Chief Development Officer

Job Title: Chief Development Officer

Reports To: President & CEO

Compensation: $150,000 | Work from Home Stipend | Health & Wellness Benefits

Location: Remote | Occasional Travel within the U.S.

ABOUT TFN

The Funders Network is a robust network of more than 130 national, regional and community foundations, intermediaries, and philanthropic organizations across the U.S. and Canada who are committed to supporting efforts to create communities and regions that are sustainable, prosperous and just.

We embrace a foundational and cross-cutting commitment to racial equity to address environmental, economic and social injustices—helping our members deepen connections, ignite action and improve outcomes.

TFN is committed to embodying an anti-racist and inclusive culture across the organization. In 2020, we began the implementation of our race equity framework, including identifying and budgeting resources to support our organizational capacity building, training and supporting staff and board development, creating systems of accountability, improving organizational policies and practices to be values aligned, strengthening communications, and capturing data and impact stories in an equitable way. We are looking for candidates who are motivated by and aligned in this direction and who also are comfortable with the necessity for and role of mobilizing resources for our work.

PASSION FOR THE MISSION

The Funders Network’s mission is to leverage philanthropy’s unique potential to help create communities and regions that are sustainable, prosperous, healthy and just for all people. TFN is committed to helping funders understand and address racism, economic inequality, and the imbalance of power—while engendering community-driven solutions and amplifying the expertise and experiences of those communities who are least heard.

WORKING AT THE INTERSECTION OF EQUITY, ECONOMY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

We believe that structural racism, inequity, and other social disparities are the root cause of our environmental and economic challenges. As a network, we are committed to questioning, challenging and confronting the systemic racial inequities and injustices that persist as malign influences on our policies, practices, and psyches.

Because the needs and perspectives of poor people and people who have been systemically racialized and marginalized in their identities are often unheard and systematically disregarded in decisions impacting every aspect of their lives, TFN is committed to helping funders understand and address racism, economic inequality and the imbalance of power while engendering community-driven solutions. In doing so, the network embraces the diversity of our staff, members and partners, and we are committed to lifting up and amplifying the expertise and experiences of those communities who are least heard.

We are looking for candidates who have demonstrated mission and values alignment.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Funders Network (TFN) is committed to building out a best-practices development and fundraising team on par with the overall excellence of the organization. Amid this environment of forward-looking investment and expansion, TFN is seeking a seasoned, entrepreneurial fundraising leader to propel its future in a period of transformation and growth.

Reporting directly to the President & CEO, the new position of Chief Development Officer (CDO) is an essential member of the Senior Leadership Team, working closely with the CEO, Executive Vice President, and Board to build and grow a comprehensive development program that helps ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization. They are a senior leader who plans and manages our organizational fundraising and development efforts, including working in partnership with the Executive Office, Board of Directors and staff team (which may grow or evolve in the future). They will be responsible for creating and implementing TFN’s fundraising strategy and leading a major-gifts-focused, comprehensive development program. They will be a key visioning and thought partner to the President for fundraising and organization-wide strategy, also serving as proxy for the President or other senior leaders when necessary.

The CDO position offers someone the chance to develop and lead a transformative fundraising initiative at a pivotal moment in TFN’s history, our 25th Anniversary. They will be responsible for spearheading new and innovative fundraising strategies to help shape the future of TFN, ensuring sustainable growth and equity for another 25 years.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Chief Development Officer will be an enthusiastic ambassador for The Funders Network and will foster catalytic growth, developing and deepening critical engagements with partners and driving broader awareness and philanthropic support for the organization. The CDO will lead the fundraising and development efforts to implement a comprehensive development strategy to significantly grow the organization’s revenue from a broad base of supporters, including foundations, individuals, giving circles, corporations, and government entities and meet its fundraising goals.

The CDO will join TFN during a critical moment in the organization’s history, including a yearlong celebration honoring our 25th Anniversary in 2025. The anniversary presents a unique opportunity to reenergize and reimagine TFN’s growth and fundraising strategy to position it for decades of continued impact. Alongside TFN’s 25th anniversary in 2025 are two additional programmatic milestones to recognize, leverage and align, including the 15th anniversary of our PLACES fellowship and alum network and a recapitalization campaign for Partners for Places (P4P), our primary grantmaking program.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated success in implementing, growing, and managing a high-performing development program, as well as a proven ability to partner with organizational leadership. They will have experience in successful solicitation strategies for high-capacity foundations, individuals, and corporate donors, and working with partners to support a comprehensive, multi-phased development effort.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Chief Development Officer will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of fundraising and ensuring alignment with organizational strategies and programming. The CDO will be expected to collaborate with various members of the organization, including team leads, to plan for various aspects of programmatic expansion and growth.

