Development Consultant

Purpose

Anima – Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus is requesting proposals for a Development Consultant (individual or organization) to lead the Board of Directors and Artistic Director in creating a strategic development plan and specific operational tactics.

Our Background

Anima – Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus empowers young singers to discover their own potential by pursuing personal and collective excellence through song. Anima offers age-appropriate music and choral education and performance opportunities for children in kindergarten through high school. Founded in 1964, Anima has been an independent nonprofit since 1982 and has a storied history of national and international recognition for its artistic and educational excellence.

For the last few decades, Anima has largely relied on a small number of large donors to cover the gap between tuition revenue and expenses. However, when their children aged out of the choir, their financial support ended. And while our alumni and family network spans decades and reaches far beyond our home, contact and outreach have been sporadic and piecemeal. This very limited donor base, coupled with the changing landscape of arts-focused grant funding, is unsustainable for the long-term survival and growth of Anima.

Anima seeks a development professional with experience building strategic plans that can be implemented by small organizations without full-time development staff. Knowledge of/experience with community-based and/or arts education nonprofit organizations is preferred.

Project Expectations/Deliverables

• A well-crafted strategy to re-engage alumni donors, identify and cultivate a broad donor network, and connect with funding opportunities from foundations and corporations
• An effective annual development plan that includes a suggested statement of need, donor communication messages for key audiences, outreach calendar and strategies for donor stewardship, recognition, and engagement.

• A clear implementation plan that establishes realistic expectations for staff and board to execute the development plan

Scope of Work 

• Conduct an assessment of our current development funding streams and donor engagement efforts and identify high priority gaps
• Assess donor database and identify tools and data sources to fill gaps in current data and build out alumni and family network
• Benchmark our fundraising efforts and results against best practices. Specifically evaluate ratio of Anima funding sources against area arts organizations, identifying high priority growth areas
• Identify potential donor pool(s) and their giving potential; advise on optimal methods to connect and engage with potential donors.  
• Develop an ongoing strategy and tactics to expand donor pool, cultivate large and small donors, build donor engagement, improve retention rates
• Identify opportunities for fundraising events, foundation grants, and corporate sponsorships/grants
• Develop a detailed action plan for the first year of implementation, including key activities, responsibilities, and timelines.

Submission Requirements:

• Cover letter and resume for the primary development professional involved that clarifies the link between their experience and the stated needs of our organization.
• Project timeline that addresses the key dates listed below and provides dates for deliverables.
• References from 2-3 recent clients with whom the consultant has performed a similar service.

Key Dates

RFP Distributed: April 2, 2025

Proposals Due: April 16, 2025

Proposal Selection: April 25, 2025

Project Begins: May 5, 2025

Project Complete: October 1, 2025

Budget for Project: $8,000, plus $1000 for research/data gathering tools

Submit Proposals to Chris Lovely, President of Board of Directors at [email protected]