Director of Development & External Affairs in Chicago, Illinois at Franciscan Outreach

Position Overview
The Director of Development & External Affairs is a key member of the Executive Leadership Team and the architect of Franciscan Outreach’s fundraising, communications, and external engagement strategy. This role provides strategic vision, operational leadership, and direct portfolio management to drive philanthropic revenue, expand institutional visibility, and build a robust, sustainable pipeline of supporters across individual, corporate, and foundation sectors.
Working closely with the Executive Director, Board of Directors, and senior leadership, the Director leads all development operations, oversees external communications, and ensures that the organization’s fundraising strategy aligns with its long-term mission, growth trajectory, and financial priorities.

Core Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
• Develop and execute a comprehensive, multi-year development strategy to increase and diversify revenue across major gifts, institutional giving, annual fund, corporate partnerships, events, and new donor acquisition.
• Partner with Executive Director and Board leadership to set organizational fundraising priorities and long-term targets.
• Serve as a strategic advisor on external affairs, brand positioning, and organizational visibility.
Major Gifts and Donor Development
• Maintain a personal portfolio of 30–35 major gift and corporate prospects (gifts of $5,000+), ensuring consistent cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Conduct 4–8 donor or prospect meetings and site visits each month, focusing on new high-capacity prospects.
• Lead and manage the Executive Director’s and the Board’s major gift portfolios through planning, coordination, and tailored strategies.
• Oversee an enhanced stewardship and engagement program aimed at strengthening donor relationships and advancing donors through the pipeline.
Institutional Giving & Corporate Partnerships
• Provide executive oversight for all institutional funding streams, including foundations, corporations, government partners, philanthropic networks, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
• Set long-term strategy for institutional revenue growth, identifying emerging funding trends, multi-year opportunities, and high-capacity institutional partners aligned with Franciscan Outreach’s mission and growth priorities.
• Lead and direct the institutional giving portfolio, ensuring a balanced and scalable mix of renewal, pipeline, and new prospects across foundations, corporations, and public funding sources.
• Supervise and mentor the Manager of Institutional Giving, ensuring excellence in grant writing, proposal development, reporting, relationship management, and prospect pipelines.
• Collaborate with the Manager of Institutional Giving to expand institutional partnerships and ensure timely submission of proposals, reports, and renewals.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director to secure leadership-level partnerships, including multi-year corporate investments, cause-marketing partnerships, matching gift programs, and specialized sponsorship opportunities.
• Represent FO externally at corporate engagement events, CSR forums, business association meetings, and philanthropic councils to increase visibility and expand FO’s partner network.
• Strengthen corporate visibility strategies, ensuring recognition is integrated across events, marketing materials, digital platforms, and impact reporting.
Annual Fund, Campaigns & Events
• Provide executive leadership for the Annual Fund, establishing long-term revenue growth strategies that strengthen donor acquisition, retention, and advancement across all giving levels.
• Supervise and collaborate with the Manager of Individual Giving to provide oversight for campaigns, direct mail, social media, donor journeys, peer-to-peer giving, and strategic appeals aligned with organizational priorities.
• Oversee and direct the full strategy and execution of the Annual Gala and all major fundraising events, providing strategic leadership to event consultants, vendors, and internal teams to ensure exceptional donor experiences, operational excellence, and maximum revenue impact.
• Drive the strategic vision for all annual campaigns—including Giving Tuesday, year-end, spring appeal, and special cause-based campaigns—ensuring cohesion across messaging, brand, and donor experience.
• Oversee segmentation strategy and donor movement pathways, ensuring clear pipelines from first-time donors to mid-level and major donors, and collaborating with the Manager of Individual Giving to implement and refine tactics.
• Lead cross-departmental coordination (program, finance, communications) to ensure campaigns reflect organizational impact, budgetary needs, and strategic growth goals.
• Establish annual KPIs and performance dashboards for the annual fund, monitoring revenue, retention, donor upgrades, acquisition rates, and other key performance indicators.
