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SENIOR MANAGER, MAJOR GIFTS
About Music Will
Music Will is the largest nonprofit music program in the U.S. public school system. We transform lives by transforming music education.
Using genres including rock, pop, Latin, and hip hop, our program empowers teachers to build music programs as diverse as the kids they serve. As a result, students see themselves reflected in their classes, which strengthens their connection to their school, their peers, and their community. Music Will also donates necessary instruments and curriculum, meeting a key need of many school music programs.
Since 2002, Music Will has served more than 2,500,000 students in more than 6,000 schools in over 1,000 cities and communities across 50 states with highly inclusive and culturally responsive music education. Today, over 1 million kids currently participate in Music Will programs, and we’ve set an ambitious goal to serve 11 million students annually by 2030. Learn more here: .
Summary of the Opportunity
The Senior Manager, Major Gifts is a strategic frontline fundraising professional responsible for securing philanthropic investments from individual donors and families to advance the mission of a national music nonprofit. This role manages a portfolio of current and prospective major donors, develops meaningful long-term relationships, and partners with organizational leadership, program staff, board members, and volunteers to connect donors with opportunities to expand the transformative power of music education.
Reporting to the Chief Growth Officer, the Sr. Manager, Major Gifts leads cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and prospect development efforts for gifts of $10,000+, with accountability for achieving annual revenue, activity, and pipeline goals. The role partners closely with organizational leadership, program staff, board and advisory board members, and colleagues across Music Will to advance high-priority donor relationships and deliver a strong donor experience.
The ideal candidate is an experienced relationship builder and fundraiser, who combines strategic thinking, persuasive communication, and strong follow-through with a genuine belief in Music Will ’s mission and a results-oriented approach to philanthropy.
Responsibilities
Major Gift Fundraising, Donor Strategy & Stewardship
Manage and grow a portfolio of qualified major-gift donors and prospects, with primary responsibility for gifts of $10,000+.
Develop and execute individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans that reflect each donor’s interests, giving history, capacity, and connection to the organization’s mission and strategic programmatic priorities.
Conduct a high volume of donor-facing activity, including personal visits, virtual meetings, calls, event conversations, and tailored written outreach.
Solicit and secure annual, multi-year, restricted, unrestricted, planned, and campaign gifts in support of organizational priorities.
Meet or exceed annual revenue, activity, and pipeline goals established with the development leadership team.
Identify and qualify new major-gift prospects through research, referrals, events, donor data, and relationship mapping.
Create meaningful stewardship experiences that demonstrate the impact of philanthropy, such as behind-the-scenes access, artist or student engagement, performances, site visits, impact reports, and leadership briefings.
Collaboration and Leadership
Partner closely with the Chief Growth Officer to establish fundraising strategy, monitor performance, and advance high-priority donor relationships.
Manage and support the regional advisory boards in New York and Chicago, including meeting preparation, note-taking and follow-up, board recruitment, fundraising, and stewardship.
Work cross-functionally with program, finance, marketing, communications, and operations colleagues to ensure funding priorities, donor commitments, and reporting obligations are clearly understood and fulfilled.
Serve as a collaborative member of the growth team, sharing prospect intelligence and contributing to a culture of accountability, learning, and donor-centered service.
Provide administrative support to CEO and CGO including proposing innovative relationship strategies, drafting detailed briefing materials, joining executive donor meetings as a key organizational representative when strategically appropriate and supporting managing post-meeting stewardship, documentation, and follow-up workflows when needed.
Portfolio Management and Administration
Maintain accurate, timely, and comprehensive donor records, contact reports, moves-management plans, proposals, and revenue projections in the organization’s CRM.
Track and communicate progress toward fundraising goals through regular pipeline, forecast, and activity reporting, and use donor and industry insights to recommend improvements to major-gifts strategy and the donor experience.
Skills, Experiences, & Qualifications
Successful candidates will bring the following qualities and ways of working:
Relationship-building: Establishes trust, listens closely, and connects donors’ values to meaningful opportunities for impact.
Fundraising acumen: Understands the major-gift cycle, donor motivations, proposal development, and strategic stewardship.
Strategic thinking: Uses data, research, and judgment to prioritize prospects, develop effective fundraising strategies, and move relationships forward.
