Director of Development: Major Gifts & Growth

HumanePro; Riverwoods (IL); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

403(b)

PTO

Professional development

Job summary

Orphans of the Storm Animal Shelter in Riverwoods, IL seeks a hands-on Director of Development to lead fundraising and a capital campaign during an expansion. You will build strategies, grow major gifts, expand recurring donations, and steward donor relationships to sustain operating revenue.

You will run all development functions—planning, donor cultivation, grant writing, stewardship, DonorPerfect management, and event execution—while collaborating with the ED, board, and staff to translate

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least five years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience.
• Proven success securing individual major gifts of $25,000 or more.
• Hands-on experience with DonorPerfect or comparable nonprofit CRM platforms, including advanced queries, segmentation, and financial reporting.
• Strong Microsoft Excel, donor communications, and digital fundraising skills.
• Excellent relationship-building, organizational, analytical, and communication abilities.
• A self-motivated, collaborative, and resourceful approach, with a commitment to ethical fundraising and companion animal welfare.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute annual fundraising plans including major gifts of $25k+, direct mail, digital appeals.
• Personally manage a portfolio of 75–100 prospects and conduct at least 20 face-to-face major gift solicitations annually.
• Donor stewardship with personalized communications, impact updates, tours, and timely acknowledgments.
• Manage DonorPerfect, ensuring accurate gift processing, donor records, segmentation, reporting, and revenue forecasting.
• Oversee grants and foundation relations; lead fundraising events with targets of $100,000 and $20,000 in net revenue for Gala and Golf Outing.
• Partner with the Executive Director and Board Development Committee on major gift solicitations and donor engagement.
• Develop legacy giving opportunities and steward the PerPetual Partners legacy society.

Skills

Fundraising strategy

Major gifts

Donor stewardship

Database management

Grant writing

Events management

Donor communications

Excel

Relationship building

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

DonorPerfect

CRM software

Excel

Job description

Orphans of the Storm Animal Shelter in Riverwoods, IL seeks a hands-on Director of Development to lead fundraising and a capital campaign during an expansion. You will build strategies, grow major gifts, expand recurring donations, and steward donor relationships to sustain operating revenue.

You will run all development functions—planning, donor cultivation, grant writing, stewardship, DonorPerfect management, and event execution—while collaborating with the ED, board, and staff to translate