Fundraising & Major Gifts Specialist

Engagement: Independent Contractor Location: Remote Hours: Approximately 10 hours/week Reports to: Executive Director About Their Story Is Our Story Their Story Is Our Story (TSOS) is a non-profit organization with a mission to combat disinformation and humanize the experiences of refugees and immigrants through storytelling and advocacy. We collect and share powerful first-person narratives that build bridges of understanding, counter harmful narratives, and drive meaningful change. Our growing team partners with refugee communities, resettlement organizations, and funders to amplify historically underrepresented voices. This is an exciting moment for TSOS, as we are in the midst of a multi-year, grant-funded initiative and are building the infrastructure to significantly expand our reach. We are looking for a skilled, mission-aligned fundraising professional to assist us with that growth. The Opportunity We are seeking an experienced Fundraising & Major Gifts Specialist to join TSOS as an independent contractor at approximately 10 hours per week. This person will be a proactive relationship builder and strategic fundraiser - identifying and cultivating high-capacity donors and private foundation prospects, generating leads, preparing tailored proposals, and making warm introductions to the Executive Director to close gifts. Strong writing skills are essential, but this role is about building relationships and driving revenue, not just producing documents. This role is ideal for a seasoned nonprofit fundraising professional who is passionate about refugee and immigrant rights and wants flexible, meaningful contract work with a values-driven organization. Key Responsibilities 1. Major Gifts & Private Foundation Cultivation This is the heart of the role. We are looking for someone who can move beyond reactive grant-seeking and proactively build a pipeline of high-capacity individual donors and private foundation relationships that are genuinely interested in TSOS's mission.

• Prospect Identification & Pipeline Development
• Build and manage a portfolio of major gift prospects, identifying individuals and private foundations with capacity and affinity for TSOS's storytelling and advocacy mission
• Conduct prospect research and wealth screening to qualify new donors and prioritize outreach efforts
• Partner with the Executive Director and board members to surface connections and generate warm introductions within the community
• Donor Cultivation & Stewardship
• Design and execute individualized cultivation strategies for each portfolio prospect, moving donors through the giving pipeline with intentionality and care
• Maintain regular, meaningful touchpoints with major gift prospects through personal meetings, phone calls, site visits, and tailored written communications
• Ensure donors receive timely, mission-connected acknowledgment and impact reporting that deepens their investment in TSOS's work
• Solicitation
• Develop compelling, personalized gift proposals and pitch materials aligned with donor interests and TSOS's funding priorities
• Prepare the Executive Director for face-to-face solicitation meetings and participate collaboratively as appropriate
• Support conversations around gift structures including outright gifts, multi-year pledges, and planned giving as opportunities arise
• Systems & Reporting
• Maintain accurate, up-to-date records of all donor interactions, moves management activity, and pipeline status in TSOS's CRM
• Track progress toward annual major gifts revenue goals and report regularly to the Executive Director
• Help establish and refine major gifts policies, procedures, and benchmarks as the program scales

2. Individual & Community Fundraising Broadening our base of individual donors is a strategic priority for TSOS - both to deepen community connection to our mission and to maintain our public support qualification under IRS rules governing 501(c)(3) organizations. This means grassroots fundraising is not a secondary activity; it is core to our long-term sustainability.

• Design and execute grassroots fundraising initiatives to grow the number of individual donors at all levels, particular attention to small and mid-level donors
• Develop and manage peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, community giving days (e.g., Giving Tuesday), and other broad-based engagement efforts
• Cultivate and steward major donors alongside a wide base of smaller donors, ensuring TS

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