Vice President of Development

Vice President of Development

Full-time, salaried, exempt position

Founded in 2003, GiGi's Playhouse Inc.’s mission is to change the way the world views Down syndrome and send a global message of acceptance for all. This is accomplished through national campaigns, purposeful programs, and by empowering individuals with Down syndrome, their families, and the community. All programs are free and are therapeutic or educational in nature. Each one of our programs is designed to work on specific skill development, including speech and language, literacy, socialization, and fine and gross motor skills.

GiGi’s Playhouse currently has over 60+ locations across North America and is growing by several locations annually.

The Vice President of Development is an executive leadership role responsible for designing and scaling a comprehensive national fundraising strategy that fuels GiGi’s Playhouse’s growth and long-term sustainability.

As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, this leader drives multi-channel revenue strategy across major gifts, corporate partnerships, national sponsor ships, grants, campaigns, and events. The VP balances direct revenue generation with enterprise leadership, dedicating approximately 40 percent of their time to managing a focused portfolio of high capacity individual and corporate donors, and 60 percent to strategic leadership, infrastructure development, and building a high performing national development team.

This role requires a resilient, results driven leader who can build and retain A players, establish clear performance expectations, and create scalable systems that support national expansion and long-term financial strength. While the role is based at the National Office in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, remote consideration may be extended to an exceptional candidate.

• Develop and execute a comprehensive multi- year fundraising strategy aligned with GiGi’s national growth and expansion plan
• Establish clear annual revenue targets across all fundraising channels and hold the organization accountable to measurable outcomes
• Diversify revenue streams to ensure long-term financial sustainability
• Build scalable fundraising systems, infrastructure, and reporting mechanisms to support national expansion
• Monitor revenue performance metrics, analyze trends, and adjust strategy to drive consistent growth
• Partner with executive leadership to align development priorities with program innovation, marketing strategy, and operational expansion

• Personally manage and grow a focused portfolio of 15 to 20 high-capacity individual donors and 5 to 10 national corporate or family foundation partners
• Secure transformational gifts and multi-year commitments that drive sustainable growth
• Lead integrated strategy across major gifts, corporate partnerships, institutional funding, campaigns, events, and peer to peer initiativesli>
  
  Provide executive oversight of national fundraising campaigns and future capital initiatives, including feasibility planning, execution, and ROI evaluation
• Ensure foundation and institutional funding strategies align with programmatic innovation and expansion priorities
• Oversee donor stewardship strategy and data driven lifecycle management to increase retention and lifetime value
• Partner with Marketing to align storytelling, brand positioning, and donor communications across all fundraising channels
• Cultivate national corporate sponsor ships and mission aligned partnerships
• Partner with executive leadership and board members to expand high level donor relationships

• Recruit, build, and retain a high performing team of A players across all development functions
• Establish clear role definitions, performance metrics, and accountability systems
• Leverage individual team member expertise to elevate strategy and execution
• Provide coaching, performance feedback, and leadership development
• Make strategic talent decisions that strengthen the department
• Build dashboards and reporting structures that drive transparency and results