Development Officer, Major & Institutional Giving

At Our Children’s Trust, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Our Children’s Trust believes that diversity and inclusion is critical to our success and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.

Our Mission

Our Children’s Trust empowers young people to enforce their constitutional rights in court when governments endanger their lives, health, and futures by fueling the climate crisis.

Position Summary:

The Development Officer, Major & Institutional Giving will play a key role in growing sustainable philanthropic support for Our Children’s Trust by cultivating, soliciting , and stewarding individual donors, family foundations, institutional funders, and high-capacity prospects. Working closely with the Senior Director of Donor Development and organizational leadership, this position will manage a portfolio of donors and prospects, support foundation and institutional funder relationships, develop individualized engagement strategies, and help move supporters toward deeper investment in OCT’s youth-led, science-based constitutional climate litigation.

This role will focus on relationship-based fundraising across both individual and institutional giving, including donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, proposal development, funder communications, grant reporting, donor briefings, and moves management. The position requires excellent relationship-building skills, strong writing and communication abilities, sound judgment, comfort with complex legal and climate issues, and the ability to translate OCT’s litigation, youth leadership, and trauma-informed approach into compelling philanthropic opportunities. As the development team grows, this position is expected to assume increasing responsibility for supervising and mentoring development staff, coordinating day-to-day fundraising workflows, and helping strengthen development systems and processes.

OCT has a strong preference for candidates based on the West Coast or in another strategic donor market, but location is not an absolute requirement. The right candidate will bring demonstrated fundraising success, strong donor instincts, and the ability to travel for donor meetings, funder engagement, organizational events, and litigation-related opportunities.

Key Responsibilities:

Major Gifts and Donor Portfolio Management

Manage a portfolio of individual donors, family foundations, institutional funders, and high-capacity prospects, with responsibility for qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and revenue growth.

Develop individualized donor and funder strategies using moves management principles, philanthropic interests, giving history, capacity, and engagement opportunities.

Grow revenue by retaining existing supporters, increasing giving where appropriate , and identifying new major gift and institutional funding opportunities.

Prepare for and participate in donor and funder meetings, solicitations, briefings, and follow-up communications.

Build a robust planned giving program with donor education , marketing and stewardship to build long-term legacy support .

Maintain accurate donor records, contact reports, next steps, and portfolio activity in Neon or other donor management systems.

Monitor donor trends, engagement opportunities, and portfolio progress, and make recommendations to strengthen fundraising performance.

Institutional Giving and Foundation Relations

Support and manage relationships with foundation, family foundation, and institutional funders in collaboration with the Senior Director of Donor Development and organizational leadership.

Draft and coordinate proposals, concept notes, grant reports, letters of inquiry, funder updates, and other institutional giving materials.

Track grant deliverables, reporting deadlines, funding restrictions, and stewardship obligations to ensure timely and accurate follow-through.

Work with program, legal, finance, and operations staff to gather information needed for proposals, reports, budgets, and funder communications.

Help identify new institutional funding prospects aligned with OCT’s litigation, youth engagement, trauma-informed care, education, communications, and organizational priorities.

Strategic Market and Donor Development

Build and deepen relationships in priority donor markets, with a preference for West Coast engagement and flexibility to pursue other strategic markets where the candidate brings strong relationships or opportunity.

Identify opportunities for donor and funder cultivation through litigation milestones, youth leadership moments, organizational updates, events, board connections, and partner engagement.

Coordinate donor stewardship and cultivation opportunities that advance fundraising goals and deepen connection to OCT’s mission.

Leadership, Board, and Volunteer Engagement

Support the Senior Director of Donor Development, Executive Director s, Founder , board members, and other organizational leaders in donor and funder cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.

Prepare donor and funder briefings, talking points, reports, and development updates for leadership, board members, and other key stakeholders.

Support engagement opportunities for board members, volunteers, and ambassadors who can advance OCT’s fundraising efforts.

Donor Communications and Fundraising Materials

Develop fundraising materials and donor communications, including proposals, appeals, acknowledgments, donor updates, impact reports, pitch materials, institutional funder updates, and stewardship resources.

Maintain a strong understanding of OCT’s legal strategy, case developments, youth leadership, and organizational priorities in order to communicate effectively with donors and funders.

Translate complex legal, climate, constitutional, and youth-centered work into clear, compelling, and funder-appropriate language.

Fundraising Operations and Collaboration

Use donor data and reporting tools to support portfolio management, track progress toward fundraising goals, and evaluate donor and funder engagement strategies.

Collaborate with Operations and Finance on donor data, gift tracking, grant coding, CRM processes, fundraising systems, and alignment with finance systems as needed.

Support annual fundraising initiatives, donor acquisition, renewal, retention, sustaining donor efforts, planned giving, and corporate or philanthropic partnerships where aligned with development strategy.

Maintain accountability and compliance with applicable fundraising ethics, regulations, confidentiality expectations, grant requirements, and organizational policies.

Provide supervision, coaching, and project management for development staff, interns, consultants, and contractors, as assigned, while helping establish effective fundraising systems and workflows.

Minimum Required Education and Experience :

7 years of fundraising experience

-OR- Associate’s degree and 5 years of fundraising experience

-OR- Bachelor’s degree and 3 years of fundraising experience

-OR- Master’s degree and 2 years of fundraising experience

Competencies:

Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting , and stewarding donors, funders, or high-capacity prospects.

Experience managing a donor or funder portfolio and using moves management practices to grow engagement and revenue.

Strong writing skills, including experience drafting proposals, funder updates, donor communications, reports, or other fundraising materials.

Strong relationship-