DRiWaterstone Human Capital Seeking Major Gifts Officer for American Humane
January 2, 2024 – For not-for-profit organizations, these are particularly challenging days. Declining support from government sources, increased demand for their services and competition for donor dollars are just a few of the issues that charitable groups must overcome to stay afloat each year. With COVID-19, donations are down even further. Simply put, major gift officers are top-level fundraisers. They identify potential donors, cultivate relationships and, above all, raise much-needed funds from key supporters. For many non-profits, MGOs are, in a word, indispensable. Recruitment firms that can find the right person to do the job are among a non-profit organization’s most valued partners. And for recruiters, the business of finding major gift officers is booming.
Arlington, VA-based DRiWaterstone Human Capital was recently been retained by American Humane to lead in its search for a major gifts officer. All first-round interviews for this position will take place via video conference with DRiWaterstone Human Capital.
As a major gifts officer at American Humane, this executive will play a pivotal role in developing and maintaining a portfolio of significant contributors, primarily focusing on individuals capable of making five-figure or higher donations. Your primary responsibility will be to cultivate relationships with major gift prospects and donors, ensuring new and/or continued engagement and support for American Humane’s mission. With a keen understanding of donor management, this executive will strategize and implement approaches aimed at advancing donors to higher levels of giving, with an end goal to secure a major gift. The search firm notes that your expertise will be crucial in stewarding donors who have already contributed to American Humane, ensuring their ongoing satisfaction and retention.
Candidates with a minimum three to five years of fundraising experience in major gifts strongly preferred as well as proven fundraising track record with experience identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding high-level donors. DRiWaterstone explains that candidates should demonstrate high levels of drive, ownership-mentality, and self-motivation, while working collaboratively with larger teams to achieve overarching goals. Candidates should also possess a client service attitude and ability to think on your feet as well as maintain a positive demeanor when dealing with the unexpected.
The search firm also notes that candidates should have the ability to emotionally and colorfully describe the work done by American Humane to help animals. They must have demonstrated proficiency in computer technology including applications for project and data management and electronic calendars (Raiser’s Edge, Windows, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook preferred).
“No Animals Were Harmed”
American Humane is an organization founded in 1877 committed to ensuring the safety, welfare, and well-being of animals. It was previously called the International Humane Association before changing its name in 1878. In 1940, it became the sole monitoring body for the humane treatment of animals on the sets of Hollywood films and other broadcast productions.
Related: DRiWaterstone Human Capital Leads CFO Search for the Academy of Management
American Humane is best known for its certification mark “No Animals Were Harmed”, which appears at the end of film or television credits where animals are featured. It has also run the Red Star Animal Emergency Services since 1916. In 2000, American Humane formed the Farm Animal Services program, an animal welfare label system for food products. American Humane is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C.
A Look Inside the Rewarding Work Serving a Non-Profit
Jennifer Dunlap is co-founder, president, and CEO of DRiWaterstone. After spending decades as a senior executive at non-profit organizations, she was convinced that the sector needed a dedicated and proven partner that could build capacity for organizations. Over the last 15 years, Ms. Dunlap has led executive searches for CEOs who have reinvented non-profit business models at blue-chip organizations such as AARP, Heifer International, League of Women Voters, NPR, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Ms. Dunlap recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media to discuss how working for a non-profit can be a fulfilling career and what it takes to find senior talent in the sector.
Created through a recent merger between DRi and Waterstone Human Capital, DRiWaterstone Human Capital is a culture-centric executive search, leadership advisory, and human capital firm focused on helping mission and purpose-driven organizations across the U.S. build high performance teams and cultures.
The firm offers executive search services focused on helping clients achieve sustainable organizational and cultural growth by finding leaders who align to the organization’s purpose, and who can help take the organization and its culture to the next level. DRiWaterstone Human Capital also offers a full portfolio of cultural talent management and leadership advisory services (including culture assessment, culture measurement, and culture curation) – to help organizations put culture at the center of strategy and drive success.
“By joining together, we can offer clients expertise in non-profit and social enterprise executive recruiting, and more than 20 years of experience in building high performance teams and cultures,” said Jennifer Dunlap, president and CEO of DRiWaterstone. “That expertise allows DRiWaterstone to serve mission and purpose-driven organizations in both the non-profit and private sectors with a broad portfolio of services designed to inspire leaders to build high performance teams and cultures.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
