Senior Development and Grants Associate

Organization Overview

Advance Illinois is a not-for-profit policy and advocacy organization that works toward a healthy public education system that prepares students to achieve success in college, career, and civic life. We are committed to an aligned education system across the B-20 continuum that strives for equity, stresses college and career readiness and completion, and supports the whole child from the earliest years through adulthood. We believe every child should have access to high-quality education and care, regardless of geography, income, or race. Spanning the early childhood through higher education continuum, Advance Illinois analyzes research, data, and best practice; engages practitioners, families, and partners; and develops and promotes policies designed to strengthen public education, higher education, and early childhood education and care in Illinois. In 2025, Advance Illinois launched a bold five-year strategic plan aimed at expanding organizational capacity and growing our annual budget to $3.5M.

Position Summary

Advance Illinois seeks a highly organized, detail-oriented, and mission-driven development professional to join its team as the Senior Development & Grants Associate. This person will lead the organization’s grant writing and institutional giving efforts in partnership with the Director of Development, while supporting development operations and contributing to fundraising strategy implementation.

This is a key internal role on a small and dynamic fundraising team. You will take ownership of grant proposal development, reporting, and prospect research, working closely with the Director of Development to advance a strong and sustainable year-round grants program. You will also coordinate with our Office Manager to ensure strong data systems, clean development operations, and seamless coordination of cultivation events and reporting deadlines. This position is ideal for someone who enjoys writing, values process and systems, and is excited to grow their leadership within a mission-driven and collaborative team.

Essential Functions

Grants Management (Primary Focus)

• Draft and manage the submission of all institutional grant proposals, LOIs, and reports
• Maintain and lead a comprehensive grants calendar, ensuring timely submissions and internal coordination
• Collaborate with program and leadership staff to collect relevant narrative and data inputs
• Maintain and improve templates, boilerplate language, and knowledge management systems for grant writing

Prospect Research & Pipeline Development

• Conduct and maintain prospect research on foundations and potential institutional donors
• Track the institutional giving pipeline and support moves management alongside the Director
• Prepare briefing documents for funder meetings

Development Operations & Internal Reporting

• Partner with the Office Manager to ensure clean and updated Salesforce records for grants and donations
• Create and maintain development dashboards and internal reports (e.g., grants tracking, revenue progress, board engagement)
• Support cross-team efforts to track and articulate organizational impact for funders

Events & Campaign Coordination

• Coordinate logistics for 3–4 cultivation/stakeholder events annually (e.g., scheduling, vendors, guest lists, RSVPs)
• Assist with tracking donor engagement from events and follow-up tasks
• Support the Director in segmenting and pulling lists for donor outreach and appeals

Team Collaboration & Learning

• Stay informed on fundraising best practices, ongoing learning, and proactively bring new ideas to the team
• Participate in organization-wide meetings and equity-centered work aligned with Advance Illinois’ mission

Competencies and Attributes

• Education: Bachelor's degree required; Master's or fundraising certification is a plus.
• Experience: 3-5 years in fundraising or grant-writing; prior experience in policy or education non-profits is beneficial.
• Passion for Educational Equity: Strong commitment to Advance Illinois' mission and systemic change.
• Prior Grant Experience: Proven success in securing grants and managing grant processes.
• Strong Writing Skills: Ability to simplify complex ideas and connect systemic work to human impact, in addition to write towards different audiences. You see yourself as a storyteller.
• CRM Knowledge: Experience with non-profit CRM systems, preferably Salesforce with NPSP and a commitment to good data health and maintenance.
• Communication Skills: Effective interpersonal skills and comfort in soliciting donations.
• Time Management and Organization Skills: Have identified and developed the organization and time management system that supports you in completing tasks in a timely manner. You are comfortable pivoting between high-level, strategic work and small tasks (we are a small but mighty team!)
• Commitment to Ongoing Learning: Committed to continuing to learn fundraising best practices and have the ability to apply them to your work and the team's strategy.
• Additional Attributes: Positive attitude, strong work ethic, collaborative, creative, solutions-oriented, inquisitive, and curious.

Working Location

Advance Illinois is a hybrid workplace. In general, employees are expected to work from the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and have a floating day of their choice, as well as be present at in-person meetings with partners as needed. The organization has offices in both Chicago and Springfield, abides by CDC and other health and safety guidelines, and staff are expected to be vaccinated.

Compensation

Competitive salary commensurate with experience within a starting pay band ($58,000-65,000 base salary), with the expectation and ability to earn an additional 10% bonus, for a total compensation range of $63,800-71,500, along with excellent benefits such as: health/dental insurance; short-term/long-term disability plans; 401K with a company match plan; flexible spending account; holidays and vacation accrual.

Commitment to Diversity

Advance Illinois is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to engaging the skills and leadership of people of color, individuals from low-income backgrounds, LGBTQ+ persons, differently abled people, and other people from diverse backgrounds. People from these and other historically marginalized backgrounds and communities are strongly encouraged to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, political affiliation, mental or physical disability, age, marital status, family status, or veteran status.

To Apply

Please complete this questionnaire and submit a resume to: development@advanceillinois.org. All resume submissions will be acknowledged. Applicants selected for an interview will be contacted. Please do not call Advance Illinois.