Senior Director of Principal and Major Gifts

The Morton Arboretum (the Arboretum), globally recognized for its century-long commitment to tree-focused science, conservation, and education, seeks an experienced and strategic leader to serve as the inaugural Senior Director of Principal and Major Gifts (Senior Director). In this newly created and elevated role, the Senior Director will join at an exciting moment of growth and transformation as the Arboretum makes significant investments to grow the development enterprise. The Senior Director will provide vision and leadership of a comprehensive and well-integrated major and principal gifts fundraising program for the Arboretum as part of its annual fundraising strategy and in preparation for a multi-million-dollar comprehensive campaign.

For more than a century, the Arboretum has played an increasingly prominent leadership role as a place that shares meaningful scientific research, leads conservation work, and reimagines a world where people and trees thrive together. Its 1,700 acres of beautiful tree-lined landscapes located 25 miles west of downtown Chicago are a place of enjoyment, a vibrant hub for nature education, and a world-renowned center for scientific research that studies trees and how to sustain them. More than 400 employees have chosen to advance the Arboretum’s mission and are committed to inclusion, responsible stewardship, collaboration, continuous learning, and delivering an exceptional experience to patrons. For the last three years, the Arboretum has been named a ”Top Workplace” by The Chicago Tribune. As a nonprofit organization, the Arboretum’s mission is to collect, study, display, and conserve trees and other plants from around the world to inspire learning, foster enjoyment, benefit communities, encourage action, and enhance the environment. 

As the Arboretum prepares to move into an ambitious comprehensive campaign with an anticipated goal of $150 million, the Senior Director of Principal and Major Gifts will expertly lead a significant division within the organization’s growing development enterprise. Reporting to the Vice President of Development (VP), Kathleen Spiess, the Senior Director will serve as a contributing member of the Arboretum’s development leadership team, helping identify and advance shared goals for fundraising as well as other institutional priorities. Leading by example, the Senior Director will manage an externally focused portfolio of individual donors and prospects to secure restricted and unrestricted gifts, while overseeing and building a team of high-performing gift officers responsible for devising and executing plans to qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors, thereby growing the Arboretum’s pipeline of individual donors making major and principal gifts.

Jack Gorman is leading this search with Nicole Poe and Sandeep Kaur. 

The Morton Arboretum is a champion for diversity, supporting a culture of inclusion that attracts, inspires, and engages people to achieve success. The Arboretum is committed to hire and develop employees based on job-related qualifications irrespective of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or veteran status. To increase diversity in professions related to the public garden realm, we encourage applications from underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The Arboretum is dedicated to complying with its obligations as