Managing Director of Development

City Year•Chicago, IL

1d•$145,000 - $165,000•Onsite

About The Position

City Year Chicago is seeking a skilled fundraising professional with an entrepreneurial mindset to be the Managing Director of Development. The ideal candidate is an ambitious and sophisticated forward-thinker, communicator, and equity-driven fundraising professional who thrives in roles that require them to be strategic, creative, and collaborative. Reporting to the Executive Director, as a member of the site’s Executive Leadership Team, the Managing Director of Development (MDD) will lead a team of 5 development professionals to manage and implement the fundraising strategy for the Chicago office. This person is responsible for developing and implementing the Development strategy for City Year Chicago to raise and sustain at least $3.75M from the private sector in FY27 and grow annually. The MDD will develop and execute strategic, diversified development plans to raise funds through grant writing, individual giving, and institutional partners, such as corporations and foundations. A focus on establishing multi-year contributions, identifying new funding sources and management of ongoing donors will be expected. The ideal candidate is an initiative-taking problem-solver and strategic thinker who is committed to helping advance educational equity by developing leaders and supporting students in Chicago’s most under-resourced schools.

Requirements

Skilled fundraising professional with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Ambitious and sophisticated forward-thinker, communicator, and equity-driven fundraising professional.
Strategic, creative, and collaborative.
Ability to lead a team of 5 development professionals.
Experience developing and implementing fundraising strategies.
Experience raising funds through grant writing, individual giving, and institutional partners (corporations and foundations).
Focus on establishing multi-year contributions, identifying new funding sources, and management of ongoing donors.
Initiative-taking problem-solver and strategic thinker.
Committed to helping advance educational equity.
Experience managing and supervising staff.
Experience building meaningful relationships that result in securing monetary and in-kind multi-year support.
Experience growing transactional relationships into transformational relationships.
Experience overseeing corporate partnerships and major gifts development fundraising efforts.
Experience serving as a public representative of an organization.
Experience cultivating relationships with community members and prospective gift givers.
Experience maintaining oversight over all fundraising activities including major giving, grants, special events, direct mail appeals, and corporate partnership initiatives.
Experience managing relationships and communication with current corporate and foundation funders.
Experience managing the identification and cultivation of new corporate and foundation partnerships.
Experience with grant proposal and reporting processes for corporate, foundation, and government funders.
Experience developing successful identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
Experience building and managing a portfolio of donors and prospects with $25,000+ capacity for giving, with a focus on prospects capable of giving $100,000+.
Experience cultivating, soliciting, and closing annual, major gift, and multi-year contributions.
Experience achieving meaningful contacts with portfolio prospects annually and making intentional asks.
Experience documenting and maintaining clear and timely records and call reports in a Salesforce database.
Experience engaging a Board to meet critical financial and advocacy goals.
Experience participating in Board of Directors meetings and preparing reports.
Experience serving as a primary relationship manager for Development Committee or Development-focused board members.
Experience providing regular updates and maintaining engagement with Board members.
Experience overseeing the execution and strategy of associate boards and alumni boards.
Experience driving strategies to leverage large-scale fundraising events.
Experience partnering with other departments to drive strategy around leveraging civic engagement efforts for fundraising and service opportunities.
Experience crafting communication on behalf of others with keen awareness of audience and impact.
Ability to manage and execute compelling communication tools.
Experience communicating with both internal and external audiences of varying levels of seniority.
Experience supporting development business processes from donor identification through stewardship.
Experience ensuring accurate maintenance of records and donor information in a Salesforce database.
Experience directing monthly pipeline meetings to provide updated revenue figures, pipeline reports, and progress towards goals.
Experience identifying areas for operational improvements and driving continual improvements of processes.
Experience acting as a key advisor to Executive Director and senior leadership in aligning fundraising strategy with organizational plans.
Experience shaping organizational strategy and playing a leadership role in implementing local operating plans.
Experience working collaboratively with other site departments and national/regional staff.
Experience representing, respecting, and role-modeling organizational culture and values.
Experience actively contributing as a leadership team member.
Experience partnering with all departments through site events, projects, and cross-departmental committees.

Nice To Haves

Experience with City Year's dual mission to expand educational opportunity for all students and develop the next generation of leaders through national service.

