Manager, Corporate Philanthropy

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Title: Manager, Corporate Philanthropy

FLSA Status: Salaried, exempt

Department: Advancement  

Reports To: Director, Corporate Philanthropy                                                  

Organization Overview

Chicago Cares is redefining volunteerism.  We are committed to community-driven service: service co-designed in partnership with Chicago’s most impactful community leaders and organizations on the south and west sides. We serve “with” not “to”.

Through community-driven service, we build connections and bridges among diverse people in the face of great division and disconnection. Our work to change hearts and minds isn’t a luxury right now.  It is a necessity for a just society.  We can’t legislate our way to caring about one another.  We must do it person by person.

Service can help us build the city we all deserve. It can be a force for a more caring and just society. Chicago Cares is building the empathetic and connected community that is required for an inclusive and healthy city. 

Position Overview

The Advancement team provides leadership and expertise to guide the organization’s fundraising, stewardship, and public relations, marketing, and communications functions, consistent with Chicago Cares’ mission, strategic priorities, and the needs of our volunteers, donors, and partners.  The team leads organizational efforts to ensure a strong, healthy, and innovative development and brand strategy to deepen engagement and increase support for a stronger, more unified Chicago.

Through the Advancement team, Chicago Cares:

Raises sufficient revenue, including corporate donations, individual donations, and foundation and government grants, to ensure the organization’s strength and stability; and

Leads marketing, public relations, communications, and special events to maintain a strong brand presence in the community.

The Manager, Corporate Philanthropy will play a key role on the Chicago Cares’ Advancement team, helping to strategically cultivate and steward stakeholders and donors to deepen engagement and increase support. The Manager, Strategic Engagement is responsible for cultivation and stewardship of relationships with various donors, with the primary focus on corporate donors, consistent with Chicago Cares fundraising strategy. Through their work, the Manager, Corporate Philanthropy influences and inspires stakeholders and donors to support and engage Chicago Cares’ movement to deepen and expand community-driven service and philanthropy. 

The Manager, Corporate Philanthropy works both internally with colleagues and externally with stakeholders and donors to align Chicago Cares’ revenue to best-in-class community-driven service, learning and engagement. Their work builds the power, recognition and reach of Chicago Cares’ brand and expands its influence and support among donors. To that end, the Manager will focus on personal contact with current and prospective donors, conducting extensive e-mail, phone, and in-person communication to deepen engagement and increase support.  In addition, the Manager will also be responsible for proposal development, data entry, donor CRM database support, event support, and other development tasks, as assigned. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Relationship and Account Management:

Donor Strategy: Participate in planning, strategy setting, and reporting on annual projections for donor partnerships.

Donor Cultivation, Solicitation, and Stewardship: Manage a portfolio of existing donor relationships. Strategically communicate Chicago Cares’ impact to prospective and current donors, in order to move them towards greater civic investment. Steward partners through the entire continuum of experiences with Chicago Cares, including efforts to ensure all articulated social responsibility, philanthropy, and volunteerism goals are met through Chicago Cares’ initiatives.

Donor Management and Accountability: Ensure donor needs are met through the entire lifecycle of their relationship with Chicago Cares, including producing high-quality proposals, ensuring accurate data entry and CRM database management, project managing volunteer engagements, and reporting on impact and invoicing.

Corporate Donor Process Management: Develop, implement, innovate on, and lead campaigns to solicit and steward corporate donors. Conduct prospect research, prepare high-quality proposals for corporate partners, schedule and lead phone and in-person meetings with donors to grow commitment to organization, increase giving, and provide ongoing touch points, secure gifts according to annual fundraising goals, secure in-kind gifts according to organizational need.

Corporate Foundation Donor Management: Develop and prepare high-quality grant applications, solicitation materials, and funder reports for Chicago Cares. Lead the corporate grant application process and timeline.

Interdepartmental Collaboration: Support and lead interdepartmental teams as they relate to projects pertaining to donor strategy. Support project teams assigned to the execution of donor projects, work closely with colleagues to coordinate project planning efforts, and ensure donor needs are met. Ensure the health and relevance of donor engagements and manage standards collaboratively with other managers. Participate in cross-departmental committees and task forces, as requested and appropriate.

CRM Data Management: Enter and track information on donors and build and generate reports within the donor CRM database (Salesforce) that support effective strategy and relationship management.

Outreach, Prospecting, and External Relations

Donor Prospecting: Identify opportunities for donor cultivation. Build network of prospective donors and innovate and implement on campaigns to solicit and steward prospective donors. Attend and represent Chicago Cares at various in-person networking opportunities, as identified, and conduct necessary follow-up to prospect potential donors.

Revenue and Business Development: Participate in efforts to align fundraising and development activities to strategy and best and emerging practices in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Corporate Social Responsibility and Anti-Racism, developing the resources and relationships needed to do so. Influence corporate and institutional partners to align service opportunities to best-in-class community-driven service and philanthropy.

Positionality and Growth: Know Chicago Cares’ constituents and environment and steward, cultivate, and grow the number of donors and partners that volunteer with and invest in Chicago Cares. Develop an awareness of the landscape in our city and sectors that afford deeper engagement, particularly among corporations.

