Director of Corporate and Foundational Relations

GiGi's Playhouse Inc. – an organization providing free, life‑changing therapeutic, educational, and career training programs for individuals with Down syndrome. With 62 locations across North America, GiGi's continues to grow about 20% annually.

As Director of Corporate and Foundational Relations, you will develop, cultivate, and expand strategic partnerships that generate transformational philanthropic support for GiGi’s Playhouse. Working closely with the Sr. Director of Development and the Grants team, you will lead relationships with corporate leaders and private foundations nationwide, secure funding, and manage a robust pipeline in Salesforce.

• Identify, cultivate, and manage relationships with national corporations, private foundations, family foundations, and other philanthropic organizations.
• Build and maintain a pipeline of prospective corporate and foundation funders, developing customized engagement strategies that lead to long‑term partnerships.
• Represent GiGi’s Playhouse at networking events, conferences, philanthropic gatherings, and corporate functions; position the organization as a premier CSR partner.
• Collaborate with the Grants team to qualify foundation opportunities, develop proposals, and steward relationships through the full grant lifecycle.
• Develop national corporate partnerships aligned with CSR, employee engagement, sponsorship, and workplace giving; create opportunities that advance both corporate objectives and GiGi’s mission.
• Generate new qualified corporate and foundation prospects through networking, research, referrals, conferences, and board relationships; leverage board members and volunteers to identify funding opportunities.
• Partner with local Playhouses to identify regional or national partnership opportunities and coordinate national funding programs benefiting multiple centers.
• Maintain accurate portfolio of prospects and partners in Salesforce, track cultivation progress, develop monthly revenue forecasts, monitor metrics, and report progress against annual goals.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 7–10+ years of fundraising, corporate partnerships, business development, foundation relations, or nonprofit leadership.
• Demonstrated success securing six‑figure philanthropic partnerships.
• Exceptional presentation, networking, and relationship‑building skills.
• Strong strategic thinking and business development mindset.
• Experience managing complex fundraising pipelines and using Salesforce (or similar CRM) for donor management, forecasting, and reporting.
• Comfortable presenting to executive leadership, foundation boards, and corporate partners.
• Ability to travel nationally.

• Corporate philanthropy, foundation relations, grant strategy
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sponsorship development, major gifts
• Strategic partnerships, Salesforce reporting, forecasting
• Cross‑functional leadership

• Annual fundraising revenue generated
• New corporate partnerships established
• New foundation relationships cultivated
• Qualified pipeline growth
• Proposal conversion rate
• Multi‑year partnership retention
• Salesforce data quality and forecasting accuracy
• Cross‑network collaboration and partnership expansion

Remote within the United States; candidates in the Chicagoland area may work in a hybrid capacity from GiGi’s Playhouse National Headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Regular travel for donor meetings, conferences, networking events, and national initiatives is required.