Relationship Building
  • Donor Database
  • Cultivation Events
  • Salesforce
  • Capital Campaign
  • Individual Prospects
  • Personal Portfolio
  • Phone Calls
  • Financial Support
  • Individual Donors
  • Strategic Plan
  • Individual Giving
  • Gift Proposals
  • Alumni Events
  • Event Planning
  • Fundraising Strategy
  • Fundraising Campaigns
  • Estate Planning
  • Annuities
  • Business Administration
  • Advisory Boards
  • Business Development
  • Donor Portfolio
  • Family Foundations
  • Development Committee
  • Individual Gifts
  • Volunteer Recruitment
  • Remainder
  • Corporate Sponsorships
  • Disaster Relief
  • In-Kind Donations
  • Brand Marketing

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse executive management jobs