Development Officer

FULL TIME DEVELOPMENT OFFICER- Major & Planned Giving

Amazing opportunity to use your talents to support a cutting-edge, one-of-a-kind therapeutic day school founded by Speech Language Pathologists, to serve students 5 through 22 years old, faced with the challenges of Autism.

Develop, implement and monitor a comprehensive fundraising plan to generate revenue, through 1) Annual Fund Program, 2) Major Gift Program, 3) Planned Giving Program and 4) Stewardship Plan, by expanding philanthropic support of the organization – including identifying, strengthening and soliciting relationships with community stakeholders, actively pursuing and managing corporate and individual leads, fostering strong donor and sponsor stewardship, with opportunity to work a hybrid remote schedule as appropriate.

• Full Time Salaried position with hybrid remote schedule as appropriate.
• Competitive Salary range from $55,000 to $70,000 commensurate with level of education and experience.
• 12 PTO days.
• BCBS medical, dental and vision.
• Short-term/long-term disability and a life insurance benefit.
• 403B retirement plan.
• Employee Assistance Program.

We are looking for a passionate individual, who is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our students and their families through philanthropy!

Description of Duties and Responsibilities

· Support in developing a and promoting a culture of philanthropy at SEA.

· Maintain a portfolio of mid and major donors.

· Invite new donors and engage current donors to increase their level of giving to advance the school’s goals.

· Engage in face-to-face solicitations to secure major gifts, including from 4 to 5-figure gifts and from 5 to 6-figure gifts.

· Develop short and long-range plans to engage current and prospective donors through personalized communications, insider events, and one-on-one meetings, seeking their financial support.

· Identify prospects and implement disciplined methods for contacting, scheduling, visiting and personally following through to cultivate relationships, consistently growing a base of support from a growing number of individual, corporate and foundation donors.

· Implement and maintain stewardship strategies to express appreciation for contributions, including personalized acknowledgements and impact reporting.

· Develop and implement an Annual Fund Program.

· Work together with other members of the Development Team to coordinate fundraising activities and organizational marketing and communications plan.

· Integrate planned giving to secure long-term sustainable giving. ·

· Clean up, and continue to document in, CRM (DonorSnap) database, all contacts with donors.

· Create and implement Gift Acceptance and Donor Policies.

· Collaborate to develop and assist with donor events including hosting a table at dinner events.

· Assist in the development of communications materials to support donor cultivation, solicitation and donor management initiatives.

· Attend all fundraising events.

· Direct special fundraising campaigns as requested, including development of recognition, ie. Playground Development Campaign.

· Assist with Board development and expansion through relationship building as needed.

· Support building SEA’s volunteer base through partnerships in the community.

· Support upper management by sharing ideas for income generation.

· Work in coordination with the Executive Director and Communications Director regarding program and budget needs throughout the school year.

· Track and report monthly to Executive Director and quarterly to Board of Directors on funding opportunities and revenue generated related to goals and budget.

· Perform other duties as assigned.

Organizational Relationship

· Report to the Executive Director and collaborate with the Communications Director.

Qualifications

· 2-5 years of successful face-to-face major gift solicitations.

· Highly motivated with proven experience and proficiency in developing, coordinating and implementing a diverse development plan for not-for-profit organizations.

· Proven record of relationship building, customer service skills, and successful gift solicitations demonstrating a history of portfolio growth to meet and exceed fundraising goals including converting donors from four to five-figure gifts and five to six-figure gifts.

· Bachelor’s Degree required, advanced degree a plus.

· Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage and inspire people to bring them in line with a vision and motivate them to reach goals.

· Ability to articulately and effectively convey ideas through written and spoken word with attention to accuracy, style, appropriate tone and professionalism, appropriate to the reader/listener.

· Highly organized with the ability to multi-task, manage multiple projects with attention to detail and deadlines, working effectively with a large number of constituents (administrators, Board, staff, parents, students, vendors, donors, community partners or foundations) to achieve goals.

· Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

· Responds positively and professionally and accepts suggestions, critique and other points of view.

· Appreciation and sensitivity for students with special needs, their families and the staff that work to support them on a daily basis.

· Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive financial and program information.

· Adept at conflict resolution.

· Ease and enthusiasm in engaging the school family and surrounding community.

· Ability to travel within the local and greater community with access to reliable transportation.

Soaring Eagle Academy is a not for profit, IL State Board of Ed approved therapeutic day school in Lombard IL serving students ages 5 through 22 years old, faced with the challenges of Autism.

The Academy was founded by three Speech Language Pathologists with an accumulation of over 80 years serving children and families with Autism and other related disorders, and a passion to showcase the amazing capacities of students with Autism to interact, communicate, think and learn. SEA is the only school of its kind to utilize a developmental language approach and developmental thinking implementing principles of DIR® Floortime, to understand and support students' social, emotional, language, sensory motor and academic development. This is a unique opportunity to support cutting edge work with a development team of executive director, communications director, grant writer and school team of teachers, therapists, support staff and 1:1 teacher assistants assigned to each student, who understand developmental language, sensory processing and emotional development and how they impact children with autism. We believe that the "behaviors" others see as impacting education for these students are a result of their lack of comprehension and challenges to process sensory and social/emotional information from their environment and communication partners.

We are a trauma-informed school utilizing proactive strategies to interpret the actions and behaviors of students as communication in response to stress, instead of using behavioral methods of time out, consequences and rewards and will only use physical intervention of restraint/carry/holds in times of imminent danger of serious physical harm to student or others and when other less restrictive and intrusive interventions have failed, and only implemented by trained crisis responders/crisis team members. With our appropriate interpretation of their intentions, our language-based strategies and emotional and sensory supports- our students are soaring. Join our team!

BENEFITS: Eligible for medical and ancillary benefits for this full-time position. Benefits can include BCBS medical, with SEA contributing a portion of the total cost, employee funded dental and vision insurance benefits. Short-term, long-term disability insurance and a life insurance benefit are offered at no cost. 12 paid sick and personal days to be utilized by employee. Receive $250 reimbursement annually for continuing education. Reflective processing to support your work with students and families. Receive supervision and mentoring by an Occupational Therapist (DIR® Certified Trainer) with extensive experience in autism, sensory processing disorder and developmental thinking through the OT lens. Eligible to be invited to participate in a DIR® course, taught by SEA Trainers, that can lead you to certification in DIR® through the OT lens.

SALARY: Competitive salary range from $55,000 to $70,000 commensurate with level of education and experience.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $55,000.00 - $70,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 403(b)
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Ability to Commute:

• Lombard, IL 60148 (Required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Lombard, IL 60148

Salary : $55,000 - $70,000