Organization Profile

Established in late 2012, Skills was launched as a demand-driven organization that focuses on the hiring demand of employers, creating a paradigm shift in the traditional supply-driven approach to workforce development. With its origins rooted in Chicago, the model has directly impacted the lives of 13,000+ job seekers across two markets – Chicago and Rhode Island.

Skills’ mission is to increase economic mobility of under and unemployed talent. They achieve this by connecting the underemployed and unemployed to quality jobs through its deep partnership and understanding of the unique human capital needs of its network of engaged employers. Skills bridges the “last mile” gap for job seekers by operating as the “first mile” for employers who are seeking connections with under-resourced communities to find talent.

Today, Skills is a national thought leader with a growth trajectory to expand as a business intermediary locally and nationally. The organization has a national expansion plan for the next ten years, calling for adding 25 locations across the U.S.

www.skillsforchicagoland.com

Position

The Senior Manager of Development, National Expansion, will be reporting to the Senior Vice President of Development & Sustainability. They will be responsible for execution of a substantial piece of Skills’ national expansion fundraising and philanthropy strategy. This will include working collaboratively with the SVP of Development, the National Expansion team, and Skills’ CEO and executive leadership team to build on the success of our fundraising efforts.

This position will provide primary support to the national expansion $10m campaign that is currently underway ($2.6m raised to date), with a goal of securing $10m by 2025 from foundation, corporate and individual sources. This is to fund both the national expansion team, its operations, and seed funding for local partner sites.   

Responsibilities:

The ideal candidate will be highly organized and a self-starter with great communication skills and experience in developing funder and individual donor relationships. They will be responsible for:

• Funder prospecting, relationship building, and stewardship of existing relationships with foundation, corporate, and individual donors.
• Grant management and grant writing/reporting
• Experience in major donor or campaign fundraising is a plus, but at minimum, experience and a comfort level with individual donor fundraising is necessary
• With the team and SVP, provide fundraising support and coaching to partner sites
• Some travel may be required to partner sites in other cities

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree a plus.
• 5-7 years of fundraising experience in a nonprofit environment
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite
• Passion for Skills’ Guiding Principles:
  • Enthusiasm for the Mission - We are individually and collectively motivated and energized by our deep passion for putting unemployed individuals into jobs through a model that embraces our employers and our job seekers.
  • Equity – The collective identity of our people reflects and represents the community we serve. We are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and will engage our diverse range of stakeholders to positively impact economic mobility.
  • Integrity - We are driven by our personal ethics and our collective moral compass pointed towards always acting with integrity and requiring this of those around us.
  • Change - We are flexible individually and agile as an organization, driven by the evolving demands of our stakeholders.
  • Intellectual Curiosity - We are innovators, built on the foundation of curiosity about how to help others and are driven daily to continually evolve solutions that moves Skills forward.
  • Impact - We are focused on the goal of positively impacting economic mobility by using the Skills model to place unemployed into jobs; the process drives the output – we celebrate results rather than tasks and are driven by our missteps to learn and grow.
  • Data (approach / mindset) - Everything we do is because of and supported by data - it drives and guides our decision-making process