Donor Engagement & Major Gifts Associate

Growing Home Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Growing Home in Chicago seeks an energetic Individual Giving Associate to lead donor prospecting, cultivation, and engagement across giving levels. You will support the major gifts program and work with the Executive Director to plan annual campaigns and donor events.

The role includes coordinating Benefit events such as Backyard BBQ, Urban Ag Crawl, and other engagements, plus supporting board fundraising and donor communications. Some evenings/weekends may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred.
• Superior written and verbal communication.
• Event planning experience preferred.
• Ability to build long-term relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders in a positive, engaging manner
• Preferably: at least two years' experience in supporting an individual giving program, planning fundraising events and campaigns with digital and hard-copy mailers, attending to board relations and/or major gifts
• Experience with communications, public relations, and/or grant-writing preferred
• Professional computer skills, proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suites, SalesForce, Canva, WordPress, Constant Contact, GiftWorks, iWave, or similar programs a plus
• Commitment to Growing Home's mission
• Ability to work some evenings and weekends

Responsibilities

• Donor program management: conduct donor research/segmentation and prospecting, assist in developing gift proposals, create reports.
• Donor relations: develop donor cultivation, acknowledgement, and stewardship strategies, lead activities including cultivation events, and ensure proper tracking of donor engagements in the organization’s donor database, in partnership with the Development team.
• Data Entry: Enter donation and other relevant data into Salesforce/Google Drive Spreadsheets. Make all necessary donor information updates in Salesforce.
• Annual campaign: with the Dir. of Operations and External Affairs, implement the end-of-year fundraising campaign, and implement additional campaigns as appropriate
• Annual Benefit and Urban Ag. Crawl/Backyard BBQ: play a lead role in benefit planning and implementation as appropriate
• Events: lead 2-3 smaller fundraising/friendraising events throughout the year.
• Associate Board: serve as the staff lead to the Associate Board, leading member recruitment, engagement, and fundraising with support of the Development team.
• Communications: assist with newsletters, marketing collateral, annual reports, and other communications as needed—especially as it applies to donor engagement
• Public Relations: Assist Marketing & Communications Coordinator, manage press relations and media outreach especially as it applies to donor audiences
• Grants: assist with institutional grant and report writing, and management as needed
• Other duties as assigned

Skills

Communication skills

Event planning

Relationship building

Donor relations

Fundraising campaigns

Board fundraising

Grant-writing

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Salesforce

Google Suites

Microsoft Office

Canva

WordPress

Constant Contact

GiftWorks

iWave

Job description

Growing Home in Chicago seeks an energetic Individual Giving Associate to lead donor prospecting, cultivation, and engagement across giving levels. You will support the major gifts program and work with the Executive Director to plan annual campaigns and donor events.

The role includes coordinating Benefit events such as Backyard BBQ, Urban Ag Crawl, and other engagements, plus supporting board fundraising and donor communications. Some evenings/weekends may be required.