Manager of Foundation & Grant Relationships

Overview

The Foundation and Grants Relationship Manager is on the Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFO) team. This person will primarily focus on institutional relationships, balancing a portfolio of existing and new foundation and organization donors, along with select government funders. The Relationship Manager will steward partners through a moves management process and deepen connections to the mission of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. A successful candidate will be familiar with Chicago’s philanthropic landscape, possess strong networking skills, and have experience managing and advancing institutional partnerships, especially foundations. This role will work closely with the Director of Foundation Relations and Grants to significantly increase foundation, organization, and government revenue to support the expansion of key programs and new initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Cultivate, solicit and steward a portfolio of approximately 50-100 current and new foundation, organization or government partners
• Proactively coordinate activities and high-level communications to meet partner needs
• Work with colleagues across departments to drive and inform prospecting and partnership design
• Write and/or collaborate on select presentations, proposals and reports
• Organize and participate in tours and site visits; prepare pre-meeting briefs for the team
• Assist with planning and budgeting activities for the CFO team and participate in planning with the development team
• Track portfolio management activities in Stratus Live
• Participate in weekend and evening events as needed to advance the organization's philanthropic objectives

Experience

• Minimum 3-5 years of experience and demonstrated success in development with an emphasis on cultivating, soliciting and stewarding institutional support

Knowledge & Skills

• Committed to organizational mission of providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community
• Working knowledge and understanding of poverty-related issues and a thoughtfulness to the impact of hunger on Cook County
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain positive relationships, take initiative, set priorities and handle multiple relationships efficiently and effectively
• Excellent communication skills including writing
• Proficiency with MS Office- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
• Experience with database management, a plus