Major Gift Officer

Job description

**Location**: Based in Paris, France - relocation assistance is available.

**Reporting to**: Director of Philanthropy

**Annual salary**: 70,000 Euros

**Status**: Full-time

**Background**

Founded in 1887 and based in France, the Institut Pasteur is an international research and education institute that is committed to advancing science, medicine and public health. The Institut Pasteur is a private, non-profit foundation with recognized charitable status entrusted with four core missions of public interest - research, education, the health of populations and people, and innovation development and technology transfer.

Realizing that the world was not prepared for a pandemic crisis like the COVID-19 one, Institut Pasteur has decided to invest into a large preparedness plan in order to be in the right position to anticipate future pathogen outbreaks all around the world and to act quickly to contain them and to prevent epidemic and pandemic developments.

Institut Pasteur in Paris is a member, with 31 other research institutes around the world, of the Pasteur Network. Investing in basic research in order to characterize emerging pathogen and in epidemic surveillance within the network are the two pillars of our strategy.

The Major Gift Officer role is a critical part of the international development department which seeks to bring about transformative change by building partnerships to deliver income, increase influence and impact, and raise the profile of Institut Pasteur abroad. The Major Gift Officer will discover, cultivate, solicit, and steward high net worth individuals from across Europe. The department works across trusts and foundations, major donors, corporate donors, and seeks remarkable growth in future years. The Major Gift Officer will be a part of a team at Institut Pasteur that will launch a research campaign with a goal to raise $100 million by 2028, which includes a pool of existing donors like Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Rockefeller Foundation.

**Purpose of Role**

The Major Gift Officer role is responsible for helping to drive quality leads and improve the impact of fundraising and engagement for major donors, while also looking for new, integrated ways to build and better engage our current audiences. With strong qualitative and quantitative skills, the Major Gift Officer will bring an innovative and enthusiastic approach to expanding the field of donors, with particular focus on foundations. The role will work collaboratively with the existing major donor and corporate teams in the identification of new donors to evaluate potential for philanthropic partnership and affinity toward the Institut Pasteur.

**Primary responsibilities**
- Research and identify leads for international major donors, in collaboration with the major gifts’ teams.
- Collaborate closely with the Development Director in the research and profiling of international donors in portfolios of Executive Director.
- Be the conduit for research and due diligence in the identification of new international board members as well as any donor prospect they might put forward.
- Manage due-diligence and risk-assessment processes.
- Deliver thought leadership and strategic recommendations that supports the strategic and tactical planning of the major gifts’ teams, consulting with audience leads regarding fundraising strategies, key challenges, and decision-making to inform research and insights work.
- Evaluate, acquire, and integrate new datasets to support prospecting and file analysis.
- Develop in-depth research profiles (including due diligence) and briefings for high value prospects and donors.
- Rate donors and prospects in terms of capacity and inclination to give, and develop strategic recommendations (e.g., timing and type of donor ask; donor interest areas) in consultation with fundraising colleagues.
- Monitor external environments including direct/indirect competition and key prospect research trends.
- Build strong relationships across teams within the Development team and across the Institut Pasteur.
- Collaborate effectively with other data and research professionals within the Institut Pasteur.

**Qualifications**
- Strong track-record of developing proactive prospecting methodologies that support organizational goals including data mining & sophisticated constituent database queries.
- Experience overseeing multiple vendor relationships, with the ability to lead meetings and monitor output/impact of vendors and consultants.
- Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills and comfort working in a high-energy, fast-paced, and collaborative environment.
- Sharing relevant information in a clear, timely and concise manner.
- Ability to work independently; move projects from conceptual stages to launch; and handle multiple and often competing deadlines.
- Ability to adjusts priorities to address changing situations and conditions.
- Outstanding, proven time mana