Sales Coordinator

BOF The Barack Obama Foundation; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 51,965 - 64,980; Full time

Job summary

The Obama Foundation is seeking a Sales Coordinator to provide administrative, sales, and client-service support for its event rental business in Chicago. You will handle inquiries, site tours, proposals, and handoffs, reporting to the Senior Manager of Event Sales while supporting the Event Sales team.

Responsibilities include ensuring accurate CRM records, preparing proposals, coordinating site tours, and maintaining timely follow-up and documentation to meet revenue goals.

Qualifications

• Experience supporting client inquiries, scheduling meetings or site tours, preparing materials, maintaining trackers, organizing files, and managing follow-up in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for professional client interactions.
• Ability to use approved templates, pricing guidance, and communication standards accurately.

Responsibilities

• Inquiry Screening & Lead Routing: Serve as an initial support contact for event rental inquiries, using approved templates and guidance to acknowledge inquiries, gather basic event information, and route qualified leads to the Senior Associates, Event Sales or Senior Manager, Event Sales.
• Proposal & Sales Collateral Preparation: Assist with the preparation of event rental proposals, space recommendations, estimates, sales packets, presentation materials, and client-facing documents using approved pricing, templates, collateral, and brand standards.
• Site Tour & Meeting Support: Coordinate client site tours and assist the Senior Associates, Event Sales in preparing for and following up after meetings and tours - including scheduling, calendar holds, compiling relevant client information and space availability notes, sending approved materials, tracking outstanding questions, and ensuring next steps are documented.
• CRM, Pipeline & Milestone Tracking: Maintain accurate and timely records in the designated CRM, sales tracker, or pipeline management system, including client contact information, inquiry source, event details, proposal status, contract status, deposit/payment milestones, lost business reasons, follow-up dates, and next steps.
• Market & Prospect Research: Conduct basic market research, prospect research, and competitive research to support event rental sales strategy - including peer venues, market trends, target lists, outreach trackers, prospect notes, referral sources, and re-engagement lists for past clients or qualified prospects (such as event planners, corporate prospects, nonprofit organizations, and community partners).

Skills

CRM proficiency

Organizational skills

Communication

Scheduling

Attention to detail

Customer service

Tools

CRM systems

Google Workspace

Excel/Google Sheets

Presentation tools

Shared drives

Job description

At The Obama Foundation, our mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. We seek to build an active democratic culture where people are equipped and motivated to make change in the communities where they live, work, and play. Right here on the South Side of Chicago, we’re building a home for this vision, a global center for change with a range of opportunities - coordinated programming, community outreach events, educational moments, and more - that invite visitors from down the block or across the globe to turn hope into action. Achieving our ambitious goals starts with an exceptional team built on our Hope to Action Values - Courage, Empathy, Integrity, Accountability, Community, Inclusivity, Pragmatism, Resilience, Imagination, and Hope. A Framework that anyone, anywhere, can use to build trust, activate participation, and expand opportunity in their community.

Purpose of the Role

The Sales Coordinator will provide administrative, sales, and client-service support for the Obama Presidential Center’s event rental business, helping ensure that inquiries, site tours, proposals, client follow-up, sales materials, pipeline records, and handoff documentation are organized, accurate, timely, and aligned with department revenue goals. As the Sales Coordinator, you’ll be reporting directly to the Senior Manager of Event Sales while providing day-to-day support for members of the Event Sales team.

Core Job Responsibilities

• Inquiry Screening & Lead Routing: Serve as an initial support contact for event rental inquiries, using approved templates and guidance to acknowledge inquiries, gather basic event information, and route qualified leads to the Senior Associates, Event Sales or Senior Manager, Event Sales.
• Proposal & Sales Collateral Preparation: Assist with the preparation of event rental proposals, space recommendations, estimates, sales packets, presentation materials, and client-facing documents using approved pricing, templates, collateral, and brand standards.
• Site Tour & Meeting Support: Coordinate client site tours and assist the Senior Associates, Event Sales in preparing for and following up after meetings and tours - including scheduling, calendar holds, compiling relevant client information and space availability notes, sending approved materials, tracking outstanding questions, and ensuring next steps are documented.
• CRM, Pipeline & Milestone Tracking: Maintain accurate and timely records in the designated CRM, sales tracker, or pipeline management system, including client contact information, inquiry source, event details, proposal status, contract status, deposit/payment milestones, lost business reasons, follow‑up dates, and next steps.
• Market & Prospect Research: Conduct basic market research, prospect research, and competitive research to support event rental sales strategy - including peer venues, market trends, target lists, outreach trackers, prospect notes, referral sources, and re‑engagement lists for past clients or qualified prospects (such as event planners, corporate prospects, nonprofit organizations, and community partners).
• Venue Management Handoff: Support the handoff process from Event Sales to Venue Management by helping prepare complete handoff packets, including contracted scope, client expectations, event details, special notes, open questions, and relevant correspondence.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Key Deliverables / Outcomes

• Timely and accurate intake of event rental inquiries, supporting improved client responsiveness and stronger sales conversion.
• Well‑maintained CRM, pipeline, and sales tracking records that support forecasting, reporting, follow‑up discipline, and revenue visibility.
• Professional and accurate proposal packets, sales materials, site tour materials, and client‑facing documents prepared in alignment with approved templates, pricing, and brand standards.
• Efficient site tour coordination
• Strong administrative support and improved sales team organization
• Clear and complete handoff documentation
• Consistent status tracking
• Accurate sales activity reporting

Required Qualifications

• Experience supporting client inquiries, scheduling meetings or site tours, preparing materials, maintaining trackers, organizing files, and managing follow‑up in a fast‑paced environment.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple inquiries, deadlines, documents, calendars, and follow‑up items simultaneously.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate professionally with clients, internal stakeholders, vendors, and cross‑functional partners.
• Ability to use approved templates, pricing guidance, and communication standards accurately, while knowing when to elevate questions related to pricing, contracts, scope, exceptions, or operational feasibility.
• Experience using CRM systems, sales trackers, Google Workspace, Excel/Google Sheets, presentation tools, shared drives, and other administrative systems.
• Strong hospitality orientation and ability to support a professional, welcoming, and service‑oriented client experience.
• Flexibility of hours including but not limited to early morning, late night, weekends, and holidays across campus in both indoor and outdoor environments.
• Ability to work onsite at the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and/or other Obama Foundation locations in Chicago.

The salary range for this role is between $51,965 and $64,980.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Foundation is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws.

We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply.

If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please e-mail us at [e-mail] if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.

The Obama Foundation will never ask for payment or personal financial information during the hiring process or training.

All official job postings are listed and should be applied to at obama.org/careers.

Our Mission

At the Obama Foundation, we are guided by a core belief: that ordinary people working together can change history. Our mission is to inspire those people to take action, empower them to change their world for the better, and connect them so they can achieve more together than they can alone. We were founded by community organizers, so when we seek change, we do it by bringing people together. That approach begins at home, on the South Side of Chicago, where we are building the Obama Presidential Center. The Center represents a historic opportunity for Chicago: a chance to build a world‑class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home. But that approach extends to all our work, whether it’s holding leadership training sessions in communities throughout the U.S., bringing local leaders together in countries around the world, working to support the global education of girls, or ensuring young men of color have pathways to opportunity.

As President Obama has said, “we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together.” So join us. For more information, please visit www.obama.org.