Director of Institutional Advancement

Leadership Responsibilities and Opportunities

Reporting directly to the Head of School and working closely with the Board of Directors and Advancement Committee the Director of Institutional Advancement will hold responsibility for the following areas of leadership:

Strategic Advancement Leadership

• Develop refine and execute a multi-year advancement strategy aligned with the schools mission values and strategic priorities.
• Lead annual major capital planned and legacy giving efforts ensuring clarity of goals messaging and timelines.
• Guide the school toward a focused achievable fundraising portfoliocurrently centered on the Annual Fund Big Night and a nearly completed playground capital campaignwhile laying groundwork for future initiatives such as endowment.
• Translate strategy into actionable plans with clear benchmarks and accountability.

Donor Cultivation Solicitation and Stewardship

• Personally cultivate solicit and steward major donors while expanding and diversifying the donor base.
• Strengthen relationships across families alumni grandparents staff and community partners through thoughtful personalized engagement.
• Partner closely with the Head of School and Board in donor strategy preparation and visits.

Team Leadership and Development

• Lead mentor and support a small professional advancement team fostering a collaborative mission-driven and high-performing culture. The team will include the Director of the Near North Fund Director of Donor and Alumni Relationships Data Manager and Communications Manager.
• Clarify roles expectations and goals and support ongoing professional growth and retention.
• Assess team strengths and gaps and make adjustments as needed to ensure sufficient internal capacity.

Operational Excellence and Systems Building

• Build and manage a coherent data-informed advancement operation including donor analytics reporting and pipeline management.
• Ensure the advancement function is fluent in dataor builds that fluency quickly through hiring training or systems improvement.
• Oversee an advancement operating budget (approximately $150000) aligning staffing systems and fundraising investments with realistic return and capacity.
• Partner closely with Finance to ensure strong integration transparency and accountability.

Community Engagement and Storytelling

• Strengthen Near Norths case for support by clearly articulating the schools impact values and aspirations.
• Shape messaging that fosters belonging gratitude and shared responsibility.
• Lead advancement communications with clarity and purpose helping families and donors understand why philanthropy is essential to the schools mission access and sustainability.

Qualifications :

Skills Experience and Leadership Attributes

Near North Montessori seeks a Director of Institutional Advancement who brings both technical expertise and relational leadership. The ideal candidate will demonstrate many of the following:

• Bachelors degree required; advanced degree preferred
• At least five years of successful nonprofit fundraising experience with a demonstrated record of personally soliciting and closing major gifts
• Experience working in independent schools or mission-driven organizations with sophisticated donors
• Demonstrated ability to establish productive boundaries with boards and volunteers while maintaining strong relationships
• Experience supervising and developing professional staff
• Strategic and analytical thinking with the ability to use data to inform decisions
• Exceptional interpersonal written and verbal communication skills
• High emotional intelligence discretion and integrity
• A collaborative inclusive leadership style and comfort partnering across departments
• Familiarity with fundraising CRMs (Blackbaud preferred) and related tools or the ability to learn quickly
• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends as required in school advancement work

Above all the successful candidate will be energized by Near North Montessoris mission and community and motivated by the opportunity to help the school thrive for generations to come.

A complete detailed job description is available to candidates upon their application for this position.

Additional Information :

How to Apply

Applications will be reviewed when they are received.

Candidates interested in this position are asked to submit the following materials in a single merged PDF document in the order listed:

• EC Candidate Summary Sheet (youll be asked to make a copy upon opening)
• Letter of interest addressed to the Head of School
• Current résumé
• A list of five or more references with contact information (including phone numbers and email addresses)
• Disclosure Form (youll be asked to make a copy upon opening)

Please send applications and address inquiries to:

George Sanderson Partner Educators Collaborative

Carol Santos Partner Educators Collaborative

Near North Montessori believes that each individual is entitled to equal employment opportunity without regard to race color religion gender national origin age disability genetic information sexual orientation ancestry veteran status or any other characteristic protected under federal state or local anti-discrimination laws. The Schools equal employment opportunity practices extend to recruitment hiring selection compensation benefits transfer conditions and privileges of employment.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time