Development Assistant, Major Gifts

Chicago, Illinois. Hybrid schedule available.

Target hiring range for this position will be between $23.95-$25.87 per hour.

The Development Assistant, Major Gifts serves as a strategic partner to a team of five major gift officers responsible for securing transformational philanthropic investments supporting translational neurosciences and related priorities at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Working at the intersection of academic medicine and healthcare philanthropy, this position assists the team with the operational planning, portfolio management, and execution of major and principal gift fundraising initiatives.

The role drives project timelines, manages donor pipeline processes, develops briefing and proposal materials, coordinates complex stakeholder engagement activities, and ensures the successful advancement of prospects through the fundraising cycle through the support of its team.

Responsibilities include generating correspondence, reports, printed materials, meeting agendas, invitations, and lists, and maintaining database records that track donor and prospect interactions. In addition, the Development Assistant coordinates, prioritizes, and executes administrative processes critical to specific functions or operations within the immediate team, as well as the department. They create and maintain associated documents, spreadsheets, and data; organize meetings, special events, and mail/email direct appeals;

and ensure that those whom they support are aware of critical issues and upcoming events.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Development within Feinberg Development and Alumni Relations, Team Neuroscience, this position provides high level administrative support. Success in this role requires exceptional project management skills, strategic judgment, analytical thinking, relationship management capabilities, and the ability to independently coordinate multiple complex initiatives simultaneously.

• Strategic planning and reports:

  Partner with gift officers to establish annual portfolio priorities and track progress toward fundraising objectives.

  Monitor prospect activity, proposal development, stewardship commitments, and campaign deliverables.

  Identify bottlenecks and recommend operational solutions that improve fundraising efficiency and effectiveness.

  Create systems and processes that support strategic decision-making and portfolio performance.

  Utilizes key partnerships to coordinate projects and meetings with departments/divisions/institutes/centers within the medical school.

  Works with team members and other Development and Alumni Relations staff to produce fundraising materials about different divisions and research initiatives for which funds are raised.

• Works with department peers and gift officers to develop and implement processes that efficiently meet the needs of the office and the team. Examples include:
  Coordinating with other development assistants, operations team and gift officers on annual giving appeal(s); coordinating with alumni team, gift officers and/or division administrators to plan webinars or in-person events.

• Works with department and division administrators to schedule meetings as well as follow up on acknowledgement letters and proposal information.

• Independently responds to and composes correspondence to prospects, donors, alumni, etc.

• Writes acknowledgement letters on behalf of the medical school faculty whom gift officers support.

• Produces outreach and direct engagement materials throughout the year, managing various electronic communications, printed pieces, and external vendors as needed, and monitoring results.

• Oversees donor correspondence including e-outreach, postal mail, stewardship reports, invitations, cards, newsletters, etc. and makes follow-up calls as needed.

• Creates and maintains spreadsheets and/or databases using Microsoft Office applications, Salesforce, BI, and Cognos.

• Compiles lists of donors and constituents for mailings, invitations, and other purposes, using data from disparate sources. Maintains close attention to detail, as well as the sensitivity and/or confidential nature of data. Prepares reports based on information gathered from various sources; determines format, elements, trends, etc.

• Assists gift officers with portfolio management: prepares briefings, distributes prospect information and maintains robust record of prospect interactions including visits,…