Description

Join a dynamic leadership giving team as Choate Rosemary Hall launches the quiet phase of an ambitious comprehensive campaign. The Leadership Gifts Officer will focus on the cultivation, solicitation, and closure of major annual and capital gifts by managing a select portfolio of 150 prospects and donors with the capacity to give large gifts to help meet Choate's fundraising objectives. This position requires significant travel, including a minimum of 30 face-to-face visits per quarter to engage alumni and communicate Choate's strategic goals. The Leadership Gifts Officer must have a passion for independent school education and possess the ability to communicate the School's mission and priorities to a diverse audience.

This is a full-time, year-round, benefits eligible, exempt position. Some evening and weekend work is required.

Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Build and expand the engagement of Choate's leadership prospect pool; identify strategies and opportunities to align prospects with various School priorities as a key component of the comprehensive campaign.
• Cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of current and prospective alumni and parent donors; create strategic action plans for top prospects with the intent of deepening relationships on behalf of the School, leading to increased comprehensive giving including annual, capital, and deferred gifts.
• Develop and maintain a thorough understanding of Choate's strategic priorities and goals.
• Attain an annual visit goal and achieve annual personal and team revenue goals.
• Partner with colleagues in gift planning to effectively devise appropriate donor-centered giving vehicles, follow up on requests for information, and provide stewardship to Choate Society members.
• Collaborate with colleagues in the Development and Alumni Relations Department to plan and execute strategies around engagement and stewardship for your prospects.
• Create opportunities to engage the Head of School, trustees, campaign volunteers, faculty, and staff members in the cultivation and solicitation of current and potential donors.
• Build strong working relationships with colleagues within the department as well as with faculty, staff, and leaders across campus to better understand the School and its mission.

Requirements

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree.
• Prior experience in fundraising with increasing responsibility, preferably in private secondary school education or comparable experience in the private sector, i.e. sales/marketing customer service or political activities.
• Experience with capital or comprehensive campaigns preferred. Demonstrated success in personal cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and closing of leadership gifts.
• Planned Giving, legal or wealth management background preferred.
• A high-level of comfort with data and prospect management systems.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to analyze data and information to drive strategic development of a portfolio.
• Results oriented with the ability to meet deadlines and goals; think strategically; engage people with a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints; work meticulously with close attention to detail.

Working at Choate: Choate Rosemary Hall is a coeducational, independent secondary school located in central Connecticut with 850 boarding and day students and over 400 employees. Choate serves intellectually gifted and motivated students of diverse backgrounds from across the globe whose commitment to serious study is enhanced in an academically challenging and personally supportive setting.

Choate provides students with transformative and meaningful experiences that instill lifelong habits of learning, leadership, and service, shaped by innovative and passionate educators. Teaching faculty at Choate are innovative, collaborative, and committed to our students' intellectual, social, emotional, and character development. Our faculty understands that each of our students has the potential for growth and works to encourage students to develop their own ideas and voices in learner-centered environments.

For its students and employees alike, Choate strives to be a diverse and inclusive community where all feel valued and embraced. On our campus, principled individuals from diverse backgrounds are united through common purpose, active engagement, and mutual respect. We celebrate differences and the richness of our varied backgrounds and experiences. Recognizing that working in an inclusive community can also present challenges, we embrace those challenges through ongoing dialogue and interaction, enhancing empathy and appreciation for those whose perspectives differ from our own. 

Choate prohibits in all its programs, including hiring and employment practices, discrimination against or harassment of any member or group based upon age, gender, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, genetic information, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other category protected by Connecticut or federal law, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification.