Senior Director, Major Gifts and Individual Giving

Location: Washington, DC (Hybrid)

FLSA: Exempt

Reports to: Vice President, Global Development

Position Overview

Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. Through science-based, campaign-driven policy work, Oceana protects and restores the world’s oceans, with offices across the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and headquarters in Washington, DC.

Oceana is seeking a Senior Director, Major Gifts and Individual Giving to build and lead the organization’s major-gifts team — including Planned Giving. The Senior Director is a senior member of Oceana’s Global Development team, reporting to the Vice President, Global Development.

This is a newly created role at Oceana and a rare opportunity to shape and build out our major gifts program. The position will start without direct reports, with plans to grow the team by adding Major Gifts Officers over time.

The role will personally hold a curated portfolio of Oceana’s most significant donors and prospects, including continuity stewardship of principal-level relationships, while directing team-wide strategy, goal setting, and moves management across the full major-gifts program.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Program Management

• Build, lead, and develop a major-gifts team
• Set portfolio assignments, individual and team revenue targets, and moves-management standards across the major-gifts program
• Recruit, hire, coach, and evaluate team members; set clear goals and support professional development
• Consolidate donor-relationship management into the major-gifts function, working with department leadership to transition portfolios currently held by staff outside the function into appropriate team ownership
• Own forecasting, pipeline reporting, and revenue accountability for the full major-gifts program

Portfolio Management: Principal & Major Gifts

• Personally identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of approximately 50–75 of Oceana’s most significant individual donors and prospects, with particular focus on continuity of principal-level ($100,000+) relationships
• Build a robust major-donor pipeline and convert qualified prospects into major-gifts supporters, providing exceptional, high-touch stewardship
• Prepare and deliver individualized solicitations, moves-management plans, and impact reports for the organization’s highest-level relationships
• Represent Oceana at donor and prospect meetings, cultivation events, galas, industry gatherings, and speaking engagements, including engagements requiring board- and executive-level participation

Strategic Planning & Communications

• Partner with the Vice President, Global Development to design and execute a multi-year major-gifts growth strategy in support of Oceana’s organization-wide revenue goals
• Set annual major-gifts revenue goals for the team and monitor progress against pacing benchmarks
• Collaborate with Communications, Program, and Legal teams to develop donor-facing materials, proposals, and stewardship content
• Represent major gifts in department-wide strategic planning alongside Oceana’s other senior development leaders

Information Management & Administration

• Ensure the team maintains accurate, timely donor records in Salesforce and supporting systems
• Develop and monitor portfolio and program metrics to measure team and individual performance
• Perform other duties as assigned

Supervisory Responsibilities & Decision-Making Authority

• Responsible for the overall direction, coordination, hiring, and performance evaluation of the major-gifts team, consistent with Oceana policy
• Operates with a high degree of independence, performing based on broad instructions and direction from the Vice President, Global Development
• Decides independently on portfolio assignments and cultivation strategy within the major-gifts team, day-to-day donor engagement and stewardship below principal-gift thresholds, and delegation of responsibilities to team members
• Confers with the Vice President, Global Development on solicitation of principal-level gifts or engagements involving Oceana’s CEO, Board, or Executive team; hiring, compensation, or termination decisions for direct reports; material changes to team structure, portfolio assignments, or the major-gifts budget; and exceptions to Oceana policy or process

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree or equivalent professional training a plus
• 12+ years of progressive major-gifts fundraising experience, including at least 3–5 years managing or supervising fundraising staff
• Demonstrated success personally securing six- and seven-figure gifts and leading a team or program toward multi-million-dollar annual goals
• Experience managing complex donor-relationship transitions, including maintaining continuity with principal-level donors through staff turnover
• Proficient background in fundraising for a large, complex nonprofit organization with a sophisticated donor base
• Superior written and verbal communication skills
• Comfortable representing the organization with high-net-worth individuals, board members, and executive leadership
• Proven people-management skills: hiring, coaching, goal setting, and performance management
• Rigorous attention to detail and excellent organizational skills; able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines across a team
• Able to handle sensitive information with discretion and confidentiality, and to always exhibit diplomacy and tact
• Working knowledge of planned-giving concepts sufficient to support and guide a Legacy & Planned Giving lead (does not require personal estate-administration or legal expertise — that ownership sits with the Legacy & Planned Giving report)
• Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Office and Salesforce (Oceana’s donor database of record)
• Knowledge of environmental issues and the non-profit community, and genuine enthusiasm for Oceana’s mission
• Willingness to travel and to work outside normal business hours as needed for donor and organizational events

Required Competencies

• Action Oriented: Takes on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.
• Instills Trust: Gains the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.
• Communicates Effectively: Develops and delivers multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Plans and Aligns: Plans and prioritizes work to meet commitments aligned with Oceana’s goals.
• Ensures Accountability: Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments.
• Drives Engagement: Creates a climate where people are motivated to do their best to help the organization achieve its objectives.
• Develops Talent: Develops people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals, through coaching, feedback, and stretch opportunities.
• Strategic Mindset: Sees the big picture and moves into the future with clear intentions and purposeful actions.
• Situational Adaptability: Adapts approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations.
• Customer Focus: Builds strong internal customer relationships and delivers customer-centric solutions.
• Collaborates: Builds partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
• Manages Complexity: Makes sense of complex, high-quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.

The salary range for this position is $175,000 – $185,000 annually.

Please apply by November 11, 2026.

Oceana’s U.S. offices are operating on a hybrid schedule. Staff are required to work from their assigned office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. With agreement between the employee and their supervisor, the employee may work from home on Monday and Friday.

Oceana values a diverse workforce and welcomes people different from each other in many ways, including characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, and national origin. Oceana considers all qualified candidates and seeks to recruit from a diverse candidate pool.