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About Cleveland Restoration Society

Founded in 1972, Cleveland Restoration Society (CRS) is a respected 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, protecting, and celebrating historic buildings and places that foster vibrant, inclusive communities throughout Greater Cleveland. For more than five decades, CRS has served as a catalyst for preservation-driven revitalization, ensuring that historic structures remain central to community identity, economic vitality, and cultural continuity.

 

CRS advances its mission through advocacy, education, strategic partnerships, and innovative programming. The organization promotes awareness of historic landmarks, manages an initiative supporting the repair and maintenance of religious landmarks, and operates an award-winning home repair loan and technical assistance program serving homeowners in more than 50 communities. CRS engages the public through signature events including its Annual Benefit, the Community Luncheon, and the Celebration of Preservation awards program held in partnership with AIA Cleveland. Through its Historic Black Church Initiative, CRS has made a special commitment to Cleveland's historic Black churches, which represent vital centers of civil rights history, community resilience, and cultural heritage. Some of Cleveland’s historic Black churches hosted civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Carl Stokes. Today, these congregations continue to serve their neighborhoods through social services, education, and civic engagement.

 

Cleveland Restoration Society owns historic properties, including its headquarters building, the historic Sarah Benedict House & Garden. This 1883 landmark houses beautiful gathering spaces for fundraising meetings and events as well as offices for the staff. 

 

The hiring of a Philanthropy Officer focused on major gifts marks an important milestone in CRS's fundraising growth. The organization has a strong foundation to build on: individual donors already contribute meaningfully through cash and stock gifts, donations of real property, and estate commitments. This new role will deepen those relationships and expand CRS's capacity to cultivate transformative giving.

 

Position Summary

The Philanthropy Officer is a newly created, high-impact position reporting directly to the Director of Development. This position will be instrumental in optimizing CRS’s existing gifts program by creating a formal gifts strategy and program. The Philanthropy Officer will design and execute strategies to secure larger, more durable gifts and deepen donor engagement.

 

Already CRS has a strong base of individual donors. The Philanthropy Officer will cultivate this base through professional fundraising strategies and develop additional individual donors. The overall goal is to create a diversified and sustainable donor base capable of generating significant philanthropic investment for historic preservation initiatives.

 

Working closely with the Director of Development, Board of Directors, executive leadership, and philanthropy partners, the Philanthropy Officer will build meaningful relationships, tell compelling impact stories, and establish systems that ensure long-term fundraising success. 

An important priority will be generating gifts in support of the Historic Black Church Fund initiative. The Philanthropy Officer will create the systems and conditions to enable a capital campaign aimed at supporting historic Black Churches.

 

This is an exciting opportunity for a relationship-driven fundraiser to build a major gifts infrastructure which will enable a capital campaign within a respected, mission-driven organization.

 

Position Duties and Responsibilities

 Major Gifts Program Development

• Partner with the Director of Development to design and implement a comprehensive major gifts program.
• Develop policies, procedures, and portfolio strategies to launch and sustain a structured major gifts initiative which will enable a capital campaign in the future.
• Establish measurable goals aligned with CRS’s strategic priorities.
• Build and manage a portfolio of up to 150 qualified major individual donor prospects.
• Contribute to the planning and execution of fundraising campaigns and special initiatives.
• Achieve annual fundraising goals that increase progressively as the major gifts program matures, beginning with a Year 1 benchmark tied to break-even ROI on the position and scaling to a mature portfolio target by Year 3. Specific goals will be established collaboratively with the Director of Development.
• Track performance metrics and maintain accurate donor records.

 

Donor Cultivation & Stewardship

• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors capable of five-figure and higher investments.
• Develop customized engagement strategies for prospects and donors.
• Lead meaningful face-to-face donor meetings and solicitations.
• Create and implement thoughtful stewardship and recognition strategies.
• Partner with CRS trustees and executive staff to leverage relationships and open doors.
• Collaborate with leadership on the timing and planning of a capital campaign for historic Black churches.

 

It is the goal of Cleveland Restoration to prepare for a capital campaign to create a fund to assist historic Black churches with capital repair grants. The Philanthropy Officer will play a leadership role in developing and executing such a campaign.

 

Candidate Qualifications

The ideal candidate will bring proven experience in individual donor fundraising and a passion for preservation and community impact.

 

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field required.
• Minimum of 5 years of major gifts fundraising experience.
• Demonstrated success securing five-figure major gifts.
• Proven track record of securing five- and six-figure gifts from individual donors, with demonstrated ability to grow a portfolio over time.
• Experience planning or supporting fundraising and capital campaigns.
• Experience managing and growing a portfolio of donor prospects.

 

Knowledge & Skills

• Strong understanding of Cleveland’s philanthropic community preferred.
• Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and storytelling abilities.
• High attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
• Ability to build authentic relationships with donors, board members, and community stakeholders.
• Strategic thinking with the ability to translate mission into compelling philanthropic investment opportunities.
• Ability to hold oneself accountable to clear goals and measurable outcomes.
• Unimpeachable integrity and sound professional judgment.

 

Personal Attributes

• Deep passion for historic preservation and community revitalization.
• Commitment to equity and cultural heritage preservation.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and comfort building new systems and programs.
• Desire for a long-term career opportunity within a mission-driven organization.

 

Work Environment & Benefits

CRS offers a competitive salary, employer-paid health insurance, employer matching retirement contributions, paid time off, and a collegial and mission-focused work environment. At this time, CRS employees work on a hybrid basis, in the office at least two days per week.

POLICY ON PLACEMENT AND RECRUITING

This search is being conducted by The Batten Group, a national executive search and consulting firm specializing in nonprofit and mission-driven organizations.

 

All candidate inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed to The Batten Group. CRS has engaged The Batten Group to manage the recruitment process and requests that all communications regarding this search be routed accordingly.

 

Cleveland Restoration Society is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity in its workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law.