Chicago, IL

Major Gift Manager, The Chicago Community Trust

The Organization

History of The Chicago Community Trust

The Chicago Community Trust is a community foundation dedicated to advancing metropolitan Chicago and improving the lives of the people who call it home. The Trust serves as a philanthropic partner, connecting the generosity of donors with community needs. Today, following the creation of a The Chicago Community Trust is a community foundation dedicated to advancing metropolitan Chicago and improving the lives of the people who call it home. The Trust serves as a philanthropic partner, connecting the generosity of donors with community needs. Today, following the creation of a new strategic plan in 2018, the Trust stands committed to addressing Chicago’s legacy of systemic inequity and closing the racial wealth gap. With assets of approximately $3 billion, the Trust in partnership with its donors distributes more than $400 million in grants each year. Our unwavering mission is to mobilize resources, people, organizations and ideas in support of this vision for a truly equitable, connected and thriving community.

The Trust was founded in 1915 by Norman and Albert Harris, father and son duo of the Harris (now BMO Harris) bank family. The Chicago Community Trust was the fourth community foundation ever created. There are now 750 community foundations across Canada and the US.

Since 1915, the Trust has been part of nearly every major civic milestone of the Chicago region. From the creation of Millennium Park and Chicago’s Harris Theater to Leadership Greater Chicago and Chicago Urban League, the Trust has worked to support the people and organizations that have made Chicago a world class city.

Position Overview

Title:                   Major Gifts Manager

Department:   Philanthropic Services

Reports To:      Sr. Director of Resource Development

FSLA:                   Exempt

The Major Gifts Manager contributes to development of strategies for the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of donors, and is essential to growing the support for the Chicago Community Trust’s strategic priority initiatives, COVID-19 recovery plans, and civic leadership fund. The Manager will inform and implement strategies for identifying major gift prospects, cultivating donors and prospects, and securing gifts over $25,000. The Manager will be primarily responsible for stewardship of the Trust’s major donor portfolio.

Position Responsibilities

Fundraising Systems, Information & Reporting

  • Work with Senior Director and across the organization to establish account management protocols and systems for donor tracking in CRM.
  • Conduct prospect research for donor identification and qualification.
  • Record all significant donor interactions in donor database according to moves management guidelines
  • Provide accurate and timely activity, pipeline, and revenue reports as needed

Resource Development & Strategic Portfolio Management

  • Identify, cultivate, solicit and steward qualified major donors and prospects, managing a portfolio of individual donor relationships that will grow over time
  • Support senior leaders in securing transformational gifts by contributing to the development of donor strategies and managing donor cultivation and stewardship.
  • Coordinate and conduct face-to-face visits, cultivation events and other activities to build meaningful personal relationships with donors
  • Guide the development of donor proposals, presentations and reports as needed
  • Work independently and be self-motivated in initiating contacts with potential donors, working with Communications Manager to develop scripts and talking points.

Relationship Building

  • Collaborate with Philanthropic Services and other colleagues to identify prospects, inform solicitation strategies and support organizational goals
  • Build internal partnerships to support an organization-wide fundraising culture
  • Represent the Chicago Community Trust’s mission and strategic priorities to external stakeholders and actively network through events and community forums.

Position Requirements

  • Bacheor’s degree with a minimum of three to five years’ experience in major gifts, specifically experience in cultivating and soliciting individual donors capable of five and six figure gifts
  • Minimum of 5 years progressively responsible experience in Resource Development, including experience assisting in the development of successful ask strategies and effective major donor acquisition strategies
  • Excellent presentation and communication skills
  • Excellent relationship building skills
  • Knowledge of the principles of fundraising and able to participate in all aspects of the donor journey: identification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship.
  • Experience using Salesforce or similar CRM to manage donor relationships

How To Apply

Please go to our Careers Page at https://www.cct.org/careers to see all our open positions and to apply,  Application deadline is October 15, 2020.

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