Arts Alliance Illinois

Director

• Maintain a portfolio of 20–30 major donors, leading all cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities.
• In collaboration with the Executive Director, lead strategy for gifts $25,000+ and collaborate with the Development Manager to grow donors in the $1,000–$24,999 range.
• Serve as the primary solicitor for special campaigns, creative sector initiatives, and programmatic or policy-related fundraising.
• Engage the Board Fund Development Committee in identifying, cultivating, and soliciting major donor prospects.
• Lead prospecting for new individual, foundation, corporate, and government supporters.
• Conduct regular outreach to broaden the donor pipeline and deepen relationships with program officers, philanthropic partners, and civic leaders.
• Act as a public representative of the Alliance at donor, partner, and sector events.
• Develop and implement a comprehensive multi-year fundraising strategy, including major gifts, annual fund, membership, foundation/government grants, and event revenue (including the annual benefit).
• Oversee the annual benefit and other donor events: Partner with the Executive Director and Board on strategy; Lead revenue planning, sponsorship strategy, and invitation pipeline development; Collaborate with the Development Manager and external vendors to ensure strong project management and execution.
• Supervise the Development Manager (FT), Grant Writer (PT), Membership Manager (PT), and Data & Technology Manager (PT).
• Oversee creation and maintenance of fundraising materials, including case statements, program overviews, annual/impact reports, and donor communications.
• Partner with Communications to develop and execute year-round donor and member engagement strategies.
• Optimize Salesforce and other tools to strengthen prospecting, donor stewardship, reporting, and pipeline management.
• Ensure timely and accurate grant reporting, compliance, and stewardship across all funding areas.
• Manage fiscal sponsorship relationships, including communication, documentation, and administrative oversight.
• Partner with the Senior Director of Finance and our external accounting partner on reconciliation, forecasting, reporting, and budgeting.
• Manage and support Board Development Committee work, including identification of prospective board members and governance-related processes.

Senior Director of Development