Strategic Partnerships Officer
Job Summary
Job Description
World Relief seeks a Strategic Partnerships Officer in Chicagoland to advance its mission by engaging a diverse portfolio of individual donors. This role involves face-to-face meetings, personalized communication, small group events, and relationship building to support refugees and immigrants. Responsibilities include cultivating and soliciting gifts from mid-level and major donors ($1,000+ annually), developing tailored strategies to increase their giving, and identifying new prospects. The officer will also acknowledge gifts, implement stewardship plans, maintain donor records using CRM software, and collaborate with the Development and Communications team on engagement strategies. A mature Christian faith and commitment to World Relief's mission are essential.
Must have:
- Mature and personal Christian faith
- Bachelor's degree required
- At least two years of fundraising experience
- Proficient in Microsoft Office suite
- Drivers license and access to a vehicle
Good to have:
- Experience with CRM (Raiser's Edge preferred)
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Strong listening and relational skills
- Ability to invite others to give
- Learning orientation for growth
- Well-organized with ability to manage deadlines
- Strategic orientation toward fundraising
- Ability to develop knowledge of World Relief programs
- Self-starter with task management ability
- Strong team orientation and collaboration
- Ability to flex schedules for meetings
- Positive, professional, donor-oriented interpersonal skills
- Comfortable in a fast-paced environment
- Interest in issues impacting immigrants and refugees
Perks:
- Competitive benefits package
- Employee discount program
3 skills required
Job Details
Are you a person of compassion? An advocate for justice? Someone who stands up for the rights of the vulnerable and speaks out for the marginalized, the exploited and the forgotten? Do you believe in our calling as Christians to welcome the least of these and love our neighbor?
If you answered ‘yes’, to any of the above, World Relief, and millions of people around the world need you.
At this pivotal moment in time, we are rapidly expanding and growing our team to meet the increasing needs of our world. We are looking for people who want to use their gifts and talents to make a real and tangible difference in our world and the lives of the suffering.
If you’re looking for a purpose-driven career in which you can grow your talents, while also standing up for the rights of the vulnerable, we want you to join us today.
ORGANIZATION SUMMARY
World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church. The organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Europe. Since then, for 80 years, across 100 countries, World Relief has partnered with local churches and communities to build a world where families thrive and communities flourish.
Today, organizational programming focuses on humanitarian and disaster response, community strengthening and resilience, and refugee & immigrant services and advocacy.
This position is reliant upon funding and may be subject to modification or termination based on resource availability.
POSITION SUMMARY:
World Relief Chicagoland seeks a talented and versatile Strategic Partnerships Officer to join the expanding Development team. The Strategic Partnerships Officer will further the mission of World Relief in the Chicagoland region through engaging a broad portfolio of individual donors. Face-to-face meetings, personalized communication, small group events, and relationship building are key components of this role.
We are looking for an individual who possesses the ability to listen and develop relationships with partners in the community, desiring to see their resources make an impact in the lives of refugees and immigrants in Chicagoland.
ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Cultivation:
- Manage a portfolio of existing mid-level and major donors who give $1,000+ annually.
- Develop tailored strategies for individual partners to increase their annual giving.
- Identify new donor prospects with potential to make three to five-figure gifts.
- Identify opportunities for the Executive Director or Director of Strategic Engagement to engage with major donors to explore expansion of partnership.
- Solicitation:
- Solicit gifts from mid-level and major donors through personal asks.
- Collaborate with Development and Communications team to ensure that all asks that go to broad audience are segmented for portfolio and message is tailored to specific audience.
- Participate in the planning of events for acquisition and stewardship purposes.
- Stewardship:
- Acknowledge all gifts and perform administrative follow-through to ensure proper processing.
- Implement high touchpoint stewardship plan for robust tiered portfolio.
- Follow-up with partners and other guests who attend any events held locally.
- Maintain donor and gift records using CRM software (Raiser’s Edge NXT) and use data to inform cultivation and solicitation strategies.
- Hold one-on-one meetings with donors in portfolio, developing partnership and deepening relationship.
- Other Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with Development and Communications team members to continue holistic strategies for increasing overall donor engagement and giving.
- Participate in quarterly and annual planning process with the Development team.
- Serve in a coaching capacity for other members of Development team.
- Help foster a culture of philanthropy throughout the organization.
- Perform additional duties as assigned in support of the organization’s mission and goals.
- Mature and personal Christian faith
- Committed to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief
- Desire to serve and empower the Church to impact vulnerable communities
- Able to affirm and/or acknowledge World Reliefs Core Beliefs, Statement of Faith, Christian Identity and National Evangelicals For the Health of The Nation document
- Proficient in Microsoft Office suite.
- Bachelor’s degree required
- At least two years of experience in fundraising or related field
- Willingness to spend time with partners in all three Chicagoland office locations
- Drivers license and access to a vehicle
- Experience with CRM (Raiser’s Edge preferred).
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- Strong listening and relational skills.
- Demonstrated willingness and ability to invite others to give to the mission of the organization.
- Learning orientation: eager for both personal and professional growth, especially within fundraising and sales.
- Well organized, with an ability to manage concurrent deadlines and priorities meeting well established deadlines.
- Strategic orientation toward fundraising: able to shape and execute plans to reach goals.
- Ability to develop a thorough knowledge of World Relief programs through reading reports, conversing with staff, attending various team meetings, etc.
- Self-starter with the ability to plan and manage tasks.
- Strong team orientation, able to collaborate well with others, share ideas openly, and adapt plans based on input of others
- Ability to flex schedules to meet demands of occasional evening or weekend meetings
- Positive, professional, donor-oriented interpersonal skills
- Comfortable in a fast-paced, often-changing environment; able to adapt to changing realities
- Interest in and passion for issues impacting immigrants and refugees
World Relief offers a competitive benefits package and employee discount program for full-time and part-time employees.
World Relief is honored to be recognized with the Gold-level Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation for exceeding the core components of our well-being program including leadership and culture, program foundations and execution, and whole person health.
***
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.
For World Relief staff, strong commitment to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief is essential, and Christian faith is a prerequisite for employment, based upon United States federal guidelines provided in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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