Director of Strategic Partnerships

Job Description

The Director of Strategic Partnerships is PIE Org's chief external leader, the face of the organization in Chicago's social sector and the engine behind our growth. This is not a program delivery role. It's a business development, relationship, and visibility role, focused on ensuring PIE has the funding, partnerships, and profile it needs to sustain and expand its impact. You will own PIE's revenue pipeline, build relationships with funders and sector leaders, and shift how the broader field understands what PIE does - from 'evaluation consultants' to 'thought partners for organizational learning'. You'll report to the Director of Operations & Administration, fostering a collaborative partnership to advance PIE's mission. While you champion the organization externally, you will provide high-level leadership to an exceptional, self-sufficient internal team, directly collaborating with the Director of Evaluation and the Director of Operations & Administration to ensure forward progress is being made toward the organizational goals being met so that the team can continue doing incredible work.
What You'll Do

Drive Revenue & Funder Relationships

Identify and cultivate new funding streams - foundations, grants, and institutional partnerships - moving PIE beyond word-of-mouth growth
End-to-End Proposal Architecture: Proactively author, edit, and submit highly persuasive, technically accurate grant applications, letters of intent (LOIs), and formal RFP responses to private foundations, corporate givers, and public agencies.
Translate Data to Narrative: Partner with the Director of Evaluation to extract complex evaluation metrics and turn them into compelling, human-centered stories that resonate with new potential institutional funders.
Pipeline Management: Utilize established SOP for tracking, vetting, and responding to incoming public and private Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that align with PIE's capacity and strategic goals.
Lead PIE's foundation engagement strategy, including building relationships with major funders like MacArthur Foundation and identifying joint proposal opportunities with nonprofit partners
Represent PIE at key social sector tables - collaboratives, convenings, and coalitions - where funding and partnership decisions are made
Build Visibility & Sector Presence

Maintain an active presence in Forefront, Association of Consultants to Nonprofits, Council on Foundations, and other professional networks
Champion PIE's narrative: shift the pitch from evaluation methodology to community impact - the kids served, the staff hired, the organizations strengthened
Collaborate with PIE's marketing and PR partners to extend our Sector Expert reputation to the right media outlets and policymakers
Lead PIE Day - curating the audience, managing invitations, and conducting post-event outreach to deepen relationships
Team Leadership

Contribute to Senior Leadership: Facilitate communication with the Director of Evaluation and the Director of Operations & Administration by providing regular pipeline status updates so they can prepare for and manage capacity.
Organizational Culture: Contribute to a values-aligned, high-trust internal environment that celebrates data-driven impact, professional sustainability, and shared organizational success by reporting at regularly scheduled, all-staff meetings and retreats
Manage the Pipeline & Infrastructure

Own the Monday.com CRM: pipeline value, networking activity, and follow-up tracking must be logged for reporting purposes
Maintain PIE's public-facing digital presence (e.g., Google Ads, GuideStar, Candid profile) for foundation discoverability
Oversee the Newsletter and Marketing Calendar; follow up with contacts who engage with campaigns
Who You Are

Required

Hands-on Writing Champion: A

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