Communication: Communicates with clarity, warmth, and credibility across written, verbal, and presentation formats and adapts messaging for different audiences.
Collaboration: Works effectively across teams and leverages leadership, board, artist, and volunteer relationships.
Initiative: Takes ownership of goals, identifies opportunities, and follows through consistently.
Mission alignment: Demonstrates a genuine commitment to expanding the transformative power, accessibility, and cultural value of music.
About You
The ideal candidate is a strategic, relationship-driven fundraiser who thrives on building authentic connections and turning those relationships into meaningful philanthropic investment. You are comfortable engaging donors and senior leaders, confident making an ask, and highly organized in managing relationships through a fundraising pipeline. You balance initiative and independence with strong collaboration and bring genuine enthusiasm for Music Will ’s mission and the communities we serve.
Required Skills and Experiences
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of relevant experience and education.
At least 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, business development, sales, or relationship-management experience, including demonstrated success securing significant philanthropic investments.
Demonstrated success managing a donor or client portfolio, developing individualized relationship strategies, moving prospects through a pipeline, and closing commitments.
Experience soliciting and securing five-figure gifts.Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, including the ability to craft persuasive proposals, donor correspondence, and impact-focused reports.
Strong project-management and organizational skills, sound judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities independently.
Demonstrated comfort engaging senior executives, high-net-worth individuals, board members, artists, volunteers, and community leaders.
Proficiency with fundraising databases or CRM systems, such as Salesforce, prospect research tools, and Microsoft Office or Google Workspace.
Willingness to travel nationally and work occasional evenings or weekends for donor meetings, performances, events, and conferences.
Preferred Skills and Experiences
Experience securing six-figure and multi-year gifts.
Experience in arts, culture, music education, youth development, public media, performing arts, or another mission-driven nonprofit environment.
Familiarity with planned giving, family foundations, donor-advised funds, and multi-year campaign fundraising.
Experience working in a national or geographically distributed organization.
CFRE certification or comparable professional development is a plus.
Compensation
The starting salary range for this position is $94,320–$99,869 per year . Music Will is committed to offering a competitive and equitable compensation package that reflects our values, supports our team, and aligns with our organizational compensation philosophy.
Salary ranges are established based on market benchmarking and internal equity across roles at similar levels. To support internal equity and consistency, compensation decisions are made within this framework and are not negotiated outside of the defined salary range.
New hires are typically placed between 85% and 90% of the salary range, depending on relevant skills, qualifications, and directly applicable experience. While starting salaries are determined within this framework, employees have the opportunity to grow within their range over time through performance-based increases and organizational adjustments, and into new salary bands through promotions.
Benefits
Benefit package (medical, dental, vision), up to 100% paid for employee coverage
Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account Options
Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability, and Life Insurance
403(b) Retirement Savings Plan with 3% match after 90 days of service
Eligibility for student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
Discretionary Time Off policy (after 90 days of service), 10 paid holidays, and company-wide office closure from December 24th through January 1st
Flexible work arrangements
Monthly remote work and telecom stipend
Employee Music Enjoyment stipend
Additionally, we provide employees with a laptop, monitor, docking station, and peripherals for business use.
Location and Travel
This is a full-time position, based remotely. Occasional travel will be required, including being on site for MW’s annual Benefit event each spring, the annual Modern Band Summit each summer, staff retreat, as well as attending select corporate activations, workshops, funder site visits, and other events as needed, approximately 5-8 times per year.
You must reside and be authorized to work in the United States to be considered for this position.
Working at Music Will – Our Workplace Values
Our organizational values are our fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that shape our culture, influence our decision-making, and define how our team interacts, works, and leads. Our values are:
Belonging : We create welcoming spaces of acceptance and forge authentic relationships.
Integrity : We act with transparency, consistency, and accountability, upholding our commitment to youth thriving.
Growth : We embrace curiosity, reflection, and creativity to promote personal and collective development.
Joy : Together, we build a culture that inspires and promotes well-being and fun.
Music Will is committed to recruiting and maintaining a diverse staff; individuals from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. We promote a healthy and safe workspace as we work together to foster success for generations to come. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parenthood, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
This employer participates in E-Verify.
Applications will be accepted until October 28, 2026.
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications. While these tools assist our team, they do not replace human judgment – final hiring decisions are always made by people. For more information about how your data is processed, please contact us at .
