Major Gift Officer

Who We Are:

Founded in 1891 by a group of visionary volunteers, The Trustees of Reservations (The Trustees) is Massachusetts’ premier conservation and preservation organization. The Trustees’ preserves, for public use and enjoyment, properties of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value in Massachusetts. Our properties are open to all, and we thrive by involving as many people as possible in all that we do. We aim to protect special places for future generations to enjoy in perpetuity, and have helped protect more than 50,000 acres, including 27,000+ acres on more than 120 reservations that are open to the public. As a non-profit conservation organization, we are funded and supported entirely by our visitors, supporters, volunteers, and our 85,000 Member households. We encourage you to learn more about The Trustees on our website, www.thetrustees.org. 

Posting Information: 

Salary Rate: $122,500-$143,500 (Senior Major Gift Officer), $96,250-$123,750 (Major Gift Officer) 

Please note that new employees are placed in the range between $122,500 and $140,000 (10+ years' experience) and at $96,250-$110,000 (less than 10 years' experience) to allow for an equitable starting salary process and continual salary growth during an employee’s time at The Trustees. 

Hours per week: 40 

Job Classification: Full-time, exempt 

Job Type: Hybrid 

Location: Massachusetts 

Each Major Gift Officer will be responsible for a designated geographic region, with assignments subject to change based on organizational needs. Ideally, the Major Gift Officer will be based within or near their assigned region, with an expectation of regular local travel for donor meetings, events, and other relationship-building activities.

Current regional assignments include:

• Western Hills & Berkshires/Central & Valley 

• North Shore 

• MetroWest/Charles River Valley 

• Boston/South Shore & Islands 

What You’ll Do:

Your Impact: 

The Trustees is in a transformational chapter through For Everyone, Forever, our bold strategic plan to save, steward, and share Massachusetts’ special places for generations to come. As a Major Gift Officer, you will be on the front lines of building the donor relationships that make this vision — and our historic $325M+ comprehensive campaign — possible. 

You will connect individuals and families to the places, programs, and mission they care about most while helping them see how their philanthropy can create broader impact across Massachusetts. Your work will support campaign priorities, grow the major gift pipeline, increase flexible and impact-centered support, and help build a stronger culture of philanthropy rooted in storytelling, stewardship, and long-term donor engagement. 

The Role: 

As a Major Gift Officer, you will manage a personal portfolio of approximately 150 donors and prospects, with a focus on gifts of $25,000 and above. You will identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors with creativity, preparation, and care, developing tailored strategies for each relationship and working toward a goal of securing more than $1M in gifts annually. 

This role requires strong relationship management, disciplined portfolio movement, and the ability to connect donor interests to organizational and campaign priorities. Many Trustees donors have deep personal connections to specific properties, programs, regions, or communities. You will honor those connections while helping donors understand the broader impact of their giving and the opportunity to support The Trustees’ statewide mission through campaign, unrestricted, legacy, and other flexible philanthropic commitments. 

Working closely with the Senior Director of Philanthropy and colleagues across Development, you will help create a donor experience that is thoughtful, coordinated, mission-centered, and grounded in the tangible impact of The Trustees’ work. 

Specifically, you’ll: 

• Manage a regionally-based portfolio of approximately 150 major gift donors and prospects, emphasizing gifts of $25,000 or greater and building toward $1M in philanthropic commitments per year. 

• Advance The Trustees’ $325M+ comprehensive campaign by identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors whose interests align with campaign priorities, strategic initiatives, and long-term organizational needs. 

• Develop individualized donor strategies that actively move prospects through the campaign pipeline, including qualification, cultivation, solicitation, proposal development, gift closure, and stewardship. 

• Prepare donors for campaign solicitations by connecting their interests in specific properties, programs, communities, or regions to broader Trustees priorities and statewide impact. 

• Identify new opportunities and aim to secure campaign commitments, unrestricted support, legacy gifts, and other flexible philanthropic investments that advance For Everyone, Forever. 

• Partner with the Senior Director of Philanthropy to set campaign-related portfolio priorities, review solicitation timing, assess donor readiness, and ensure consistent progress toward campaign and annual fundraising goals. 

• Prepare compelling campaign proposals, donor briefings, stewardship updates, and impact narratives in partnership with Development colleagues, Marketing and Communications, and program/property staff. 

• Participate actively in campaign pipeline review, portfolio review, and moves management conversations, bringing forward donor insights, strategy questions, next-step recommendations, and solicitation opportunities. 

• Use Salesforce actively and consistently to track donor activity, next steps, proposals, campaign opportunities, gift conversations, solicitation timelines, and pipeline progress. 

• Maintain and deepen relationships with existing donors through personalized outreach, including meetings, property visits, project updates, campaign briefings, event invitations, written communications, and stewardship touchpoints. 

• Conduct prospect research and collaborate with Development Operations and research colleagues, when available, to identify new campaign prospects and prepare for donor meetings. 

• Serve as a Development partner to regional property committees and volunteer groups, identifying campaign prospects and deepening donor engagement through meaningful involvement. 

• Partner with Events, Membership, Annual Giving, Planned Giving, and Development Operations to ensure a coordinated and donor-centered experience that supports both campaign and annual fundraising goals. 

• Support fundraising galas, campaign events, property gatherings, and donor engagement opportunities by helping identify prospects, build and steward host committees, and conduct timely follow-up. 

• Work collaboratively across the Development team and the broader organization to advance campaign priorities and fundraising goals with creativity, preparation, and a strong commitment to The Trustees’ mission. 

• Travel to donor meetings, property events, campaign events, and cultivation opportunities across the Commonwealth; some evening and weekend availability required. 

This is a full-time, non-exempt position (40 hours/week) reporting directly to Senior Director of Philanthropy