Director of Development and Communications

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Description: South Suburban PADS is looking for compassionate leaders who want to prevent and end homelessness in the south suburbs of Chicago. The Director of Development and Communications will be responsible for leading the private fundraising, communications and government relations efforts of South Suburban PADS. This is an in-person role but provides some at-home and scheduling flexibility. The Director of Development and Communications supervises our Administrative Assistant, Volunteer Manager and Development Associate.

Duties & Responsibilities:

· Provide strategic leadership for South Suburban PADS and participate in senior leadership and Board meetings.

· Research corporate, foundation, and community-based funding opportunities and requests for proposals (RFPs).

· Write proposals, letters of interest/inquiry, concept papers, and related materials for grant proposal submissions.

· Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual, corporate, and foundation prospects and donors. Facilitate and support the involvement of the Executive Director, Board Members or other supporters in the cultivation process.

· Oversee the implementation of a planned-giving strategy involving regular communications and engagement events.

· Conduct ongoing outreach and engagement with elected officials throughout the south suburbs.

· Help plan and coordinate fundraising events. Solicit sponsors and donations to support events for programs and activities in the region. Recruit and manage an event committee for the annual Pathways Home event.

· Help plan and coordinate media and government relations events. Prepare occasional press releases and media statements. When needed, prepare and coach the Executive Director, Board Members, program participants or others to answer media questions.

· Plan and manage multiple individual mail and email appeal campaigns per year.

· Ensure required follow-up on grant proposals including reporting, award documentation, acknowledgments, and other correspondence.

· Prepare thank-you letter templates. Supervise the Administrative Assistant in gift acknowledgement, recording gifts in database, and saving records and materials in the database.

· Supervise the work of the Development Associate to create annual reports, flyers, event programs, other marketing materials, website updates and social media communications.

· Maintain the website and regularly post news and opportunities on Facebook

· Other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

· 4-Year College Degree in English, journalism, communications, public relations, marketing, non-profit management or related field strongly preferred.

· 5 years of fundraising, public relations and/or communications experience

· 2 years of prior grant writing experience

· 2 years of prior individual giving experience

· Demonstrates excellent writing skills for a variety of formats

· Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills.

· Possesses initiative and the ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.

· Relates well to a variety of individuals and groups, including: program participants, colleagues, government officials, members of the media, individual donors and foundation program officers

· Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher), WordPress, and social media.

South Suburban PADS South Suburban PADS is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization with a mission to prevent and end homelessness in the south suburbs of Chicago. Over the past 34 years, we have provided 690,847 nights of shelter and 2.05 million meals to enable 20,153 people to overcome homelessness. SSPADS is the proud recipient of a 2024 Award from MacKenzie Scott's Yield Giving Open Call, 2019 Good Neighbor Award from the National Association of REALTORS, and the 2018 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award. More at sspads.org

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $95,000.00 - $115,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 403(b)
• Dental insurance
• Dependent health insurance coverage
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Evenings as needed
• Monday to Friday
• Weekends as needed

Work Location: In person