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Job Description
Title: Vice President of Individual Giving
Reports To: President of Individual Giving
Position Managed:
Location: Bronx Zoo
Employment Type: Exempt, Full-Time
Pay Range: $285,000 - $315,000
About Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS):
WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We are the only organization that combines on-the-ground field conservation programs in more than 55 countries with the world’s largest network of urban wildlife parks, based in New York City.
WCS’s five wildlife parks, led by our flagship Bronx Zoo, have educated and inspired over 425 million visitors since 1899. Each year, WCS welcomes about 3.5 million visitors to the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and New York Aquarium—opening people’s eyes to the wonders of the natural world, while setting the gold standard for animal care and well-being.
WCS has a long track record of achieving innovative, impactful results at scale. Our scientists, veterinarians, and conservation experts have helped recover bison, tigers, gorillas, whales, coral reefs, and more. In the past century, we have helped governments create more than 430 protected areas around the world on land and sea, and we currently work with national governments and local communities to manage and monitor several hundred protected areas.
Position Summary:
The Vice President of Individual Giving is a senior frontline fundraising leader responsible for driving the strategy, performance, and growth of individual philanthropic revenue at WCS.
Reports To: President of Individual Giving
Position Managed:
Location: Bronx Zoo
Employment Type: Exempt, Full-Time
Pay Range: $285,000 - $315,000
About Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS):
WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We are the only organization that combines on-the-ground field conservation programs in more than 55 countries with the world’s largest network of urban wildlife parks, based in New York City.
WCS’s five wildlife parks, led by our flagship Bronx Zoo, have educated and inspired over 425 million visitors since 1899. Each year, WCS welcomes about 3.5 million visitors to the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and New York Aquarium—opening people’s eyes to the wonders of the natural world, while setting the gold standard for animal care and well-being.
WCS has a long track record of achieving innovative, impactful results at scale. Our scientists, veterinarians, and conservation experts have helped recover bison, tigers, gorillas, whales, coral reefs, and more. In the past century, we have helped governments create more than 430 protected areas around the world on land and sea, and we currently work with national governments and local communities to manage and monitor several hundred protected areas.
Position Summary:
The Vice President of Individual Giving is a senior frontline fundraising leader responsible for driving the strategy, performance, and growth of individual philanthropic revenue at WCS.
- You will oversee both the Principal Gifts and Major Gifts programs, managing a high-performing team while also personally cultivating and soliciting a portfolio of the organization’s most significant donors and prospects.
- You will set and execute a unified individual giving strategy for donors giving from six- to nine-figure gifts and secure new transformative philanthropic investments aligned with WCS’s priorities; identify, qualify, and move a robust pipeline of prospects, in partnership with the Research and Data Analytics teams; and increase donor engagement, in partnership with the Donor Engagement and Events team.
- Reporting to the Chief Development Officer, you will bring strategic discipline and entrepreneurial drive, elevating standards, strengthening accountability, and partnering closely with organizational leadership to unlock major and principal gifts.
If you’re an accomplished fundraiser who thrives on designing ambitious multiyear leadership gift strategies and closing transformative commitments, has a deep familiarity with the New York philanthropic community, has experience designing and executing fundraising campaigns, enjoys coaching staff to their highest level of performance, and has a strong desire to grow into greater leadership responsibility within a mission-driven organization, we’d love to meet you.
Principal Responsibilities:
Principal Responsibilities:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive individual giving strategy spanning major ($100K+) and principal ($10M+) gifts.
- Raise the performance bar and redefine the major gifts threshold to $100,000+ annually through multi-year, multi-layer team revenue models built on disciplined moves management.
- Define clear revenue goals, growth targets, and performance metrics across all individual giving programs.
- Build a robust pipeline of high-capacity donors, expanding and diversifying the funding base.
- Elevate the collaboration amongst all frontline fundraisers from individual, corporate, and foundation teams.
- Personally manage a portfolio of 20–30 top-tier donors and prospects, capable of making 7-, 8-, and 9-figure gifts.
- Lead cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of transformational gifts ($1M–$25M+), including multi-year commitments.
- Partner closely with the President & CEO, CDO, and Trustees on top prospects.
- Lead, mentor, and manage Directors, Officers, and Associates across Major and Principal Gifts.
- Establish a high-performance culture with clear data-driven expectations, accountability, and coaching.
- Set and monitor monthly and quarterly metrics (activity, pipeline, revenue).
- Ensure disciplined portfolio management and pipeline tracking across the team.
- Drive accurate forecasting and revenue modeling for individual giving.
- Strengthen use of Salesforce and data systems to support decision-making and accountability.
- Collaborate with program, finance, communications, and executive teams to develop compelling funding opportunities.
- Work with donor engagement team to maximize cultivation opportunities.
- Represent WCS in key philanthropic communities, particularly New York and global ultra-high-net-worth networks.
- Develop familiarity with WCS’s programmatic priorities, budgets, and strategic initiatives to position compelling investment opportunities.