Director of Development - Pat Tillman Foundation

About Us

The Pat Tillman Foundation (PTF) unites and empowers remarkable military veterans and spouses as the next generation of public and private sector leaders committed to service beyond self. Inspired by Pat Tillman, who proudly put his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals on hold to serve his country, family and friends established the Pat Tillman Foundation following Pat’s death in April 2004 while serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan. Over the last almost 20 years, the Pat Tillman Foundation has supported over 850 Tillman Scholars as they’ve furthered their education and increased their professional impact in the world.

PTF seeks an experienced and dynamic Director of Development to lead national development efforts in support of our mission and our growing Tillman Scholar community. They will serve on the five person Executive Team of PTF to create, manage, and deliver on a three year strategy with an eye toward an earned income revenue model. We understand that people gain skills through a variety of professional, personal, educational, and volunteer experiences. If you believe you have the skills to succeed in this role, regardless of industry, we encourage you to apply.

Salary range is between $125-140k. We offer an annual bonus based off of organizational and individual performance. 

About the Role

PTF is seeking a Director of Development. This is an ideal opportunity for an entrepreneurial, proven development leader to join an impactful organization focused on helping veterans, active duty and military spouses make an impact in the world.

Reporting to the CEO, this position will be the lead strategist and project manager focused on growing PTF’s roughly $6M philanthropic revenue portfolio. The Director  will lead, manage, and coordinate all fundraising efforts to increase the organization's support from corporations, foundations, and individuals. The Director  will manage three full-time employees.

Major gift work across corporate partners, foundations, and major donors will be a priority for this position to include fundraising event management. The Director  will be responsible for implementing a multi-faceted corporate partnership program to deeply engage current corporate partners and grow relationships with prospects. In addition,  they will be responsible for deepening relationships with current foundation funders and identifying and developing new national and local funders. Relationship building must include efforts to deepen engagement with our donors through participation in events, opportunities with our scholars and TLI. Lastly, identifying, cultivating, and stewarding individual major donors will be an essential aspect of this position to include delivering on  donor stewardship metrics.

The Director can expect their work to include:

Leadership and Development Strategy:

• Develop, manage, and execute PTF’s development and stewardship plans to achieve annual revenue goals

• Update existing development and stewardship plans annually with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis

• Ensure PTF’s development plan aligns with and is in service of the evolving organizational goals

• In partnership with the CEO and Director of Operations, set annual revenue goals

• Ensure a robust gift pipeline big enough to hit annual revenue goals by actively managing prospective and current corporations, foundations, and individual donors

• Project manage the CEO’s fundraising work, directing her where and how best to spend her time and efforts on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis

• Cultivate relationships with all board of directors to support their strategic development efforts, provide training, and facilitate the process to develop potential funder parameters

• Monitor and report regularly on the progress of the development plan, providing actionable analysis for the CEO and board of directors

• Identify suspected revenue gaps and develop tactics to generate new leads.

• Contribute positively to PTF’s  organizational culture and lead with PTF’s  values

Corporate and Foundation Fundraising

• Build personal relationships with foundations and corporate funders. Research, design, and lead moves management plans

• Ensure PTF  has a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grant opportunities to pursue

• Working with the CEO, create and manage a grant calendar to track all upcoming applications and reports

• Clearly and effectively draft dynamic, reader-friendly, and high-quality writing that is free of typos, jargon, and lackluster prose

• Collaborate across teams to gather materials and requirements for grant applications and reports

Individual Giving

• Research, design, and lead the moves management plans for major individual donors. Manage a portfolio of major donors

• Oversee the management and development of existing initiatives, appeals, and campaigns focused on targeting new and stewarding existing individual donors

Development Communications

• Help develop creative and mission-focused fundraising messaging that effectively articulates the special role and impact of PTF  in the community

• Partner with program and leadership  team to effectively share their expertise, vision, and impact with donors

• Collaborate with the communications staff to update the communications plan/calendar to support development goals, and work together to ensure opportunities for both programs and development are elevated

• Partner with the Marketing and PR team  to analyze top of funnel performance, track leads to conversions, etc. in a systematic and metrics driven way.

Development Operations and Revenue Tracking

• Establish and monitor annual and long-term revenue goals and budgets

• Design and update a regular progress-to-goal reports and development dashboard for the CEO and the board

• Spearhead development-focused data input and ensure accuracy in all records and development reports in PTF’s  CRM system (Salesforce)

• Work closely with Director of Operations to ensure data integrity

• Work closely with the Finance team to support management of restricted funds and donor-required reporting

Based in Chicago, the Pat Tillman Foundation offers competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, and a collaborative and welcoming environment where passionate and curious thinkers will thrive.

This position will report to the CEO and is based in Chicago, IL. Up to 25 % travel is required for this position.  The position is available immediately. The Pat Tillman Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages any and all qualified applicants