Senior Major Gifts Officer

Senior Major Gifts Officer - ALIMA USA

Location: Remote/New York City office (hybrid)

Hours: Full-time

Contract Type: Full-time contract

Travel: Potential travel within the US/Canada for prospect/donor meetings and networking events. Occasional travel to wider team meetings in Paris, France, and potentially Dakar, Senegal. Opportunity to travel to ALIMA’s field programs (Voluntary).

Salary: Commensurate with experience with a comprehensive benefits package

Join our dynamic team as a Senior Major Gifts Officer and play a pivotal role in driving our mission forward. This is an exciting opportunity for a seasoned and results-driven professional to cultivate and manage relationships with major donors and family foundations, ensuring their philanthropic impact is maximized. If you thrive in a collaborative environment, have a proven track record in fundraising, a self-starter, and are ready to take on a leadership role in donor engagement, we want to hear from you.

ALIMA INTRODUCTION

ALIMA USA (The Alliance for International Medical Action) is a locally-led African humanitarian medical organization currently operating over 50 programs in 13 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. ALIMA provides high-quality medical care to some of the most neglected populations, particularly children, women, refugees, and internally displaced persons. Nearly 90% of ALIMA’s programs operate in conflict zones, addressing urgent health crises caused by armed conflict, displacement, food shortages, and disease outbreaks. It is ALIMA’s firm belief that all people should have access to quality health services, regardless of where they live and what resources they have.

With operational headquarters in Dakar, Senegal and offices in Paris, London, and New York, ALIMA was founded to bridge the growing gap in humanitarian healthcare services for underserved populations. The organization provides frontline medical care, strengthens local health systems, and conducts operational and medical research to drive innovation and improve healthcare delivery in crisis settings.

ALIMA’s team consists of more than 2,400 aid workers and HQ staff, working across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, and Sudan.

ALIMA USA, an autonomous section based in New York, plays a critical role in fundraising, communications, advocacy, and representing ALIMA’s activities in North America to support our fieldwork.

POSITION OVERVIEW

As a Senior Major Gifts Officer, you will play a pivotal leadership role in advancing ALIMA’s mission by developing and executing strategic fundraising initiatives to secure major gifts from individual donors and family foundations. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Board of Directors, and the ALIMA USA team, you will be responsible for building and managing a portfolio of major donors and family foundations, developing fundraising pipelines, and ensuring donor stewardship to maximize revenue and impact.

This role requires a proven track record in high-level donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, as well as experience developing fundraising strategies.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Major Gifts & Fundraising Strategy

• Develop and implement ALIMA USA’s major gifts strategy, ensuring sustainable revenue growth.
• Work closely with the Executive Director, Board, and ALIMA USA team to align fundraising efforts with organizational priorities.
• Identify funding opportunities and develop a comprehensive fundraising pipeline for major donors and family foundations.
• Set and achieve ambitious fundraising targets, ensuring a high return on investment.

Donor Cultivation & Stewardship

• Manage and expand a portfolio of major donors and family foundations.
• Lead donor solicitation efforts, including one-on-one meetings, phone calls, exclusive donor events, and high-impact proposals.
• Ensure high-quality relationship management through personalized donor engagement strategies.
• Work with ALIMA’s teams to translate complex humanitarian work into compelling and creative donor communications and outreach.
• Identify and pursue family foundation opportunities aligned with ALIMA’s mission.
• Draft high-quality donor outreach, proposals, donor reports, and stewardship materials.

Events & Communications

• Coordinate donor cultivation events to deepen engagement with ALIMA’s mission.
• Identify opportunities for major donor fundraising events, and take the lead in planning, coordinating, and executing an annual calendar of events that align with ALIMA’s strategic goals.
• Create major donor communications, including personal outreach, phone calls, marketing collateral, and stewardship reports.
• Support ALIMA’s online fundraising efforts and donor database management (CRM such as Bloomerang).

Operational & Team Leadership

• Provide fundraising performance reports to the Executive Director and Board.
• Recruit, train, and manage potential interns and event volunteers to support major donor initiatives and events.
• Develop and manage processes, procedures, and systems that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of donor management and service delivery.
• Engage ALIMA’s Board and Board+ members (junior board) to support fundraising plans and events.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Required:

• 6–10+ years of fundraising experience, with a proven track record of cultivating and securing significant gifts, as well as developing solicitation strategies.
• Demonstrated success in identifying, qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major donors and family foundation prospects to increase revenue year-over-year.
• Experience managing and growing a targeted portfolio of individual donors ($5,000 to $1million+ giving levels) with documented activities in a CRM database.
• Strong written, oral, and presentation communication skills, including the ability to convey complex medical and humanitarian issues to diverse audiences.
• Proven ability to develop major gift proposals and tailored donor correspondence, including presentations, solicitations, appeals, and stewardship materials.
• Advanced interpersonal skills with keen attention to detail.
• Excellent time management and ability to handle multiple projects and deadlines.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) and CRM platforms (such as Bloomerang).
• Self-motivated, proactive, and skilled in project management.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a small, dynamic team.
• Passion for ALIMA’s medical humanitarian mission.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.

Preferred:

• Prior experience in fundraising for an international NGO, preferred in global health or humanitarian aid.
• French is a plus but not a requirement.

WHY JOIN ALIMA USA?

• Be part of a high-impact medical humanitarian organization making a difference in Africa and Haiti.
• Work with a passionate and dedicated international team.
• Opportunity to lead and shape a major gifts program with strong executive and board support.
• Competitive salary and growth potential within the organization.