CDO’s use a variety of skills to drive organizational growth, including fundraising, strategic planning, public speaking, event planning, and marketing. Some key responsibilities of this position include:

Fundraising strategy development and implementation

• Develop strategies to grow TFN’s funding base and to diversify the organization’s revenue stream including identifying and cultivating funder prospects. They will be asked to work in partnership with the Chief Executive Officer to identify strategic funding priorities and operationalize with measurable goals.

• Create and implement a comprehensive fundraising and marketing strategy that includes goals, metrics and timelines for achieving fundraising targets.
• Lead and manage all aspects of the fundraising strategy.
• Work with the CEO and Board of Directors to develop and maintain a robust funder pipeline to support the organization’s long-term fundraising goals.
• Provide regular updates to the CEO and Board of Directors on fundraising progress and challenges and make recommendations for course correction as needed.
• Represent the organization in public forums and develop and maintain relationships with external stakeholders to advance TFN’s mission and goals.

Fundraising operations and data management

• Develop and maintain internal systems to track and support fundraising and development operations and ensure accountability and compliance standards for funding sources (working with TFN’s Salesforce database).
• Ensure the timely and accurate acknowledgement of all grants and donations and the proper stewardship of funder relationships.
• Work with the Director of Data and IT to identify and implement technology solutions to support fundraising and development operations.

Cross-team collaboration

• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning among the team and across the organization.
• Work closely with the Communications Team and others including staff, team leads, board of directors, steering committees, and funders to capture and share the TFN story to show impact and member engagement efforts.
• Work in partnership with the Communications Team to develop and implement a strategy to raise awareness of the organization’s mission, programs, and services to increase visibility and support.

• Work closely with the CEO and Board of Directors to develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including funders, members, and strategic partners.

• Drive awareness and advocacy of the organizational mission, need, and deliverables to expand mission impact and organizational growth.

Management & leadership

• Develop and implement performance metrics and evaluation tools to ensure the team’s performance meets or exceeds fundraising targets and other organizational goals.

• Lead the annual planning and budgeting process for development work, ensuring that goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
• Develop and maintain relationships with external stakeholders to advance the organization’s mission and goals.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and mentorship to direct reports to build their capacity to achieve fundraising goals and to support the organization’s mission and goals.
• Serve as a key member of the senior leadership team, working collaboratively with the CEO and other senior leaders to develop and implement the organization’s strategic plan and vision.

EXPERIENCE

While The Funders Network will consider a broad range of backgrounds, the ideal candidate will have most if not all of the following qualifications/experience:

• Seven years or more in nonprofit fundraising with increasingly responsible experience in the creation and execution of development strategies and major gift programs, with an established track record of growing a donor base and increasing philanthropic revenue.
• Broad knowledge of all functional areas comprising a multi-faceted, comprehensive development program (e.g., institutional, individual, major, planned, digital, and annual giving; special events; donor communications; stewardship; operations).
• Knowledge of and fundamental adherence to the principles, ethics and best practices of modern fundraising.
• Five or more years of experience managing a team. Ability to recruit, lead, evaluate, and develop staff and contribute to the ongoing fostering of a results-oriented, multiracial/multicultural workforce.
• Track record of maintaining best practices, clear goals, and shared accountability, as well as working across-teams when necessary to achieve results.
• Experience managing budgets and revenue forecasts.
• Demonstrated commitment to and understanding of how to build diversity, equity, and inclusion in the development function; culturally competent with respect to issues such as racial, cultural, religious, sexual, and gender identity.
• Demonstrated success in developing the case for support and strategic, innovative fundraising plans, and executing those plans to grow fundraising and exceed goals.
• Significant experience identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major gifts from institutional and individual donors at the level of six to seven figures or greater.
• A forward thinker with a track record of utilizing new methods of constituent engagement and connectivity.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate data into decision-making and strategy development.
• Working knowledge of modern data management practices and innovations that can streamline development processes and contribute to the integration of related functions.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The annual salary for the role is up to $150,000 commensurate with experience.

Benefit offerings include competitive options for health and dental insurance, paid-time-off (PTO), short and long-term disability insurance, a 401k retirement plan with match, employee assistance plan, ten (10) holidays plus generous office closures (including spring break, summer Fridays and winter break), and a quarterly remote office stipend and wellness benefit. Some of the benefits have shared employer and/or employee costs. Candidates should have the ability to occasionally travel on a national scale.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit application materials via this link: https://forms.fundersnetwork.org/f/apply-chief-development-officer:

• Resume
• A cover letter that explains: 1) how your skills and experiences are a fit for the responsibilities and qualifications of this position, and 2) why you are motivated to work for The Funders Network.

The position will be open until filled. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and those received before January 15th will be prioritized. Note that to ensure equity in the interview process, TFN has a policy of not doing informational interviews.

The Funders Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, gender, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. TFN is committed to building a healthy, diverse, and inclusive culture where all are treated equitably and are empowered whether receiving or delivering services.