Director, Development

About Chicago Scholars At Chicago Scholars we strive to prepare our Scholars for the world and the world for our Scholars. Our dual focus on Scholars and the world are both essential to our strategy. The first part of our work supports college acceptance, matriculation, persistence, and career access for our Scholars. The second part allows Scholars to go beyond surviving to thriving, from achieving to excelling, from attending and working to belonging and exceeding.

The first part of our work allows entry, the second truly opens up opportunity and redistributes power. To achieve these goals we center diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and racial justice so that we can launch and lift our Scholars and enable them to lead and leverage their power wherever they are on their journeys. Chicago Scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.

Through college counseling, mentoring, and by providing a supportive community to our Scholars through each phase of our program: College Access, College Success, and Career and Leadership Development, we ensure that they realize their full potential as students and leaders. 76% of Chicago Scholars graduate college within 6 years. Per the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, only 49% of their peers earn a degree within 6 years.

Upon graduation, our Scholars move into leadership positions across Chicago, helping to drive the economic future of their communities and our thriving city. READI Commitment At Chicago Scholars we strive to prepare our Scholars for the world and the world for our Scholars. Our dual focus on Scholars and the world are essential to our strategy. To achieve these goals, we center racial justice, equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion (READI) in all that we do.

Chicago Scholars’ commitment to READI encompasses all of our stakeholders—from our staff to our board, from our volunteers to our partnering organizations, and most importantly our Scholars. This holistic approach is necessary for the sustained, long-term, positive impact that we seek for our Scholars, our neighborhoods, our city, and our world. At Chicago Scholars, we believe that education is social justice. That's why we're empowering Chicago's best and brightest first-generation college students and students from low-income communities with the mentors, resources, and opportunities to go to our nation's best colleges and universities, graduate on time, and become Chicago's next generation of leaders.

Since 1996, we've impacted the lives of more than 5,000 young leaders in Chicago. Our Values These are a set of guiding principles that apply to all stakeholders within the Chicago Scholars ecosystem. We select and retain stakeholders based on these stated expectations for how we achieve our mission and vision. Each are supported with core competencies and narrative for the sake of clarity. We Dream Big. We speak up, innovate, push the boundaries and keep the creativity flowing.

We don’t accept the status quo because the stakes are too high. We have an incredible belief that growth and change is possible. While we dream big, we are laser focused on our intended goals and outcomes for our Scholars, our city and the world. We Show Up. We show up every day; not just physically, but with a positive attitude and willingness to work, connect, challenge, engage, solve problems and have fun. We don’t wait for someone to tell us what to do.

We take action and get the job done. If we don’t know how, we figure it out through our knowledge, exploration or our network. We Embrace Our Differences. We represent a multicultural nation and our collective backgrounds, experiences, styles, values, perspectives and beliefs are an asset to the world. We recognize that together we achieve better outcomes more quickly. Justice and equity starts with us using our collective voice.

We Model the Way. We exhibit the behavior that we want to see in others and in the world. Titles are granted, but our behavior is what earns us respect. In order to model the way, we must be clear about our guiding principles, celebrate our accomplishments and learn from our challenges and failures. We Care For Each Other. We adapt to the needs of the person in front of us. We pause, reflect and listen. We do our best work when we are in good relationship together.

We care personally and challenge directly. We Keep Our Word. When we commit, we are all in. Whether for events, a Scholar, a peer or ourselves. Our words are as powerful as our actions and are the building block of trust, respect, self-worth and integrity.

Position Summary

The Director of Development is a senior leader on the Development and External Engagement team, responsible for overseeing and advancing the organization’s individual and institutional fundraising efforts. This role provides strategic leadership and day-to-day management of the development team, ensuring strong performance, accountability, collaboration, and professional growth across fundraising functions. In partnership with the leadership team, the Director develops and implements comprehensive fundraising strategies that drive revenue growth from individual donors, foundations, corporations, and other funding partners.

Working closely with development staff, organizational leadership, and external stakeholders, this position strengthens fundraising systems and processes, cultivates a culture of philanthropy, and ensures the successful execution of annual and long-term fundraising goals. The ideal candidate is a collaborative and results-oriented leader with experience managing high-performing development teams, building donor relationships, and overseeing a diverse portfolio of fundraising initiatives, including grants and individual giving.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Management (Primary Focus) Supervise and mentor a team of development professionals focused on grants management and individual giving.
• Set clear performance expectations, provide regular feedback, and support professional development.
• Create efficient workflows and clear documentation to ensure continuity, accountability, and knowledge sharing.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive team culture with strong attention to detail and deadlines.
• Individual and Institutional Giving Provide strategic guidance for individual giving efforts, including annual fund, donor stewardship materials, and select major gift support.
• Manage portfolio of donors and relationships, including institutions, individual donors, corporate partners, Board of Directors, etc.
• Collaborate with development leadership on revenue forecasting, proposal calendars, and fundraising strategy.
• Partner closely with program, finance, and leadership teams to translate organizational strategy and program outcomes into compelling, funder-aligned narratives.
• Manage the grants staff to successfully execute end-to-end development of institutional funding proposals, including letters of inquiry, full proposals, budgets, and supporting attachments.
• Support funder stewardship strategies.
• Strategy & Collaboration Serve as a key thought partner to senior leadership on fundraising strategy and institutional positioning.
• Contribute to board-facing materials and support board members’ engagement with institutional funders as appropriate.
• Represent the organization externally with funders, partners, and stakeholders.
• Additional Responsibilities This role will occasionally work on nights and weekends for Scholar and Development events and programming.
• This role is also required to attend and support mandatory all staff events