Resume
Steve Christensen
930 Sandlewood Ct., Lake Zurich IL 60047
847.702.1630 (cell)
Career Objective
To provide leadership and expertise to an organization that is making a significant positive impact in their community and beyond.
Career History
2016-Present
Director of Annual Fund and Donor Relations
Northern Illinois Food Bank, Geneva IL
One of Forbes Top 100 Charites (2020-present), Northern Illinois Food Bank is one of the largest in the Feeding America network, supporting 900 food pantries and feeding sites across a 13-county service area, with locations in Geneva, Park City, Rockford, and Joliet Illinois. Since 2016, fundraising goal from individuals has grown from $5M to $16M during Covid, and currently stands at $12M. My team has exceeded our goal each year. Areas of individual and team responsibility include direct mail, digital fundraising, phone campaigns, donor stewardship, planned giving, individual donor portfolios, revenue forecasting and expense budgeting, gift entry, website management, and reporting. In 2023 I was also given supervision of the Signature Events team.
2012-2016
Donor Development, Global Ministry Advancement Team
Awana International, formerly in Streamwood IL ($44M operating budget, ministry to 3.5M kids in 117 countries)
Founded in 1950, Awana is a worldwide ministry specializing in leadership training that results in effective child evangelism and discipleship. I had the opportunity to revamp our direct response fundraising, solicit and steward individual mid- and major level donors, and engage local church leadership in supporting both our ministry and our missionaries. I led the effort along with senior leaders to retool our methods and goals for engaging donor churches.
2007-2012
Director of Communication
1996-2007
Director of Programming & Music
Alpine Chapel, Lake Zurich IL (now known as Hope Collective)
Alpine Chapel is a non-denominational community church in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. This community, and church, grew rapidly from 250 to 1000 during the economic boom of the late 90s, but suffered during the economic downturn of the early 2000s. I was privileged to work under two excellent senior pastors, two interim pastors, and three executive pastors, and was an integral part of a $2 million capital and building campaign. Relying heavily on volunteers, I recruited, trained and led teams of artists, technicians and workers to produce consistently excellent weekend services. I oversaw or created all outgoing and internal communication including the website, newsletters, appeals and pastoral communication.
Education
B.A., Columbia College Chicago (Advertising)
Trinity International University, Deerfield IL (General studies)
Experience
-Direct response fundraising strategy, production, and execution
-Fundraising from individual donors and organizations
-Donor solicitation and stewardship
-Vendor/contractor selection and management
-Supervision of database operations
-Directing and facilitating both internal and external communication
-Representing brands in the community (public events and local associations)
-Development and production of promotional, public relations, and advertising materials
-Budget projection and management
-Building and managing teams of employees and volunteers for multiple departments
-Selection and training of team leaders
-Writing and editing materials for public and internal distribution
-Supervision of design & production of printed and electronic materials
-Conception and production of live events (services, concerts, conferences, fundraisers)
-Public speaking; hosting (emcee) of live events
Other Experience
2012-2022
Conference Information Team Lead, Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit
Recruit, train and lead a team of 40+ volunteers to serve 10,000 campus guests at annual 2-day conference.
Skills
Leadership, writing, public speaking, event production, graphic arts, video and multimedia production, performing arts, advanced computer skills, building trades. Proficient in Raiser’s Edge, Adobe Creative Suite, MS Office. Experience in Salesforce, Asana, Jira, WordPress, Google Analytics.
Salary Requirement
Negotiable. Willing to relocate.
References
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