Director of Institutional Giving

Chicago Public Media Inc; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 104,000 - 129,000; Full time

Job summary

Chicago Public Media, a leading nonprofit news organization that operates WBEZ 91.5FM and related platforms, seeks a Director of Institutional Giving. This role leads the institutional giving team, develops revenue strategies, coaches the manager, and strengthens donor engagement across foundations and corporations.

The Director will manage a portfolio of 50–80 funders, collaborate with Finance on gift terms, and drive higher fundraising performance while aligning with the organization's mission

Qualifications

• 7+ years of frontline fundraising experience with executive-level donors
• Ability to develop multi-year gift strategies
• Strong management and coaching skills for a fundraising team
• Proven written and verbal communication abilities for proposals and case statements
• Comfort with data to inform strategy and track performance

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement institutional revenue strategy and donor pipelines
• Supervise and support the Institutional Giving team with performance management
• Manage portfolio of 50–80 foundations and corporations with year-over-year growth
• Identify and cultivate new institutional funders and partnerships
• Monitor fundraising performance and report to leadership

Skills

Frontline fundraising

Donor cultivation

Team leadership

Data-driven strategy

Excellent communication

Relationship management

Strategic planning

Tools

Google Workspace

CRM software

Job description

About Chicago Public Media

Chicago Public Media is one of the nation’s largest local nonprofit news organizations. Home to WBEZ 91.5FM, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Vocalo. Chicago Public Media reaches more than 3.3 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. As a mission-driven organization, we aspire to be the most trusted news source Chicagoans turn to for understanding the people, events, and ideas shaping our community.

Chicago Public Media is a 100% community-funded newsroom powered by nearly 97,000 members whose support makes our journalism possible. This sustained community investment helped drive nationally recognized work in 2025, including 29 awards from esteemed organizations, including the Public Media Journalists Association, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the National Association of Black Journalists.

We believe independent journalism is essential to a healthy democracy and that access to objective, fact-based news is a right for every citizen. We serve the public interest by creating diverse content that informs and enriches our community, supported by a dedicated staff of approximately 250 professionals.

For more information, please see the Chicago Public Media Annual Report.

The Opportunity

The Director of Institutional Giving is responsible for the management and performance of the institutional giving team. The Director strategizes and implements revenue initiatives, serves as a frontline fundraiser, and coaches the Manager of Institutional Giving to provide strategic guidance and accountability. Reporting to the Vice President of Development, the Director works collaboratively across the Development team and other departments to strengthen donor pipeline development, improve fundraising effectiveness, and support a high-performing culture of philanthropy.

General Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain strategy for institutional revenue that supports organizational needs. Requires the ability to benchmark, strategize, and build a pipeline through sophisticated prospect research.
• Supervise and support the Institutional Giving team, including onboarding, day-to-day management, goal setting, and performance management.
  • Conduct portfolio and moves management reviews to ensure timely donor engagement, solicitation activity, proposal tracking, and stewardship.
  • Support the development of donor strategies, cultivation plans, solicitation approaches, and stewardship opportunities for institutional donors and prospects.
  • Set and track on ambitious individual goals for direct reports, with the aim of advancing donor relationships, upgrading support, and maintaining a high standard across the team.
• Manage an active portfolio of 50-80 foundations and corporations with increases year over year.
  • Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward institutional donors.
  • Prepare written solicitations, proposals, and donor reports
  • Manage the responsible stewardship of gifts, including the interpretation of terms in collaboration with finance colleagues
  • Maintain data for the institutional giving portfolio in the database, including contact reports, proposals, and other stewardship activities
• Proactively identify and approach potential institutional funders to establish new relationships and strengthen CPM’s connections within the institutional funding community.
• Monitor and keep leadership apprised of team fundraising performance, portfolio health, and activity metrics.

Qualifications

• Seven-plus years progressive frontline fundraising experience with demonstrated expertise interacting with executive-level foundation and corporate representatives
• In-depth knowledge of corporate/foundation philanthropy process
• Successful experience in developing multi-year gift strategies
• Management experience, with the ability to lead, coach, and motivate a talented team of fundraising professionals
• Comfortable using both quantitative and qualitative data to inform strategy and create a culture of excellence, accountability, and support
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience developing case statements and donor proposals
• Superior interpersonal skills required with donors and prospects as well as internal leadership, peers, colleagues, and direct reports. Must be a team player with high emotional intelligence who values collaboration and partnerships and treats everyone with respect
• Proactive nature with strong planning and attention to detail. Ability to be strategic, collaborative, and results-oriented. Ability to take initiative and manage complex projects and work effectively from conception to completion in a timely manner
• Possess an understanding of fundraising industry standards, especially regarding the legal and ethical aspects of donor solicitation, confidentiality, gift crediting, stewardship, and financial principles that shape the work of fundraising professionals
• Proficiency with Google Suites and constituent management and fundraising software
• Ability to work with a variety of people in multiple departments for the benefit of the organization; desire to collaborate across departments
• Ability to think strategically and possess thorough understanding of strategic development

Compensation

The expected pay range for this position is $104,000 to $129,000 per ANNUM.

Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

Working at Chicago Public Media

At Chicago Public Media, we care deeply about our employees as we know attracting, developing, and growing talent is key to our success and enhancing our impact.

Our culture is one where collaboration, diversity of ideas, and innovation are encouraged. We value colleagues who will enhance our culture by bringing new ideas, divergent experiences, and talents to our dynamic workplace.

At Chicago Public Media we believe dedication to a great workplace includes supporting our employees and their families. As a result, we provide a broad and generous benefits package for employees at hire and in the years to come.

Our benefits include

Competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.

Chicago Public Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer

We actively seek and welcome people from all backgrounds, orientations, and life experiences to join our team.

The essential functions described above are not all-inclusive and are not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. Chicago Public Media may change the content or format of this job at any time in its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.