MAKE Literary Productions: An Overview

The organization behind the annual Lit & Luz Festival, MAKE Literary Productions, NFP, supports, promotes, and engages contemporary writers, artists, and audiences through publishing, multidisciplinary arts events, and international cultural exchange between the US and Mexico. MAKE Literary Productions consists of the Board of Directors, Executive Director, part-time Operations Directors, part-time Artistic Directors, part-time Grant Writer, part-time contractors, and volunteer programmers.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Individual Giving Manager oversees the planning of and administration of MAKE’s individual-giving fundraising endeavors for operations and program expenses. This position builds on and expands MAKE’s foundation- and government-giving program. This is a part-time, non-benefited independent contractor position. 

To apply, please submit a resume to jobs@makemag.org. Submissions received before May 13, 2025, will receive priority consideration. Materials will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Learn more about MAKE and Lit & Luz at makelit.org and litluz.org. A weekly one-on-one meeting is available to help with onboarding for this position. 

Location: Remote (familiarity with Chicago arts programming desired) 

Compensation: $30 per hour. The Individual Giving Manager is an independent contractor position, and payments are rendered as biweekly invoices provided to the Executive Director. 

The Role

The Individual Giving Manager creates and implements the strategy for individual and corporate giving and collaborates with the Grant Writer on government and foundation giving. This position leads all donor outreach efforts, builds from and stewards the current donor portfolio, adds prospects, and manages an annual giving campaign. Goals for adding prospects and donation totals to be set with the Board of Directors.

This position liaises with the Executive Director, grant writing team, accountants, partnerships and sponsorships coordinator, and the Board of Directors. 

Individual tasks include the following: 

• Research individual and corporate prospects to support operations and program expenses

• Expand the existing pipeline of relationships at all levels–individual, foundation, and government–and help the Executive Director, Grant Writer, and Board leverage those connections to support programming

• Identify new sources of support, build out a diverse portfolio of donor prospects, draft and send letters of interest, and maintain other regular forms of communication with prospects

• Using existing materials from the Program team, update proposals, collaboration descriptions, and artist background materials for use in fundraising and overall organizational outreach

• Creates and executes an annual giving campaign 

• Work with Executive Director and Operations Directors on overall calendar to capitalize on development opportunities 

• Meets or exceeds goals set by the Board of Directors for donations and prospects.

This ideal candidate is organized, comfortable with spreadsheets and platforms such as Airtable, and an effective communicator. Demonstrated success as a fundraiser and time-management skills are crucial for this role.

MAKE Literary Productions, NFP is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination as an Equal Opportunity Employer. MAKE’s policy is to maintain and promote nondiscrimination regarding race, color, creed, national origin or ancestry, marital status, gender, physical or mental handicap unrelated to ability, sexual orientation, religion, political philosophy, unfavorable discharge from military service or age in all phases of employment practices and facilities in accordance with all applicable laws. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.