BACKGROUND TO THE LO

The Louisville Orchestra has long had a strong reputation for innovation, creativity, and excellence, with an annual operating budget of $13M, 58 full-time musicians, and a 34-week performance season is changing the idea of what a 21st-century orchestra can be and do. Under the leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams, the Louisville Orchestra is well on its way toward achieving its goal of being “the most interesting orchestra on the planet.”

Job Summary: The Major Gifts Officer (MGO) will be responsible for maintaining, prospecting, and building a strong base of individual major gift donors to support the ambitious and strategic growth of the Louisville Orchestra. The MGO helps to set a strategy for engaging new prospects by identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual prospects with an estimated capacity of supporting the LO with a five to six-figure gift. In addition, the MGO focuses on strengthening relationships with existing donors to maximize philanthropic support. In addition to soliciting annual gifts, the MGO will explore ways donors can support our mission through gifts pledged over multiple years. The role entails working collaboratively with Louisville Orchestra Development staff members, volunteers, and fundraising counsel (if applicable).

The Ideal Candidate: The Louisville Orchestra seeks an experienced, self-driven, and results-oriented Major Gifts Officer for their Development team. Under the direction of the Assistant Director of Development, the successful Major Gifts Officer will be able to interact with internal and external constituents with ease and grace. Key attributes include but are not limited to dedication to the mission, problem-solving, relationship building, self-awareness, self-confidence, and the desire to be forward-facing. The successful candidate will be able to lead or assist in the execution of a comprehensive philanthropic program for the LO. They will collaborate with the Development team to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major gift prospects. Candidates must be able to manage multiple priorities and act with a high degree of professionalism, personal integrity, creativity, and cooperation with both internal and external constituents.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage an active portfolio of approximately 125-150 major gift prospects
• Identify and qualify new major gift prospects and create a comprehensive strategy for donor cultivation, solicitation, and retention based on the donor’s giving history and capacity
• Directly solicit major gifts and partner with senior staff and volunteers on solicitations by providing prospect briefings, strategic guidance, and assistance with donor communications
• Develop, plan, and participate in strategic donor engagement opportunities, such as donor lounges at LO performances, small events for select prospects in the portfolio, and more significant donor stewardship events and galas
• Develop a high-quality donor experience through regular correspondence, professional proposals, and timely acknowledgments
• Represent LO at external functions and events
• Maintain good relationships with a diverse group of stakeholders and co-workers with a positive and helpful attitude
• Track prospect activity, solicitations, and contact notes by maintaining information needed for regular reports that accurately reflect progress toward building relationships and increasing donor support
• Work collaboratively and proactively to resolve problems and issues
• Always maintain confidentiality related to all donors, prospects, and engagement strategies
• Other duties as assigned by the Assistant Director of Development

Required Qualifications, Skills, and Knowledge:

• Passion for the mission of the Louisville Orchestra with a solid commitment to its core values
• Three to five years’ experience raising contributed revenues and managing donor relationships with a proven track record of successfully closing four-to-six-figure gifts.
• Comfort in asking individuals to commit their money, time, and talents to support a mission.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills and a proven ability to create and foster excellent relationships internally within a team/institution and externally between stakeholders and an institution.
• Ability to communicate effectively and respectfully in person, on the phone, and via email/text with donors, board members, volunteers, and colleagues.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment, meet concurrent deadlines, organize time and priorities, and collaborate with diverse stakeholders.
• High degree of integrity, initiative, and resourcefulness.
• Proficiency with office technology such as Word, Outlook, and donor information systems; willingness to learn new software tools as needed.
• Ability to travel locally 25-50% of the time.

About The Louisville Orchestra

The Louisville Orchestra has long had a strong reputation for innovation, creativity, and excellence. Its 60 full-time musicians and 35 staff members present a 34-week season that includes classical, popular, and educational main stage concerts, a diverse array of programming throughout the community, and performances with the Kentucky Opera and Louisville Ballet. The Orchestra was the first to record under its own label and became internationally recognized in the 1950s for producing 150 LPs consisting of more than 450 new works. Under the leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams the Louisville Orchestra has revived its commitment to championing the creation of new works and reviving ignored and dismissed work by exceptional composers of the past Located in culturally rich Louisville, the organization is at the forefront of redefining what a 21st-century orchestra can be and is well on its way of achieving its goal of becoming known as “the most interesting orchestra on the planet.”

Connections working at The Louisville Orchestra