Ravinia, North America's oldest music festival, stands today as its most musically diverse, presenting over 140 different events throughout the summer. These concerts run the gambit from Yo-Yo Ma to John Legend to the annual summer residency of the nation's finest orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The 36-acre park is nestled in a gently wooded area that makes it an enchanting place to experience music. Guests can bring their own picnics or eat at one of the park restaurants.

Our Mission

As a nonprofit organization, community outreach and music education initiatives are our mission. Over 80,000 people are served through Ravinia's Reach*Teach*Play programs each year, ensuring that great music remains accessible to all.

The Seasonal Development Assistant: Operations provides support to the Development Department at Ravinia as an important member of the Operations team. This position also plays a role in Ravinia’s Donor Concierge Service, an exclusive benefit for Ravinia’s Opus ($4,000) donors and above that provides VIP service with ticketing and dining needs. The position offers an opportunity to gain valuable experience in fundraising, philanthropy, donor relations, and day-to-day operations of a non-profit arts organization.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide assistance with dining reservations, ticketing and other requests to all of Ravinia’s donors, with a special emphasis on Opus and above donors, during the donor ticket request period in March and throughout the summer.
• Assist in tracking the Donor Concierge ticket and dining reservation waitlist in a very detailed manner for sold out concerts.
• Answer a high volume of phone calls and email inquiries from current and prospective donors during the donor ticket request period and the summer.
• Use Ravinia’s three databases to perform various core job functions such as reserve, sell, and exchange tickets, place dining reservation requests, and enter donations.
• Assist in representing the Donor Concierge Service in a professional and respectful manner to ensure the highest level of service for Opus and Guarantor donors in Ravinia’s restaurants as needed.
• Support the execution of the Ravinia Associates’ Music Matters benefit on Saturday, May 11, 2019 and the Women’s Board Gala benefit over the summer.
• Provide assistance to the box office on public sales day by assisting patrons by phone.
• Assist in planning various VIP events including but not limited to tracking event RSVPs, help assemble materials, generate event correspondence, and support event execution.
• Special projects and other duties as assigned, including providing administrative support for Development department as needed, and assisting at various department events throughout the year such as season previews and donor receptions.
• Assists in concert duty coverage.

Knowledge and Skills Required: 

• Strong customer service, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Superior verbal and written communication skills
• Capability to multitask and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Ability to handle stressful situations
• Excellent listening skills
• Extremely detail oriented
• Ability to accept feedback and desire to grow professionally
• Capability to problem solve quickly, calmly, and effectively in a variety of situations
• Work well in a team environment across departments as well as independently 
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Experience working in Raiser’s Edge is a plus, but not required

Education and Experience: 

• Some college or higher preferred
• Experience in customer service, fundraising position preferred

1. This is a valued position that contributes heavily to the success of the Development Department and Operations team. Applicant must be prepared to dedicate their summer and to work many evenings and weekends.
2. This is a full time position to start on February 25 and will go through the end of the season in mid-September.