About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Customer Services.

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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Position Summary

This Donor Relations Specialist role supports a confidential client in the Customer Services industry. Reporting to the Director of Major Gifts, this is an entry-level fundraising role managing a portfolio of mid-level donors ($500–$4,999 annually). The specialist will focus on donor retention, upgrades, and pipeline development to major gifts or gift planning through personalized outreach, events, and coordinated marketing.

This position is in-person at the Headquarters office in Manhattan. Candidates must live locally in the New York City metro area. Occasional regional travel and flexibility for some evening/weekend events are required.

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What You’ll Do

• Strategically manage a portfolio of up to 450 mid-level donors and a pipeline of about 150 prospects through identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Build and maintain relationships via phone, personalized email, written outreach, virtual and in-person meetings, site visits, and events.
• Develop engagement plans to retain donors, grow annual giving, and transition donors to major gift or gift-planning portfolios when appropriate.
• Collaborate with the Director of Major Gifts to set measurable annual fundraising and engagement goals and track progress.
• Prepare donor-facing materials and perform administrative tasks: acknowledgement letters, proposals, holiday cards, and stewardship communications.
• Conduct prospect research to identify new mid-level donors.
• Maintain accurate and timely donor records in Salesforce and related databases.
• Coordinate with direct mail, marketing, major gifts, gift planning, corporate, and foundation teams to implement lifecycle strategies.
• Serve as a primary contact for mid-level donor inquiries and capture feedback in the database.
• Contribute to creative design, messaging, and segmentation for mid-level prospect mailings.
• Stay current on best practices in mid-level donor management and implement applicable innovations.
• Participate in required meetings, training, webinars, and occasional regional or national travel.
• Other duties as assigned to support fundraising objectives.

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What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree with 2–3 years of relevant work experience (fundraising, development, donor relations, or similar).
• Comfortable engaging directly with donors about personal finances and making asks.
• Strong written and verbal communication, presentation, and organization skills.
• Proficiency with Excel for data analysis, PowerPoint for donor materials, and experience (or willingness to become proficient) with Salesforce and donor databases.
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience building relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Detail-oriented, able to manage multiple projects concurrently, and able to work independently and collaboratively.
• Initiative and a problem-solving mindset.
• Professional demeanor and positive attitude.
• Ability to travel regionally and nationally as needed; valid driver’s license required.
• Must be located in the New York City metro area and work on-site at the Manhattan headquarters.

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Additional Details

• Employment Type: Full-time
• Work Location: In-person from Manhattan headquarters (local NYC metro residency required)
• Typical schedule may include occasional evenings/weekends for events

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.