Who We Are

Founded in 1926, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is a private, not-for-profit educational, historic, and cultural institution that owns and operates one of the largest and best-known museum complexes in the world. Our mission is “that the future may learn from the past” through preserving and restoring 18^th-century Williamsburg, Virginia’s colonial capital. We engage, inform, and inspire people to learn about this historic capital, the events that occurred here, and the diverse peoples who helped shape a new nation.

Today, Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living history museum in the U.S. The Historic Area is the 301-acre restored colonial capital with 88 original buildings and 525 buildings reconstructed to how they appeared in the 18th century through extensive archaeological, architectural, and documentary research. The Historic Area is staffed by highly trained, historically dressed interpreters and expert tradespeople who bring the 18th century to life. The Foundation also owns and operates two world-class museums, the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, The Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute, and a renowned research library, the John D Rockefeller Jr Library.

Additionally, Colonial Williamsburg is home to five world class accommodations at the Williamsburg Inn, Williamsburg Lodge Autograph Collection, the Griffin Hotel, the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotels and Suites and the unique Colonial Houses in the Historical Area. Visitors may also indulge in food and drink at our many on site restaurants and taverns that blend a historically inspired dining experience with today’s evolved tastes. Each year over 5 million people visit Williamsburg and another 20 million engage with us digitally.

About the Position

As an integral part of the Regional Philanthropy team at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Regional Philanthropy Officer will primarily be responsible for contacting major gift prospects for qualification to move them through the discovery pipeline over the next several years. The role will also be responsible for renewing and upgrading existing donors at the leadership levels of the CW Fund ($5k+), while encouraging these donors to make a major or planned gift in support of the mission and priorities of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Reporting to the Executive Director of Regional Philanthropy, the Regional Philanthropy Officer will work closely with other members of the team, colleagues across Development, and internal partners throughout the Foundation to meet and exceed goals. The Regional Philanthropy Officer will be expected to develop a robust major gift portfolio by the end of year two of the incumbent’s tenure in the position.

Essential Functions:

Works collaboratively to qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors and prospects capable of making philanthropic gifts and multi-year commitments at the leadership annual fund and major gift level to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Conducts qualification visits via in-person and remote channels for a bi-annually rotating list of assigned identified prospects. Additionally, manages a portfolio of approximately 90-120 leadership annual fund donors and major gift/planned giving prospects and implements donor-centric development strategies designed to engage leadership annual fund and major gift prospects, many of whom have multiple philanthropic interests across the Foundation.
Conducts a high number of quality engagement interactions through personal visits requiring travel to the region, telephone and virtual qualification and solicitations. Additionally coordinate customized written proposals to obtain and/or increase major gift contributions, as needed.
Connects donors’ philanthropic interests to the Foundation’s priorities and solicits for unrestricted, restricted, and planned gifts in support of the Foundation.
Achieves and exceeds annual dollar, qualification, proposal, and donor visit goals established in consultation with the Associate Vice President of Development.
Works closely with the Prospect Development team to identify new major donor prospects using data driven decision making and helps develop individual strategies to engage and cultivate them for new gifts.
Researches and writes briefings to prepare colleagues, including leadership, for effective meetings with donors and prospects. Directs follow-up correspondences and objectives resulting from donor meetings.
Documents all development activity in the CRM in a timely manner to maintain accurate prospect records and contact reports to facilitate repeated donations and establish gift histories.
Establishes and maintains productive working relations with donors, potential donors, and colleagues across the Development team and the Foundation.
Prepares comprehensive short- and long-range activity plans, including plans for travel and proposals for strategic events, in pursuit of the annual goals.
Participates in and assists, as needed, in supporting and managing as assigned, the annual meetings of the special donor societies, and campaign events.

Position Type: Regular/FT, travel and some evening and weekend work required. Travel 25 – 50% of the time.

Required and Preferred Education and Experience:

Required: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience. 1+ years of previous professional experience in fundraising, customer service, or sales environments working directly with people for engagement.

Preferred: Demonstrated success in fundraising, including face-to-face donor stewardship and solicitation, in a non-profit setting. Demonstrated knowledge of the principles, ethics, and practices of successful fundraising.

Qualifications:

The candidate should have an engaging and positive personality, strong interpersonal skills, and a collaborative working style. Candidates with varying levels of experience are encouraged to apply and will be considered equally.

The successful candidate will:

Appreciate the importance of philanthropy.
Have high degree of interest in associating with a non-profit educational institution.
Be intimately familiar with and knowledgeable about the private sector.
Either possess or rapidly acquire a detailed knowledge of Colonial Williamsburg and the workings of the organization.
Have strong communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills and possess the ability to write and speak convincingly about the importance of Colonial Williamsburg’s mission.
Be energetic, entrepreneurial, and self-motivated.
Exercise good judgement in working with sensitive information.
Preferably have experience with fundraising software systems or CRMs.
Ability to drive.

In addition, the candidate should: enjoy meeting and interacting with donors; be a good listener; use excellent judgment; be responsive to the needs and interests of donors; have willingness to plan and execute travel for donor visits that may include overnight trips; and be willing to learn, collaborate, and grow within a high performing fundraising team.

Open To External And Internal Candidates

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Regional Philanthropy Officer