Director of Corporate and Foundational Relations
Reports To: Sr. Director of Development
About GiGi's Playhouse: Located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, GiGi's Playhouse was founded in 2003 by a mother who wanted a place for her daughter, GiGi, and other individuals with Down syndrome who could realize their dreams. Twenty-one years later, we are growing across North America and have 62 locations and multiple openings each year. We expect to grow about 20% annually for the next three years. We provide free, life-changing therapeutic, educational, and career training programs, providing 400,000+ hours of programming in 2025 to individuals of all ages. Visit www.gigisplayhouse.org.
With a commitment to fostering a culture of acceptance and empowerment, GiGi's Playhouse provides resources, support, advocacy, and a lifetime commitment to individuals with Down syndrome and their families in North America and globally, while promoting a global message of acceptance for all.
GiGi’s Playhouse Core Values:
GiGi’s challenges all staff and volunteers to embody the following core values:
- Enthusiasm: Bringing positive, high energy to your work.
- Best of All: We are always looking to improve in everything we do. Challenge yourself every day to embrace a Generation G life.
- Get It Done: Making things happen and blasting through barriers when needed. Figure it out together.
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Believe: Believe in ourselves, believe in our mission, believe in each other, and believe in the history that brought us here.
- Locally Concerned, Enterprise Minded: We collaborate, share best practices, and leverage the collective learnings from across the GiGi’s network.
Position Overview
The Director of Foundational & Corporate Partnerships is responsible for developing, cultivating, and expanding strategic partnerships that generate transformational philanthropic support for GiGi’s Playhouse. Working closely with the Sr. Director of Development and the Grants team, this individual serves as the relationship lead for corporate and foundation funders across the country.
This role focuses on identifying, qualifying, cultivating, and managing relationships with corporate leaders, private foundations, family foundations, and philanthropic organizations whose missions align with GiGi’s Playhouse. Once relationships are established and funding opportunities are identified, this position works collaboratively with the Grants team to develop compelling proposals and secure funding.
As a leader within the National Development Department, this individual will represent GiGi’s Playhouse externally, build strategic relationships nationwide, collaborate with Playhouses throughout the network, and help drive significant fundraising growth through new partnerships and long-term stewardship.
Success in this role is measured through relationship development, pipeline growth, revenue generated, partnership retention, and accurate forecasting within Salesforce.
- Identify, cultivate, and manage relationships with national corporations, private foundations, family foundations, and philanthropic organizations.
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Build and maintain a robust pipeline of prospective corporate and foundation funders.
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Develop customized engagement strategies that lead to long-term philanthropic partnerships.
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Represent GiGi’s Playhouse at networking events, conferences, philanthropic gatherings, and corporate functions.
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Position GiGi’s Playhouse as a premier Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partner.
Grant & Foundation Collaboration
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Partner closely with the Grants team to qualify foundation opportunities before proposal development.
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Lead relationship cultivation with foundation staff and trustees.
- Collaborate throughout the grant lifecycle from cultivation through stewardship.
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Identify opportunities for multi-year investments and transformational funding.
National Corporate Partnerships
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Develop national corporate partnerships aligned with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), employee engagement, volunteerism, sponsorship, workplace giving, and philanthropy.
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Build customized partnership opportunities that advance both corporate objectives and GiGi’s mission.
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Collaborate with companies on sponsorships, employee engagement opportunities, volunteer initiatives, and national campaigns.
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Expand strategic partnerships capable of scaling across the GiGi’s Playhouse network.
New Business Development
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Generate new qualified corporate and foundation prospects through networking, research, referrals, conferences, and board relationships.
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Build relationships with executive leadership and philanthropic decision-makers.
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Leverage board members, volunteers, and Playhouse leaders to identify new funding opportunities.
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Consistently expand GiGi’s national fundraising pipeline.
Network Collaboration
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Partner with local Playhouses to identify opportunities that could expand into regional or national partnerships.
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Help coordinate national funding opportunities that benefit multiple Playhouses.
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Support Executive Directors with introductions and partnership strategy when appropriate.
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Serve as a resource for strengthening corporate relationships across the network.
Revenue Management & Pipeline
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Maintain an accurate portfolio of prospects and partners within Salesforce.
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Track every stage of the cultivation process.
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Develop monthly revenue forecasts.
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Monitor fundraising metrics, pipeline movement, proposal activity, and partnership conversion.
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Regularly report progress against annual fundraising goals.
Qualifications
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Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
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7–10+ years of fundraising, corporate partnerships, business development, foundation relations, or nonprofit leadership.
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Demonstrated success securing six-figure philanthropic partnerships.
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Exceptional presentation, networking, and relationship-building skills.
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Strong strategic thinking and business development mindset.
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Experience managing complex fundraising pipelines.
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Experience using Salesforce or another CRM to manage donor relationships, opportunities, forecasting, and reporting.
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Comfortable presenting to executive leadership, foundation boards, and corporate partners.
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Ability to travel nationally.
Preferred Experience
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Corporate philanthropy
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Foundation relations
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Grant strategy
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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
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Sponsorship development
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Major gifts
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Strategic partnerships
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Salesforce reporting
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Forecasting
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Cross-functional leadership
Success in this position will be measured by:
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Annual fundraising revenue generated.
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New corporate partnerships established.
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New foundation relationships cultivated.
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Qualified pipeline growth.
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Proposal conversion rate.
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Multi-year partnership retention.
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Salesforce data quality and forecasting accuracy.
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Cross-network collaboration and partnership expansion.
Location: Remote within the United States.
Candidates located in the Chicagoland area will work in a hybrid capacity from GiGi’s Playhouse National Headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
This position requires regular travel for donor meetings, conferences, networking events, Playhouse visits, and national fundraising initiatives.
As GiGi’s Playhouse continues its rapid national growth, the Director of Foundational & Corporate Partnerships will play a critical role in building the relationships that fuel our future. By connecting corporations, foundations, and philanthropic leaders with our mission, this position will help secure the resources needed to expand programs, strengthen communities, and ensure individuals with Down syndrome and their families continue receiving life-changing support, completely free of charge.
This is an opportunity to help shape the future of one of the fastest-growing nonprofit organizations serving individuals with Down syndrome while building transformational partnerships that create lasting national impact.