Influence and Expertise: Continuously develop expertise on current trends in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Corporate Social Responsibility and Anti-Racism staying up-to-date, conducting research, networking with leaders in the field, and actively participating in the life of the foundation, corporate and government sector.

Project and Team Management

Quality Assurance: Ensure the quality of donor strategy, projects, and solutions. Conform activities to the organizations’ policies and practices, processes and structures to best and emerging practices and the impact story. Participate in the organization’s continuous quality improvement processes around donor strategies and technology integrations.

Operational Management: Manage activities in line with the organization’s budget, including regularly reviewing expense reports and providing projections for annual budgeting and reforecasts to departmental leadership. Participate in efforts to set annual revenue projections, conduct regular reforecasts and help raise the revenue goal of the annual budget.

Team Management: Provide supervision and management support to consultants, contract employees, interns and volunteers, including recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training, coaching and mentoring, and performance management. When working with consultants, ensure the deliverable meets expectations and hold consultants accountable to meeting expectations and deadlines. Cultivate the team though supervision consistent with Chicago Cares’ supervision philosophy and strategic objectives.

Team Resourcing and Troubleshooting: Resource others to advance donor strategy, inclusive of designing evaluation and feedback loops, problem-solving and escalating, and training staff.

Organizational Leadership

Advance brand identity by reinforcing strategic messages and organizational values.

Ensure the economic viability of activities.

Participate in, support and steward fundraising activities and events.

Contribute to and execute on strategic vision and plans.

Represent Chicago Cares at external functions, including local, regional, and national forums on service and volunteerism.

Participate in cross-departmental leadership activities. Develop a strong, responsive and collaborative relationship with departmental leadership across the organization to more effectively align operational priorities to the needs of other departments. 

Provide support for large projects and special events, including event planning and implementation assistance.

Complete other duties as assigned.

Competencies Needed

The ability to cultivate relationships and prospects over a long horizon and effectively close.

Cultural competence, a commitment to advancing equity and the practice of anti-racism.

Strong relationship development and management to ensure, when exposed to tension, relationships with partners, donors, vendors and bureaucrats persist.

Cooperation and collaboration to align programs, Advancement and finance, and operations functions.

Accountability, transparency and candor, a willingness to say and hear no, to take feedback productively and engage productive conflict.

Strategy, influence and negotiation as connector, advisor, pusher, and strategic risk-taker.

Power fluency and analysis and competitive analysis and ability to benchmark, plan, and forecast.

Public speaking and public relations.

Requirements

A 2-year proven track record in corporate donor relations, nonprofit fundraising, sales, and/or marketing.

Outstanding relationship building and networking skills and demonstrated success building and sustaining donor relationships in person, on the phone, and virtually.

Emerging expertise in messaging and donor engagement, and geographic expertise specific to Chicago and metro region market and social impact considerations.

Demonstrated commitment to service, civic engagement and/or social justice. Desire to support and nurture programs that connect people, communities, and causes.

Ease and experience working with individuals and groups from diverse cultural, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. Ability to practice creativity and flexibility.

Ability to take initiative, work independently, meet deadlines, and handle multiple projects in a rapidly changing, agile environment – including interruptions and adjustments to priorities.

Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills with ability to make effective oral presentations to large and small groups and write clearly and persuasively.

Excellent collaboration skills, including the ability to navigate conflict, hold others accountable productively, delegate effectively and structure group processes.

Excellent PC and desktop application skills, including Microsoft Suite, Office 365, SharePoint and Teams. Experience with Salesforce preferred.

Ability to maintain a flexible schedule that may require work outside of traditional hours, including the ability to work occasional evenings and weekends.

Ability to adjust to various physical and environmental conditions as the position may require (computer work, sitting or standing for long periods of time, etc.).

Salary and Benefits

This is a full-time, exempt position with a starting salary of $60,000 per year and additional consideration may be given to candidates with preferred skills and experience.

Benefits include:

Flexible work schedule.

Hybrid work environment – Currently, all staff must be in the office two days a week.

Group medical (PPO or HMO) for the employee (90% coverage) and dependents.

Group dental available for employee and dependents.

Vision coverage for the employee (100% covered by CCI).

Group life insurance and LSTD insurance for the employee (100% covered by CCI).

Access to 401(k) retirement plan after three months with a 4% employer match.

Generous paid time off, wellness days and holiday pay.

Paid parental leave.

All staff, paid, wellness days where office is closed.

Access to sabbatical leave after three years of service.

Position Location

This offer is contingent on the successful completion of the pre-employment process and compliance with Chicago Cares Residency Policy, which states: employees are expected to establish and maintain residency in the Chicago Metropolitan Region and maintain residency throughout their employment with Chicago Cares. The six-county Chicago Metropolitan Region includes the counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties.

OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUITY

Chicago Cares is committed to a community driven, anti-racist approach to service and integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion meaningfully into our practices, structures, and culture. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, sex, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other category protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. We strongly encourage all interested candidates including all interested Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and others who identify as nonwhite, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and those with lived-experience with racism and/or misogynoir to apply for this role.  

March 2026