Individual Giving Lead

About Cara Collective

Cara Collective seeks to fuel a courageous national movement to eradicate relational and financial poverty. Through our four entities – Cara, Cleanslate, Cara Connects, and Cara Plus – we engage job seekers, employers, and other organizations across the country to break the cycle of poverty through the power and purpose of employment.

At present, we produce 1,000 jobs each year, at one-year retention rates for permanent placements over 20 points higher than national norms, and with over 80% of employed participants moving on to permanent housing in which their families can thrive.

Our results don’t just end with employment. We also maintain market-competitive businesses that create gateway jobs for those they serve, and produce a profound social return on investment, where for every dollar invested in this work, $5.97 is re-invested in society over a five-year time horizon. The work is important not only because of its clear goal of bringing individuals in need back to the dignity and the productivity of employment, but because of its clear mission to transform people’s lives. Families become stronger, relationships are healed, and communities become more vibrant because nothing gives you a positive outlook on life like a job.

Today, we take the insights gained over the last three decades to not only serve a growing number of job seekers locally, but also to equip other organizations and employers nationally with the tools and practices to build a more inclusive economy. Our hope is that as more job seekers get back to work, and more employers realize the value of this untapped workforce, we will not only shift the narrative of what talent looks like in our country, we will also ensure thousands more families realize the lasting power of hope, jobs, and opportunity.

Learn more at www.caracollective.org.

About the Role

The Individual Giving Lead will help Cara Collective achieve its mission by maximizing fundraising from individuals through portfolio management and overseeing annual campaign fundraising. The Individual Giving Lead will spend the majority of his/her time managing a portfolio of major individual donors ($1,000 - $50,000 and beyond) through the giving cycle: including identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. In addition, the Individual Giving Lead will oversee the annual fund, primarily through collaboration with other Development Team members, as appropriate.

Reports To

Director of Development

Outcomes

The Individual Giving Lead is responsible for achieving the following outcomes within the organization:

• Ensuring Cara Collective meets or exceeds its annual fundraising goal from individual donors.
• Maintaining great donor communication with a high number of calls, touch points, and donor meetings.
• Increasing membership in Cara Collective’s planned giving program – The Thomas & Mary Owens Legacy Society.
• Develop and implement strategies to expand the individual donor base through a myriad of in-person and online tactics.

Responsibilities

Major Gifts Portfolio Management (70%)

• Maintain a manageable portfolio of no more than 150 donors, made up of approximately 100 qualified donors and 50 prospective donors.
• Develop individual cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies to keep donors connected with the mission of Cara Collective, seeing the impact of their gift, and inspired to give again.
• Identify donors’ philanthropic interests and provide them with an opportunity to realize an outstanding philanthropic experience through their charitable investment in Cara Collective.
• Advance individual donor relationships by meeting regularly with donors, ideally twice a year; or through regular touch points, ideally quarterly, depending on individual strategy.
• Create a specific financial goal for each qualified donor, and reporting progress towards goal regularly.
• Direct and monitor the progress of donor relationships – ensuring that donors are adequately and immediately thanked for their contributions and updated on our work.
• Qualify new donor prospects through wealth screening tools and through a systematic process of communications and outreach.
• Collaborate with the Director of Development to write annual donor reports, letters of inquiry and proposals for donors who give through family foundations and wherever else is appropriate.
• Steward and engage Executive Council and Associate Board volunteers in fundraising and strategic initiatives for Cara Collective in collaboration with the Senior Engagement Officer.
• Implement strategy for converting event attendees to donors and/or engage them in other meaningful ways post event (e.g. event committees or engagement groups).
• Create specific plans for donor acquisition, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship throughout the year along with the Director of Development
• Analyze donor data including tracking and reporting on acquisition, upgrade, and retention rates, and adapting future appeals to ensure annual goal is being met/exceeded.

Annual Fund Management (20%)

• Supervise the development of 2-3 fundraising appeal letters per year and manage the logistics of successful mailings along with other Development Team members, as appropriate.
• Identifying new leads for portfolios as individuals make qualifying gifts through direct mail.
• Serve as the team liaison on data management projects for Salesforce by articulating the multiple ways the Development Team uses Salesforce and helping to find the simplest way to manage data accurately and effectively.
• Represent Cara Collective at engagement opportunities.

Communications (10%)

• Ensure organizational goals and metrics are articulated in a stakeholder-friendly manner, compelling, and representative of the work of Cara Collective.
• In collaboration with Director of Marketing & Communications, occasionally author and regularly review development-related communications, including but not limited to appeal campaigns, solicitation letters, and acknowledgement letters.

Qualifications  

• At least 3 years of comparable experience working with individual donors of a major gifts program.
• Meticulous record-keeping skills and detail-oriented approach
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment while maintaining high personal standards for the quality of output.
• Strong critical-thinking skills, with the ability to understand high-level strategic objectives, as well as, the tactical details critical for their success.
• Ability to solve problems independently and collaboratively, exercising good judgment while balancing competing priorities.
• Skilled at public speaking.
• Ability to simultaneously manage short-term and long-term plan and goals.
• Highly professional demeanor with the ability to work successfully with a wide array of constituents, including donors, board members, volunteers, program staff and other stakeholders.
• Aptitude with Salesforce (or comparable CRM), Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
• Availability for some evening and weekend work.
• Commitment to excellence and passion for the mission of Cara Collective.

 Please submit a cover letter. 

Equal Opportunity Employer

Cara Collective is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Cara Collective does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please email us at kboelkens@carachicago.org if you require reasonable accommodation to complete this application.

Please submit your resume and cover letter directly to kboelkens@carachicago.org