Assistant Director of Development, Institute Climate and Sustainable

Assistant Director of Development, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth

University of Chicago Chicago, IL

The Assistant Director supports the execution of a comprehensive fundraising and engagement strategy that advances the Institute's mission. Working closely with the Director of Development and colleagues across Advancement, this role helps implement programs to meet contributed income goals, develop and strengthen relationships with alumni, friends, faculty, administrators, and organizations with philanthropic potential, and execute communication, engagement, cultivation, and stewardship efforts that deepen support for ICSG priorities.

This role manages and supports a range of high-level fundraising and engagement initiatives, including prospect and campaign tracking, donor communications, alumni engagement, stewardship activities, and major fundraising projects. In addition, the Assistant Director supports the ICSG Alumni Group and helps coordinate events such as advisory group meetings, institute convenings, and other engagement opportunities that connect alumni, partners, and key stakeholders to ICSG's mission and impact.

Responsibilities include supporting the Director of Development in all aspects of ICSG fundraising strategy and execution, managing and tracking the status of ICSG campaign initiatives, preparing and maintaining up-to-date materials that capture ICSG priorities, assisting with prospect development and portfolio management, collaborating with colleagues across the University to identify, research, and track new prospects for ICSG priorities, managing the stewardship and acknowledgment process for gifts to ICSG, contributing to special appeals and giving day campaigns, working with the Director of Development to manage the ICSG Alumni Group and engage alumni active in the climate and energy sector, collaborating with the Director of Development and ICSG leadership to plan, implement, and follow up on local and regional events for prospective and current donors, alumni, and partners, tracking and assessing event outcomes as they relate to giving, engagement, and new prospect development, maintaining accurate donor and prospect records in the Advancement Salesforce CRM system, managing internal reporting cycles, ensuring timely updates on campaign progress, prospect movement, and proposal status, serving as a database power user and in-house expert, extracting and analyzing data from Phoenix and other systems to produce custom reports, spreadsheets, charts, and summaries, coordinating communication processes for key announcements and events involving ICSG prospects and donors, drafting and editing materials, such as event briefings, prospect strategy documents, and correspondence, seeking opportunities for professional development that will enhance job performance including attending webinars, seminars, and building networks within the University and with colleagues at peer institutions, writing timely and strategic correspondences to advance relationships, working with others to maximize prospective donor cultivation, and performing other related work as needed.

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in a related field and knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline. Preferred qualifications include a bachelor's degree, a minimum of two years of professional work experience in fundraising, development, alumni relations, donor relations, nonprofit management, research, marketing, communications, sales, or similar field, background in fundraising, contact management or other database software, familiar with research and prospect management, working knowledge of planning and executing events requiring a high attention to detail, demonstrated skill and knowledge of, or ability to quickly learn, the internal workings of the University as well as the technology tools available to Advancement, including Phoenix, the University's Donor Relationship Management System, proficient in a Microsoft Windows computer environment, especially Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Trello, outstanding interpersonal and communication skills characterized by the ability to listen, speak, and write effectively, manage confidential information with discretion and tact, act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality, work collegially and collaboratively in a team setting, be self-motivated and take initiative, prioritize multiple projects and independently follow through with detail, and attend and help with weekend and evening events as needed.