• Oversee campaign forecasting and revenue modeling, integrating data analytics to evaluate performance and inform future strategies.
Communications & External Relations
• Oversee organizational communications, ensuring alignment with Franciscan Outreach’s brand, mission, and strategic direction.
• Ensure the development of compelling storytelling that elevates guest voices and effectively communicates FO’s mission, outcomes, and community impact.
• Guide creative direction for all marketing and fundraising materials, ensuring content is strategic, donor-centered, and aligned with FO’s messaging architecture.
• Lead media strategy and public relations, including responding to media inquiries, preparing organizational statements, cultivating media relationships, and positioning FO as a leader in homelessness services.
• Serve as a key spokesperson and external representative, strengthening FO’s presence within Chicago’s philanthropic landscape.
Special Project: Capital Campaign
• Lead strategy and execution of capital campaign fundraising with a focus on securing major gifts tied to naming rights opportunities.
• Identify, cultivate, and solicit high-capacity donors; manage a portfolio of prospects in conjunction with the campaign consultant and Executive Director.
• Partner with leadership and board members to advance solicitations, track progress, plan and execute cultivation events.
Team Leadership & Management
• Supervise and support the Development team: Manager of Institutional Giving, Manager of Individual Giving, and Development & Communications Coordinator.
• Provide coaching, accountability, and professional development, building a high-performing, collaborative department.
• Recruit and onboard new team members as needed
• Establish annual work plans, KPIs, and performance metrics aligned with organizational goals.
• Operations, Budgeting & Reporting
• Oversee revenue forecasting, pipeline tracking, and departmental budget management.
• Ensure accuracy and integrity of donor databases, reporting systems, and gift processing procedures.
• Prepare development reports for the Executive Director, the Development Committee, and the Board of Directors.
Qualifications
• Minimum 10 years of progressive nonprofit development experience, including major gifts, institutional giving, and donor strategy.
• Proven ability to secure major gifts and build donor pipelines.
• Demonstrated success in supervising teams and leading cross-departmental strategic initiatives.
• Experience managing high-value donor portfolios and facilitating Board involvement in fundraising.
• Knowledge of Chicago’s philanthropic community preferred.
• Experience with donor database systems (DonorPerfect or similar) required.
• Project Leadership: Experience in planning, leading, delegating, and managing development projects, including coordinating with peers to achieve desired outcomes, and tracking and reporting on progress to the executive team and/or board of directors. Strong organizational skills; Flexible and adaptable style; A leader who can positively impact both strategic and tactical fundraising initiatives; A multitasker with the ability to wear many hats in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects and deadlines while producing quality results; Possesses exemplary attention to detail: Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: Takes initiative and actively seeks to deepen current donor relationships and to forge new ones.
• Communications: Skilled in creating powerful, compelling written and oral communications for fundraising; Ability to convey complex ideas through brief, simple materials; Experience and credibility when presenting materials to external audiences; Excellent communication skills, both written and oral. Comfortable making pitches in person and personally asking people for money.
• Collaboration: Effective at working with others to reach common goals and objectives.
• Relationship Building: Skilled at establishing and cultivating strong relationships with peers, across different levels of the organization and externally; Experience collaborating in a multi-disciplinary, diverse, and dynamic team environment; A proven ability to hire, coach, and lead employees.
Physical Requirements
Sit for long periods of time
Use hands and fingers to type, handle, or feel and reach, and regularly required to stand and walk.
Speak clearly so listeners can understand.
Must be able to handle working in a stressful work environment.
The employee is frequently required to Must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
Additional Requirements:
All staff are expected to abide by the policies of Franciscan Outreach including, but not limited to rules governing ethics, confidentiality, dual relationships, honesty, and integrity. Staff must have a commitment to serving the guests of Franciscan Outreach and to contributing to a positive, respectful, and accepting environment. Franciscan Outreach is an Equal Opportunity Employer