Chief Development Officer (Chicago / Hybrid)

Feeding America•Chicago, IL

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Work. Serve. Thrive. Imagine a place where your talent can make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives. Working at Feeding America is a uniquely rewarding experience in which our employees work together as vital parts of a much larger mission. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results. Feeding America is the nation’s largest charity and the leading domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States. Our mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger. This position is based out of Feeding America’s Chicago office. At Feeding America, we believe in offering a flexible work environment. Employees can be in the office an average of 2 days a week (when not travelling for work) and work from home on other days. Employees also have access to a 30-day “work anywhere” program during the course of each calendar year that can be combined with PTO and/or holidays. The Chief Development Officer (CDO) serves as lead strategist and enterprise leader accountable for delivering sustained, year-over-year philanthropic revenue growth (currently $225–$250M annually) through best-in-class, disciplined fundraising practices and integrated revenue strategy in fulfilling Feeding America’s mission and strategic goals. The CDO is responsible for embedding a vibrant, organization-wide culture of philanthropy and stewardship that actively engages the staff and the Board as committed partners in philanthropy. The CDO leads execution of all revenue generating enterprises (in collaboration with direct marketing) and sets clear performance expectations for donor acquisition, increased giving among existing donors, and reduced donor attrition through rigorous, data-driven donor prospecting, segmentation, moves management, and stewardship across all teams and leaders. The CDO directs development and implementation of strategies to grow multi-faceted strategic partnerships, cultivate high-capacity, consistent, transformational donors, expand markets and engage the Feeding America Board in resource development. The CDO plays a critical role in supporting network-wide fundraising capacity building and oversees the development and maintenance of best-in-class systems and standards, including but not limited to revenue management and forecasting, analytics and reporting, donor stewardship and cultivation, employee engagement, prospect research, and donor recognition. They hold leaders accountable for disciplined application and continuous improvement and will serve as a member of Feeding America’s Executive Team, responsible for aligning investment decisions (including acquisition and capacity investments) to measurable return and sustainable enterprise growth. Russell Reynolds Associates, the global search and leadership advisory firm, has been exclusively engaged to lead this search. Please direct all inquiries and expressions of interest (applications) to: [email protected]

Requirements

Visionary, metrics-driven fundraiser with a proven track record building transformational relationships and delivering sustained year-over-year revenue growth through disciplined best practices, strong stewardship, and accountable performance management
Broad and deep fundraising experience with proven ability to secure multi-million, multi-year, multi-faceted corporate/cause marketing partnerships, high-net-worth individuals, and foundations, and to build scalable pipelines with rigorous prospecting and stewardship
Experience in a complex, networked, or federated environment where collaboration, co-creation, and consistent standards are critical success factors
Experience cultivating transformational principal gifts and partnerships including the development and execution of highly-customized donor cultivation strategies, solicitation approaches and donor stewardship and leveraging these gifts for maximum impact through effective planning and project management
Ability to elicit, understand and synthesize complex information and translate that information into a case for support that motivates constituents to give
A track record of effective leadership in active listening, relationship building and thoughtfully stewarding the highest-level corporate and foundation executives, high-net worth individuals, and other key influencers
Accomplished, compelling, public speaker with demonstrated experience engaging audiences of varying sizes in formal and informal settings and directing the execution and planning of events and activities to engage donors
Fosters an Enterprise Mindset
Fosters an Open and Supportive Environment
Leads with Accountability
Collaborates Internally and Externally
Focuses on People and Teams
Manages Organization and Business Complexity
Communicates with Impact and Influence

Responsibilities

Expanding the top of the donor pyramid by strengthening stewardship, increasing in-person engagement, and accelerating movement of donors into top-tier giving
Sustaining a strong corporate fundraising engine while building a more robust and diversified individual giving pipeline, including major and planned gifts
Building trust and alignment with local food banks, ensuring proactive coordination on donor strategy and maximizing the “Better Together” approach to fundraising
Establishing clear KPIs, strengthening forecasting and pipeline management, and driving consistent execution across teams to improve fundraising outcomes
Providing strong people leadership to a talented but process-heavy organization, reinforcing accountability, ownership, and a culture of excellence
Driving results with a newly appointed CEO, Denis McDonough, supporting his first year in relationship-building, goal-setting, and storytelling
Capitalizing on CRM investments and large-scale donor data to enable more sophisticated segmentation, predictive insights, and donor strategies
Partnering closely across marketing, supply chain, and other functions to deliver more coordinated, multi-channel fundraising strategies