Major Gifts Officer

JOB POSTING: Major Gifts Officer

About CKUA

CKUA is recognized as Canada’s first public broadcaster, and it continues to inspire and guide a world-wide community of loyal arts and culture enthusiasts along a journey of musical discovery every day. CKUA offers more than 45 expertly curated multi-genre musical programs, plus other enriching arts and cultural content on-air and online. CKUA serves 380 communities across Alberta with FM Radio and reaches listeners around the world with live-streaming and digital content through CKUA.com, the CKUA App, and social platforms. We are an inclusive, creative, hardworking group on a musical mission to enrich lives and support the arts.

Major Gifts Officer

Location: Calgary | Hybrid (Remote-Forward) | Full-Time | Senior Individual Contributor

About the Opportunity

CKUA has the kind of donor loyalty that most organizations spend decades trying to build. Our supporters are deeply connected to the mission, and many have been part of our community for years. That is a remarkable foundation for a major gifts program, and we are looking for the right person to build on it.

We need a Major Gifts Officer with a proven track record of closing six- and seven-figure gifts. Someone who is genuinely skilled at the long game: building trust with high-net-worth individuals and corporate partners, having the right conversations at the right time, and turning donor interest into transformational commitments.

Based in Calgary with a remote-forward hybrid structure, you will manage a portfolio focused on gifts of $50,000 and above, reporting to the Chief Development Officer and working closely with senior leadership and the Board. The CKUA Centenary Campaign is already underway and building real momentum, and you will be a meaningful contributor to its success. With our 100th anniversary arriving in 2027, this is a rare chance to make your mark on an organization just as it celebrates its history and steps boldly into its next century.

How You’ll Make an Impact

At the heart of this role is a portfolio of major gift prospects and donors, each at a different stage of their relationship with CKUA. You will manage that portfolio with intention, guiding individuals and corporate partners through the full moves management cycle and focusing your energy on gifts of $50,000 and above, including six- and seven-figure commitments.

Much of your time will be spent in conversation. Discovery meetings, cultivation touchpoints, and carefully timed solicitations, all designed around a deep understanding of what each donor cares about and why CKUA matters to them. Between solicitations, you will keep donors genuinely connected to the mission through meaningful stewardship: updates on funded initiatives, personal expressions of gratitude, event invitations, and high-touch moments coordinated with senior leadership and the Board. You will develop customized gift proposals that connect donor values to CKUA's strategic priorities, and negotiate gift terms and recognition arrangements with professionalism and care.

Building the pipeline is just as important as working it. You will conduct and coordinate prospect research to assess capacity and philanthropic history, work with colleagues and board members to identify new opportunities, and ensure smooth transitions for donors moving between giving levels or programs. You will also bring planned and legacy giving into conversations where appropriate, recognizing those moments as a natural extension of a long-term relationship.

Working closely with the Chief Development Officer, you will help set annual major gift revenue targets and take ownership of tracking progress against them throughout the year. You will contribute to the CKUA Centenary Campaign as part of the broader fund development effort, and keep strong records in Raiser's Edge to support reporting, pipeline management, and strategic planning for senior leadership and the Board.

Why Choose CKUA

CKUA is a one-of-a-kind place where people bring both heart and expertise to what they do. We are a registered charity and nonprofit public broadcaster with nearly a century of history, a fiercely loyal community, and an even more exciting future ahead. Our programming connects people through music, stories, and a shared sense of wonder about the world, and our donors feel that connection deeply. That is what makes this role so compelling.

As a Major Gifts Officer at CKUA, you will find that the donor relationships here are built on something genuine. People give to CKUA because it has been part of their lives, and your work will help translate that loyalty into the kind of transformational support that carries the organization forward.

You will join a team of passionate, values-driven people who care about the work and the people doing it. This is a place where you can show up as yourself, contribute meaningfully, and help shape what CKUA's next century looks like.

What We Offer

Purpose That Hits All the Right Notes. Raise transformational gifts for an organization built on music, storytelling, and genuine community connection, and help ensure that legacy endures for generations to come.

