Chief Development Officer

Leadership and Strategy:

• Serve as a key member of the executive team as part of the collaborative
group that drives and shapes the mission, culture, and operation of Food
Lifeline overall; while advising senior leadership on philanthropic,
volunteerism, and marketing and communications issues.
• Ensure strategic alignment and integration across fundraising,
marketing/communications, and volunteer engagement functions so that
community engagement, storytelling, and philanthropy reinforce and amplify
one another.
• Direct the development department’s strategic plan and ensure the creation
of cohesive, cross-functional annual plans that align fundraising growth,
brand evolution, and volunteer engagement with Food Lifeline’s broader
organizational strategy.
• Promote a culture of philanthropy to drive social justice, demonstrating a
commitment to using equity as a process and an outcome for the Development team’s work while fostering a culture of engagement that values volunteers and community members as essential partners in advancing Food
Lifeline’s mission.
• Recruit, motivate and lead a high-performance team in alignment with Food
Lifeline’s core values and desired culture. Manage the workflow of assigned
staff, manage performance and make fair and equitable staffing decisions.
Encourage and empower staff development and other employee professional
growth opportunities.
• Support the President and CEO and overall organization working to ensure we maintain strong strategic communication with the board.

Fund Development:
• Responsible for the oversight, planning and implementation of a
comprehensive fund development program and strategy that secures
significant financial resources from foundations, corporations, and individuals
to support Food Lifeline’s mission.
• Work with senior staff to establish fundraising goals and accountability for
these goals.
• Oversee the implementation and expansion of a digital engagement strategy
that moves individuals through an integrated ladder of awareness, action,
advocacy, and giving.
• Drive all major gifts functions, which may include planned giving, principal
gifts, donor prospecting and research, and special multi-year fundraising
campaigns.
• Responsible for moving a select group of prospects. Focus on long-range
strategic priorities, advance the goals, and communicate a broad vision to
others. Understand and comply with all gift-related policies and procedures
and ensures ethical compliance
• In partnership with the CEO and key Board members, develop and define
roles for board in fundraising for Food Lifeline. Provide staff leadership for
Board fundraising efforts
• Ensure we have proactive, effective, and strategic communications with the
board as necessary.
• Partner closely with Marketing and Communications and Volunteer
Engagement leadership to ensure that donor cultivation, storytelling, and
community experiences are coordinated and mutually reinforcing.

Marketing and Communications:
• Responsible for the oversight, planning, and implementation of a
comprehensive marketing and communications strategy that advances
revenue goals while strengthening Food Lifeline’s public voice, credibility, and
leadership in addressing hunger and its root causes.
• Oversee marketing efforts; steward, grow, and evolve Food Lifeline’s brand to deepen community investment in our mission.
• Ensure inclusive and empowering messaging that centers the dignity of
people experiencing hunger.
• Ensure alignment between brand strategy, fundraising priorities, volunteer
engagement efforts, and organizational messaging to create a unified and
compelling community narrative.
• Ensure we provide clear messaging and talking points for the President and
CEO and Board. Volunteer Engagement
• Oversee strategies designed to deepen engagement of volunteers as
ambassadors, advocates, and partners in advancing Food Lifeline’s mission.
• Oversee the development of a scalable volunteer engagement infrastructure
and volunteer-leadership pipeline capable of meeting Food Lifeline’s
operational needs while deepening community connection and long-term
engagement.
• Ensure volunteer strategy is aligned with operational requirements,
community partnerships, and philanthropic goals.
• Ensure we have adequate volunteer recruitment to meet the business needs
of Food Lifeline.
• Foster an environment where volunteers feel graciously engaged, deeply
informed about our mission, and are meaningfully contributing to the roles
that inspire them.
• Faster an environment that focuses on safety standards for our community
volunteers.

Job Scope:

This position:
• Has a wide diversity of work situations and high level of work complexity.
• Develops practices that govern work of self and others at all levels of the
organization.
• Performs work independently with minimal supervision.
• Decisions are made within broad interpretation of applicable laws, guidelines, policies, and parameters.

Supervisory Responsibility:
This position directly manages three senior leaders including the Director of
Marketing and Communications, Director of Volunteer Engagement, Director of Fund Development, and is responsible for fostering strong cross-functional collaboration between Development and other organizational departments to ensure alignment and shared accountability.

Interpersonal Contacts:
Contacts are mainly internal and are frequently confidential and sensitive in nature.
• Internal 60% • External 40%
• In person 60% • Telephone 10% • E-mail 30%

Specific Job Skills:
• Ability to create, articulate, and implement strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to lead integrated, multi-disciplinary teams and align
fundraising, communications, and engagement strategies in service of shared
organizational goals.
• Ability to balance revenue growth with mission integrity and values-based
storytelling.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills, including engaging and
effective presentation and public speaking skills and the ability to move
audiences from one point of view to another along a defined
education/communication arc.
• Knowledge of the nature and dimensions of philanthropy, ethics, motivations
for giving, research and cultivation practices, standard fundraising techniques
including face-to-face solicitation, proposal writing, special events, telephone
solicitation, and direct mail.
• Experience serving as the member of a non-profit executive team and ability
to manage contributing staff with high levels of experience in a way that
promotes collaboration and teamwork across disciplines.
• Experience in working with board volunteers and an understanding of best
practices
• Exceptional interpersonal, communication and diplomacy skills.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills with the ability to plan, follow
through and complete complex projects.
• Ability to adapt to changing needs and drive change across the organization.
• Ability to handle sensitive information and maintain confidentiality.