CATHY S. HAMPTON PROSPECT DEVELOPMENT SERVICES Preparation Discipline Support CAREER BACKGROUND: Cathy Hampton entered the field of philanthropy in 1982 when she joined the development staff of her alma mater, DePaulUniversity, where she had previously earned an undergraduate degree in English and dual M.A. degrees in English Literature and in Continental Philosophy.
From 1982 - 1992, Cathy served as a development and stewardship officer at DePaul during two capital campaigns that resulted in the growth of DePaul's Lincoln Park campus and DePaul's current status as the largest Catholic university in the nation. After DePaul, she moved on to serve as a major gifts officer for the National Alzheimer's Association (1993 – 1996), designing the Association's first donor visit program and working with national board members on their solicitation campaigns. In recognition of the skills she learned during her years of writing and doing research in graduate school, she then joined the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Chicago-Kent College Law, serving first as Director of Prospect Research during IIT's Galvin/Pritzker $250 million challenge campaign, and then as Director of Grants and Prospect Research at IIT's law school.
In 2000, Cathy joined the Archdiocese of Chicago as its first Director of Grants and Donor Research. In this role, she researched major gift prospects for a $200 million campaign, developed and wrote proposals, grant applications and progress reports, participated in a successful team approach to the Lilly Endowment ($2 million grant for a lay pastoral ministry program) and to the McCormick Tribune Foundation ($1 million grant for a theological resource center).
In 2003, Cathy began her own consulting business, continuing to work with the Archdiocese of Chicago, University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, Divine Word Missionaries and the Chicago History Museum. During this period of time (2003 – 2006), she also accepted an assignment to serve as Director of Institutional Development at her high school alma mater, which had evolved over the years from Jones Commercial High School to Jones College Prep (JCP), today one of the top four selective enrollment high schools in the Chicago Public School System. During her time at JCP, Cathy wrote grants for technology and for curriculum development programs. In 2005, JCP received a prestigious grant of wireless laptops and accessories for student use in special projects from the Beaumont Foundation of America. She also was instrumental in revitalizing the activities of the JCP Business Advisory Council, a group of business leaders and real estate developers in Chicago's Loop and South Loop areas, which was chaired by the President of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
In 2006, Cathy accepted an assignment as Director of Development and later as Consultant at the Mosaic Foundation in Washington, D.C. In 2007, she returned to Chicago to renew a consulting relationship with the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary and to begin consulting with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, SOS Children's Villages Illinois and Friends of the Orphans/Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos in the areas of major gift prospect identification and research, proposal development and grantwriting.
