Development Manager, Individual & Planned Giving

Faith in Place; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 68,000 - 79,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

SIMPLE IRA

Professional development stipend

Paid vacation

Personal days

Sick days

4-day flex model

Cell phone stipend

Internet stipend

Home office stipend

Job summary

Faith in Place in Illinois seeks a Development Manager, Individual & Planned Giving to lead donor fundraising—major gifts, annual campaigns, and planned giving—reporting to the Development Director and collaborating with the Fundraising Committee and the development team.

You will identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors, organize campaigns such as the spring appeal and end-of-year drive, and help grow corporate and house-of-worship support while guiding two staff.

Qualifications

• 5–7 years of relevant fundraising or development experience.
• Passion for faith-based environmental justice and strong work ethic.
• Experience cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual donors, including major gifts.
• Experience planning and executing fundraising campaigns (annual appeals, year-end campaigns, events).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for donor messaging.
• Experience using donor CRM software (EveryAction preferred).
• Ability to work in a dynamic environment with multiple campaigns and deadlines.
• Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends for donor events.
• Candidate must reside in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin.

Responsibilities

• Meet annual revenue goals for individuals and specified donor segments.
• Identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors, with emphasis on major gifts.
• Organize, lead, and implement fundraising campaigns (spring appeal, sponsorship campaigns, end-of-year).
• Implement donor thanking processes and personalize communications; coordinate stewardship events.
• Research and grow planned giving including monthly sustaining donations and legacy gifts.
• Lead and collaborate with Fundraising Committee; supervise 1–2 direct reports as needed.

Skills

Major gifts experience

Campaign planning

Donor CRM (EveryAction)

Written communications

Verbal communications

Evening/weekend availability

Donor stewardship

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

EveryAction

Job description

Position Description

Join a diverse, fun team passionate about creating healthier and more just communities as Faith in Place's Development Manager, Individual & Planned Giving. This position leads individual donor fundraising for Faith in Place, with a focus on major gifts, annual campaigns, and planned giving, while stewarding our growing base of individual, corporate, and house-of-worship supporters. This role reports to the Development Director and partners closely with the Fundraising Committee and development team colleagues.

Responsibilities

Revenue and Fundraising Strategy

• Meet annual revenue goals for the Individuals, AES Corporations, AES Individuals, and AES Houses of Worship budget categories.

Donor Cultivation and Major Gifts

• Identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors, with particular emphasis on major donations.

Campaign Management

• Organize, lead, and implement the spring appeal, AES Summit sponsorship campaign, and end-of-year fundraising campaign.

Donor Stewardship and Communications

• Implement donor thanking processes, including recommending improvements to increase timeliness and personalization.
• Organize, design, and implement Sustainers Circle donor events, communications, and other stewardship opportunities.

Planned Giving

• Research and recommend strategies to systemize and grow planned giving, including monthly sustaining donations and legacy gifts.

Team Leadership and Collaboration

• Participate in Fundraising Committee meetings, contributing data and donor insights to inform strategy.
• Supervise 1-2 direct reports, pending organizational need and budget.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 5-7 years of relevant fundraising or development experience, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and work experience.
• Passion for faith-based environmental justice, a strong work ethic, and a positive attitude.
• Demonstrated experience cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual donors, including major gift experience.
• Experience planning and executing fundraising campaigns (e.g., annual appeals, year-end campaigns, event sponsorships).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling donor-facing messaging.
• Experience using donor CRM software (EveryAction preferred) to manage donor relationships and track campaign performance.
• Ability to work in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, managing multiple campaigns and relationships with attention to detail and deadlines.
• Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends for donor events and fundraising activities.
• Candidate must reside in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building or growing a planned giving program, including legacy gifts and monthly sustainer programs.
• Prior experience supervising or mentoring staff.
• Bachelor's degree
• Familiarity with multifaith or interfaith community engagement.

Hours

This is a full-time, exempt position. While most work is done during a standard workday, work opportunities occasionally occur on evenings and weekends, particularly around donor events and campaign deadlines. For any time worked outside regular work hours, comp time will be provided.

About the Organization's Mission

Faith in Place is a multifaith, environmental nonprofit 501(c)3 organization with outreach staff working throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Faith in Place's mission is to empower people of diverse faith and spiritualities to be leaders in advancing environmental and racial justice, providing resources to educate, connect, and advocate for healthier communities. Faith in Place partners with communities of faith from diverse religious traditions as well as people who identify as spiritual or motivated by justice but don't identify with a specific faith tradition.

Faith in Place organizes faith leaders, groups, and members to advance our mission by starting and coaching Green Teams. Green Teams are three or more members of a house of worship who provide cooperative leadership to educate, connect, and advocate for environmental and racial justice within the context of their community's unique culture, history, and theological practices.

All Faith in Place staff also contribute part of their working hours to the Faith in Place Action Fund, a separate 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. The Faith in Place Action Fund raises memberships and motivates lobbying for environmental justice. The Faith in Place Action Fund uses several tools to hold candidates and elected officials accountable to create more environmental justice jobs throughout the Midwest. These tools include grassroots lobbying, legislator scorecards, questionnaires, interviews, and candidate endorsements.

About the Organization's Staff Culture

The Faith in Place team works together to create a culture that is focused on growth, collaboration, healing, and justice. We value a diversity of voices and perspectives, and the staff team participates in Diversity and Equity training, Healing Circles, Case Studies, and more to learn from one another and professional teachers about the roots of injustice and how we can work together to create a collaborative and healthier work culture.

Pay and Benefits

This full-time position's salary range is $68k-$78,750 starting at $68k, in line with Faith in Place's Manager pay band. A comprehensive benefits package is offered to full-time employees of Faith in Place. These benefits, with some employee contributions, include medical, dental, vision, life, and short-term and long-term disability insurance, and an employer-matched SIMPLE IRA plan, which begins the first of the month following employment, and a stipend to support professional development. Up to sixteen (16) paid vacation days, two (2) paid personal days, and five (5) paid sick days are earned each year. Faith in Place follows a 4-day flex model. Monthly cell phone and internet stipends are provided along with a $500 one-time payment to help with home office needs.

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Faith in Place is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against any employee or job applicant based on race, color, national origin, religion, caste, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or marital status. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, termination, promotion, transfer, layoff, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values at Faith in Place. Because we believe that the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities must be centered in the work of our intersectional environmentalism, we strongly encourage applications from these identities. We acknowledge that we must do better to represent the diverse communities that we exist to uplift and protect.