Responsibilities

In partnership with the Executive Director and the City Year Chicago’s Board and Development team, leverage and enhance the site’s existing Development plan to implement a strategic and diversified fundraising plan that meets the current goal of raising $3.75M from the private sector and anticipates future needs and growth objectives.
In partnership with the Executive Director, develop, implement, and monitor short- and long-term fundraising strategies aligned with the organization’s multi-year site plan, translating organizational vision and programmatic priorities into actionable, multi-year plans that support sustainable growth and measurable impact, with a goal of reaching $6M in annual fundraising.
Partner with the Executive Director to develop and execute a tailored fundraising and engagement strategy for the Executive Director’s portfolio, ensuring effective cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of high-priority donors and prospects.
Collaborate with leadership to translate organizational vision into actionable fundraising initiatives, ensuring sustainability, scalability, and measurable impact over time.
Developing strategies to identify new individual supporters, fully leverage existing relationships, increase multi-year commitments, and maintain or elevate current commitments.
Develop strategies to identify and secure partnerships with corporations and foundations that reflect their marketing and business needs as well as philanthropic and community engagement goals.
Implement a high-quality stewardship program that engages, recognizes, and thanks supporters to strengthen their relationship with the organization.
Hire, lead, and retain a team of 5 development professionals.
Directly supervise the Director of Corporate Partnerships, Director of Individual Giving, Director of Foundations and Grants, and the Senior Manager of Development Operations.
Support ongoing coaching, career growth, and professional development for department staff.
Build meaningful relationships that result in securing both monetary and in-kind multi-year support for City Year Chicago.
Able to grow a transactional relationship into a transformational relationship.
Oversee and support Corporate Partnerships and Major Gifts Development fundraising efforts.
Serve as a public representative of the organization, including cultivating relationships with community members, including prospective gift givers in order to build awareness of and commitment to City Year Chicago’s work.
Maintain oversight over all fundraising activities including major giving, grants, special events, direct mail appeals, corporate partnership initiatives.
Manage relationships and communication with current corporate and foundation funders.
Manages the identification and cultivation of new corporate and foundation partnerships, as well as the grant proposal and reporting processes for corporate, foundation and government funders.
Develop successful identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies to direct and monitor the progress of current and future donor relationships.
Ensure a disparate and sustainable site donor base.
Build and manage a portfolio consisting of donors and prospects with $25,000+ capacity for giving, and a focus on prospects capable of giving $100,000+.
Cultivate, solicit, and close annual, major gift and multi-year contributions.
Achieve 75 meaningful contacts with portfolio prospects annually and make 50 intentional asks.
Document and maintain clear and timely records and call reports to track contacts, donor giving, and notes in the Salesforce database.
In partnership with the Executive Director, the MDD will engage the Board to meet critical financial and advocacy goals for the organization.
Participate in quarterly Board of Directors meetings and prepare monthly, quarterly and annual reports as requested by the Executive Director and Board.
Serve as primary relationship manager for Development Committee or Development focused board members.
Provide regular updates and maintain engagement (both financially and otherwise) to ensure Board retention and satisfaction.
Oversee the execution and strategy of the associate board and alumni board to support site fundraising efforts and strategic initiatives
In partnership with site leadership and Development team, drive strategies to leverage large-scale fundraising events, including our annual Ripples of Hope Gala as well as smaller events to thoughtfully engage donor communities.
Partner with the Managing Director of Partnerships and Civic Engagement to drive the strategy around how to leverage our Civic Engagement efforts to create fundraising and service opportunities for corporate partnerships and individual donors.
Experience crafting communication on behalf of others with keen awareness of audience and impact.
Ability to manage and execute compelling communication tools that drive people to support and champion City Year Chicago, including press releases, media advisories, social media communication and marketing events.
Experience communicating with both internal and external audiences of varying levels of seniority.
In partnership with the Development Operations staff, support development business processes from donor identification through to stewardship, ensuring accurate maintenance of records and donor information in the Salesforce database.
Direct monthly pipeline meetings with the Development team and Executive Director to provide updated revenue figures, pipeline reports, and progress towards monthly/quarterly goals.
Identify areas for operational improvements and drive continual improvements of processes.
Act as a key advisor to the Executive Director and senior leadership in aligning fundraising strategy with the organization’s multi-year site plan, ensuring that philanthropic investments directly support long-term programmatic growth, expansion, and sustainability.
Help shape organizational strategy and play a leadership role in implementing the site’s local operating plan as a member of the Executive Leadership Team.
Work collaboratively with other site departments and City Year’s national and regional staff.
Represent, respect, and role-model City Year’s organizational culture and values internally as a member of the site Senior Leadership Team, and externally as a primary representative of the organization.
Actively contribute as leadership team member.
Partner with all departments through site events, projects, and cross-departmental committees as needed to ensure site-wide goals are met.