Room to Make Your Mark. This is a senior role with trust and space to build something meaningful. Bring your ideas, shape the strategy, and see your work create lasting impact across Alberta and beyond.

The Freedom to Work Where You Work Best. A genuinely remote-forward role based in Calgary, designed around outcomes rather than in-office hours, with the flexibility to manage your schedule around your donors and your life.

Be Part of Building Something. CKUA's Fund Development program is growing, and there is real momentum here. You will work closely with the Chief Development Officer, with plenty of room to develop your craft and deepen your impact over time.

A Team That Feels Like Community. A small, values-driven team where your work is visible, your contributions matter, and collaboration is genuine.

Benefits That Back You Up. Comprehensive health and dental coverage and a pension plan as part of CKUA's total rewards package.

What You Bring

You are the kind of person who is genuinely interested in people. You ask good questions, you listen carefully, and you find satisfaction in understanding what drives someone's passion for a cause. You are skilled at the long game: building trust with high-net-worth individuals and corporate partners naturally, sustaining relationships over years rather than solicitation cycles, and knowing that the most transformational gifts are the natural result of a relationship built on trust, patience, and authentic connection.

You bring a proven track record of closing major gifts at the six- and seven-figure level. This is the essential requirement for the role. You have done it before, with both individuals and corporations, and you know what it takes to get there.

Your written and verbal communication skills are outstanding. You can craft a compelling gift proposal, write a thoughtful piece of donor correspondence, and tailor your approach to each individual you work with. You are also comfortable introducing planned and legacy giving into conversations where appropriate, drawing on a working knowledge of arrangements like bequests, charitable trusts, and estate gifts.

You are organized and analytical, able to assess prospect capacity, evaluate pipeline health, and use data to inform your strategy. You manage a complex portfolio of relationships, strategies, and timelines with care and discipline. You have experience with Raiser's Edge or a comparable donor CRM, and you maintain records and generate reports with precision. You are familiar with CRA charitable regulations and hold yourself to high ethical fundraising standards.

A minimum of 4 to 5 years of progressive fundraising experience with a major gifts focus is required, along with a bachelor's degree in business, communications, nonprofit management, arts administration, or a related discipline. An equivalent combination of education and lived expertise will also be considered. A CFRE designation and membership in AFP or CAGP are strong assets, as is experience in the arts, culture, or media sectors.

You build positive, respectful working relationships and approach your work in a way that reflects CKUA's values of Community, Diversity, Inclusion, Creativity, Curiosity, and Authenticity.

Additional Information

This is a full-time position of 40 hours per week based in Calgary and offers a remote-forward hybrid working environment. We anticipate this role to provide a starting salary of approximately $90,000 per year, with the final amount determined by experience and the available budget. While we know salary is important, CKUA offers more than just a paycheque, you’ll be joining a creative, community-focused workplace and benefiting from a strong total rewards program.

How to Apply

If you’re ready to support CKUA’s mission and help create community connections through music, arts, and culture, we’d love to hear from you.

Please apply online through ADP at https://ckua.com/careers/.  This position will be posted until our unicorn (read: ideal candidate) is found. 

CKUA welcomes applications from all qualified individuals. We are particularly interested in and encourage applications from equity-seeking communities, including women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions.

CKUA is a donor-supported arts organization that inspires and connects through the power of music, arts, culture and story. With a focus on musical discovery, we showcase the best creative work from Alberta and beyond and deliver it on-air, online and in-person.

In the spirit of our journey to promote reconciliation, we honour the truth of the shared history and acknowledge that we operate on Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 territories.

Treaty 6 territory is the traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakoda, Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway, Saulteaux/Anishinaabe and many others whose histories, languages and cultures continue to influence our vibrant community of Amiskwaciwaskahigan, also known as Edmonton. Treaty 7 is the traditional lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy which includes the Siksika, Kainai and Pikani, the Tsuut’ina and the Stoney Nakoda nations including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley nations. We also recognize the Métis people and the Inuit who make their home in Mohkins’tsis, also known as Calgary.