Senior Director of Development

About Arts Alliance Illinois

As the statewide advocacy and lobbying organization for arts and culture, Arts Alliance Illinois supports the creative sector by championing public policies, securing funding, and building connections that help artists and organizations thrive.

Our work includes expanding and protecting public funding for arts and culture; supporting creative workers so they can build stable and lasting careers; ensuring all K–12 students have access to quality arts education; and advancing research that demonstrates the impact of arts and culture across Illinois.

Position Description

This role is 90% remote, with required attendance at occasional Chicago office meetings, annual staff retreats, Arts Alliance events, and in-person donor meetings and cultivation activities. All employees must reside in Illinois during their employment.

The Senior Director of Development reports to the Executive Director and leads all fundraising strategy and execution for Arts Alliance Illinois. This includes frontline major gifts work, multi-year revenue strategy, departmental leadership, and management of staff across grants, individual giving, membership, and data systems.

The ideal candidate will have the following characteristics:

• A belief that arts and culture are vital to strong local communities and that it is necessary to invest in them.
• Thrives working remotely and independently, while simultaneously being a key member of a dynamic, collaborative team.
• Ability to demonstrate grace and respect for themselves and others at all times, especially when under pressure.
• Ability to self-direct and move projects forward by recognizing when to involve other staff and leadership.

Hiring Process

Selected candidates move through the following stages:

• Initial application
• 30-minute phone interview
• Panel interview with selected Alliance staff
• Paid work sample assessment
• Final interview with the Executive Director and a board member

Arts Alliance Illinois values diversity and is committed to building an inclusive workplace that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We encourage Black, Indigenous or People of Color, immigrants, LGTBQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, people without college degrees, and anyone part of a group that has been historically discriminated against, to apply.

Key Responsibilities

Frontline Fundraising – 50%

• Maintain a portfolio of 20–30 major donors, leading all cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities.
• In collaboration with the Executive Director, lead strategy for gifts $25,000+ and collaborate with the Development Manager to grow donors in the $1,000–$24,999 range.
• Serve as the primary solicitor for special campaigns, creative sector initiatives, and programmatic or policy-related fundraising.
• Engage the Board Fund Development Committee in identifying, cultivating, and soliciting major donor prospects.
• Lead prospecting for new individual, foundation, corporate, and government supporters.
• Conduct regular outreach to broaden the donor pipeline and deepen relationships with program officers, philanthropic partners, and civic leaders.
• Act as a public representative of the Alliance at donor, partner, and sector events.

Strategic Leadership – 50%

• Develop and implement a comprehensive multi-year fundraising strategy, including major gifts, annual fund, membership, foundation/government grants, and event revenue (including the annual benefit).
• Oversee the annual benefit and other donor events:
• Partner with the Executive Director and Board on strategy.
• Lead revenue planning, sponsorship strategy, and invitation pipeline development.
• Collaborate with the Development Manager and external vendors to ensure strong project management and execution.
• Supervise the Development Manager (FT), Grant Writer (PT), Membership Manager (PT), and Data & Technology Manager (PT).
• Oversee creation and maintenance of fundraising materials, including case statements, program overviews, annual/impact reports, and donor communications.
• Partner with Communications to develop and execute year-round donor and member engagement strategies.
• Optimize Salesforce and other tools to strengthen prospecting, donor stewardship, reporting, and pipeline management.
• Ensure timely and accurate grant reporting, compliance, and stewardship across all funding areas.
• Manage fiscal sponsorship relationships, including communication, documentation, and administrative oversight.
• Partner with the Senior Director of Finance and our external accounting partner on reconciliation, forecasting, reporting, and budgeting.
• Manage and support Board Development Committee work, including identification of prospective board members and governance-related processes.

Requirements

Skills and Experience

Candidates must demonstrate the following:

• 7+ years of nonprofit fundraising experience, including 3+ years in a donor-facing role
• A track record of securing five- to six-figure gifts
• Experience leading or managing a high-functioning development team
• Experience in multiple areas of giving: major gifts, annual fund, campaigns, events, foundation/corporate giving, and/or government grants
• Strong project management, organizational, and strategic planning skills
• Ability to self-direct while working collaboratively in a remote environment
• Strong communication skills with a donor-centered, relationship-based approach

Preferred Skills

• Ability to analyze and translate data into actionable fundraising insights
• Commitment to cultural competence and inclusive stakeholder engagement
• Proficiency with Salesforce or other fundraising CRMs
• Familiarity with nonprofit accounting principles
• Proficiency with Google Suite, Zoom, and project management tools
• CFRE or similar certification
• Knowledge of Chicago and Illinois philanthropic landscapes
• Experience with fundraising in the arts, culture, or creative sector

Benefits

This is a full-time exempt position with a salary range of $102,000 – $113,500 commensurate with experience.

Arts Alliance Illinois offers a comprehensive benefits package that supports a healthy and sustainable work–life balance.

Working at Arts Alliance Illinois

Advocacy work is fast-paced, and remote work can be draining. That work is much harder if the organizational culture is not a good fit. To ensure this is the right position for you, here are some things to know about us before you apply:

• We believe access to arts & culture makes communities stronger and healthier, and therefore advocating for the arts is a common interest shared by all residents of Illinois regardless of background or political affiliation.
• We believe public funding for the arts is a good thing.
• We believe the biggest contribution a person can make to stop the spread of COVID-19 is getting vaccinated – whenever there’s no medical or religious exemption.
• We encourage professional development, rest, and transparency about your capacity.
• We are a small organization where sometimes we need to help our co-workers during heavy workloads.
• We work hard, but we also support taking time away during the day to nap, run an errand, or do whatever you need to make remote environments work for you.
• We discourage working nights/weekends but understand that staff have different rhythms when they are most productive. Occasionally we need to adapt to urgent, politically-imposed, deadlines, but we balance them with time off.
• We cultivate a professional yet collegial work environment where sharing personal anecdotes, playlists, jokes, etc, is welcome.
• We encourage staff members to assume good intentions from colleagues during moments of conflict or confusion while being intentional about creating space for harm to be acknowledged and repaired.
• We acknowledge that individuals and organizations can perpetuate environments where discrimination goes unchecked. To ensure we have a shared language to address these challenges, staff members attend an Introduction to Systemic Racism training.
• We celebrate diversity and don’t seek to assimilate anyone into a broader “work culture.” We make space for people from different cultural, social, political, and religious backgrounds to share and influence the work we do by being their true selves.

Finally, we recognize that we will always have work to do to improve our office culture and are looking for team members who will enjoy engaging in that process.

Priority Deadline: Feb 27 2026

Application Close: Mar 6 2026

Contact our hiring team: hiring@artsalliance.org.