Development Officer, Midwest

About Concern Worldwide

Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty, whatever it takes. Founded in Ireland in 1968, Concern Worldwide has nearly 4,000 personnel working in 25 countries across the globe. Concern believes in a world where no one lives in fear; where all have access to a decent standard of living and the opportunities essential to a long, healthy and creative life. Our mission is to help people living in absolute poverty achieve major improvements in their lives, improvements that are sustainable without ongoing support from Concern.

Concern envisions a world where no one lives in poverty, fear, or oppression where everyone can exercise their rights to a decent standard of living with equal access to opportunities. We believe in creating a culture where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to the workplace.

Concern Worldwide US (CUS) is an independent affiliate of Concern Worldwide, with offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. CUS advances the Concern Worldwide mission through mobilizing financial and human resources, as well as influencing and activating networks in the US to elevate programs globally.

The Role:

Concern Worldwide is hiring a Development Officer to join a highly collaborative Development team and will be responsible for providing support for a diverse range of fundraising activities, including: donor correspondence and donor relations, researching donor profiles, event venues and opportunities, supporting the execution of special events and donor cultivation events, and providing other administrative and data support as needed.

Reporting to the Development Manager, Midwest, this role will be critical to ensuring the continued growth of Concern’s fundraising initiatives by maintaining excellence in donor relations and engagements. This position will be expected to work collaboratively across departments and will regularly interact with colleagues in Events, Major Gifts, Individual Giving, Marketing, Communications, and Finance.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, proactive, a strong communicator who is passionate about project management, and comfortable with multitasking. The successful candidate will demonstrate enthusiasm for Concern’s mission, is interested in a career in development/fundraising, and has a demonstrated ability to execute administrative responsibilities while keeping an eye toward building operations that sustain fundraising and revenue growth.

Responsibilities:

Fundraising and Strategic Portfolio Support

• Assist the major gifts team with planning and executing donor cultivation events—both in-person and virtual—and help develop new, creative ways to engage supporters through unique event experiences.
• Support special events and fundraising initiatives in the Midwest by helping manage logistics, guest lists, committee coordination, event-day operations, and fundraising opportunities.
• Research donor prospects by using platforms like iWave, Google, LinkedIn and Salesforce. Create list of donor prospects using Excel and submit research profiles to Salesforce database.
• Assist with donor stewardship by processing donations, tracking commitments in Salesforce, sending acknowledgments, coordinating mailings, and supporting the Development Manager in improving systems to help retain and grow donor support.

Data & Administrative Support

• Support financial processes by assisting with credit card contributions, reconciliations, and processing expense reports.
• Track donor communications, activities and efforts using Salesforce; update donor records, pull reports, and maintain best practices of the database.
• Maintain ongoing processes designed to maximize donor engagement and data accuracy, including but not limited to, updating outreach tracking lists, reviewing new donations during weekly team meetings, and processing returned mail.
• Draft, proofread, edit, and support the creation of internal and external material.

Cross Functional Duties & Other

• Serve as an active member of the Development team, building strong relationships across departments within the organization.
• Be ready to jump in and support wherever needed, across regions, to ensure smooth operations across events, donor engagement, and administrative tasks.

Qualifications:

• A college degree or a minimum of 2+ years working in fundraising or fundraising-related department; preferably experience in social impact and/or events.
• Creative, detail-oriented self-starter with strong project management skills and a collaborative approach to building relationships and strategic partnerships.
• Demonstrates cultural awareness and sensitivity in working with diverse communities, while maintaining a high level of professionalism and discretion with confidential information.
• Willingness to learn and support a wide scope of fundraising activities.
• Proficiency in using Microsoft Office, Salesforce and/or other fundraising CRM software. Experience with Asana and Canva a plus.
• Must be able to work occasional nights and weekends as needed to support special events and donor engagements.
• Valid Driver’s License, a plus.
• Ability to carry out physical demands of job including squatting, pushing, pulling and light lifting (up to 25lbs) for event set up.
• Must be eligible to work in the US.
• Expected to be in the Chicago office at least 2x a week.