About Primo Center
Primo Center is Chicago’s largest provider of services to unhoused families, helping them regain safety, stability and independence.
For more than 45 years, Primo Center has empowered families experiencing homelessness to become productive, responsible, and independent members of their community.
Holding true to its mission, the organization has considerable capacity and experience as a provider of services to families affected by extreme poverty and homelessness, assisting more than 1,100 people each year with the aid of volunteers, over 90 staff members, and an annual operating budget of nearly $10 million.
Today, Primo Center employs a holistic and innovative approach to its work, investing in four key areas to support each family:
- Housing: Primo Center provides 330 beds of interim housing. Primo Center is the highest performing service provider for families in Chicago, consistently placing more than 97% in permanent housing with only a 3% rate of return to homelessness. This compares to an industry standard of 55-65% return rate in other programs.
100% of Primo Center assisted families transition from the program with income and benefits, including employment.
- Trauma Informed Care: Primo Center’s success is distinguished by its 360-degree approach to care called High Fidelity Wraparound, which is recognized nationally for helping break the cycle of homelessness for children and families. It aids the most at-risk children. To address the needs of highly vulnerable families and end the cycle of homelessness for families, Primo Center focuses on trauma-informed care through its Family Leadership Institute.
The Family Leadership Institute addresses each family member’s traumatic exposure, empowers parents to support their children and addresses children’s developmental needs.
- Early Childhood Development: Primo Center enriches the lives of children from 0–5 years by bringing trauma-informed care to build their resilience, and by focusing on education, including operating an innovative early childhood center and an innovative home visiting program.
- Integrated Healthcare: Primo Center makes it a priority to provide integrated physical, dental, and mental health services for children and families. This is achieved through linkages to primary, dental and mental health care "homes" in partnership with Heartland Alliance Health, Howard Brown Health, and Lawndale Christian Health Center.
Primo Center has not only survived but thrived through many challenges including the pandemic and its aftereffects. At the heart of the organization’s work is not only a highly talented staff plus quality programming, but also its committed partners and their families.
The impact of Primo Center reaches high-need communities across Chicago, operating facilities in Austin on Chicago’s west side, Englewood on the south side, and Hermosa.
In 2024, Primo secured new partnerships and $3 million in additional new grant funding. Donations to Primo Center help open doors of opportunity to families experiencing homelessness in Chicago. The new Chief Development Officer will play a critical role in overseeing Primo Center’s development, fundraising, and strategic grant seeking initiatives to secure the resources necessary to achieve its mission.
View the latest Annual Report here.
For more information on Primo Center, please visit primocenter.org
The Opportunity
Primo Center finds itself in an exciting period of growth and is well positioned to embark on elevated levels of organizational investment and community impact with the expertise of a new Chief Development Officer (“CDO”).
Primo seeks a visionary and resilient leader who will build systems and processes to strengthen the pipeline of donor commitments and philanthropic support. The CDO will have “a blank slate” to build best practices and will assess Primo’s current funding sources to ensure alignment with goals, priorities and desired outcomes.
Working closely with the CEO, Board of Directors, senior leadership team and other key supporters, the CDO will be responsible for leading efforts to identify and secure new sources of donors, oversee the preparation and submission of grant proposals and ensure compliance with funder requirements. They will also be a key ambassador, representing the organization as a skilled relationship builder and collaborative partner.
The CDO will be instrumental in leading the organization to meet its current annual fundraising goals, while growing and diversifying its funding base. In addition, they will oversee and manage day-to-day development operations while engaging staff and the Board in expanding revenue streams to support new and existing initiatives.
Initially, the CDO will have one direct report. There will be an opportunity to grow their team once the foundation of the department is set.
Candidate Profile
While it is understood that no candidate will offer every desired skill, quality, and characteristic, the following offers a detailed, aspirational view of the ideal candidate profile:
A Commitment to the Mission
This leader will:
- Have a genuine passion for the mission and the community Primo Center serves.
- Bring a demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in all systems, structures,and processes.
- Bring a genuine excitement to and ability to thrive in an environment where processes andsystems need to be created or revamped.
- Lead with sincerity, empathy, honesty and credibility, and the highest levels of personal andprofessional integrity and ethics.
A Visionary & Collaborative Leader
This leader will:
- Be comfortable working in a dynamic, evolving environment, with the ability to buildinfrastructure and implement best practices while the organization is in a transitional phase.
- Be a forward thinker with the ability to collaborate, articulate, and implement a comprehensivedevelopment strategy that includes diversified revenue sources beyond government grants, witha focus on individual giving, planned giving, corporate giving, and private foundations.
- Be comfortable with creating a sustainable development framework from the ground up.
- Have experience in training and developing staff, ensuring that the broader team is equippedwith the skills and knowledge needed to succeed, regularly monitoring progress.
A Mission Driven Fundraiser & Expert in Diversifying Revenue
This leader will:
- Bring expertise in designing and executing multi-channel innovative fundraising campaigns with afocus on developing robust individual giving programs (major gifts, mid-level donors, onlinefundraising, and donor cultivation).
- Have proven success in working with both government grants and foundations, and acommitment to building a more balanced, sustainable funding model.
- Bring the ability to develop and manage diversified portfolios of donors, proactively identifyingand cultivating new sources plus tracking donor activities and events.
- Demonstrate the capability to craft long-term fundraising plans and think creatively about how toeffectively improve stewardship efforts.
A Dynamic Relationship Builder & Communicator
This leader will:
- Bring the ability to successfully convey the organization’s mission and objectives in a variety of settings, from one-on-one interactions to large public audiences in a manner that establishes rapport and generates support.
- Contribute to a warm, welcoming, and mission-driven culture and authentically build relationships with Primo team members at all levels
- Bring the ability to support and guide the chief community relations officer in aligning fundraising efforts with compelling branding, storytelling, and public relations strategies.
- Be nimble and emotionally intelligent – with the ability to listen and respond to opportunities and motivate the team to contribute to the organization’s fundraising goals.
Compensation & Benefits
The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $160,000.
Primo Center offers a competitive benefits package, including Medical, Dental, Vision, Domestic Partner Benefits, Spouse and children Benefits, 401k, Flexible Spending Account, Paid Time Off, Wellness Days, Paid Holidays, employer-paid Life/AD&D Insurance, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), mileage reimbursement, and voluntary AFLAC plans.
This is a full-time and an on-site work environment in Chicago, Illinois.
Contact
Koya Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Tiara D. Muse and Rebeca Hernandez of Koya Partners are leading this search. To express interest in this role please submit your materials here. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.