Chief Development Officer

HRG Retained Search•Lexington, VA

About The Position

United Way of the Bluegrass is seeking a Chief Development Officer (CDO) to lead its comprehensive fundraising strategy and drive philanthropic growth across individual, corporate, foundation, planned-giving, and community partnerships. The CDO is a key member of the Executive Leadership Team and reports directly to the President & CEO. The role oversees a year-round, full-cycle development program focused on sustainable, diversified revenue that advances the organization’s mission and resilience. The CDO will develop and deliver multi-year fundraising strategies and annual plans, cultivate and solicit major donors, expand unrestricted and flexible philanthropic revenue, and lead planned giving, endowment, stewardship, corporate partnership, and fundraising-event efforts. The role leads and develops the Resource Development team and directs prospect research, donor segmentation, moves management, CRM discipline, budgets, performance measurement, dashboards, and forecasts. The CDO works across the organization to align donor opportunities and impact commitments with strategy and program capacity; partners with Communications on donor-facing materials; coordinates with program and funding-administration leaders where institutional donor relationships overlap with grants; and works with Finance on gift recording and reporting. Grant writing, government contracts, contract management, procurement, and grant compliance are not directly supervised by the CDO. The role is expected to uphold applicable gift-acceptance, endowment, donor privacy, fundraising ethics, and authority policies, and to elevate exceptional or nonstandard gift decisions for appropriate review. The CDO will develop an annual performance scorecard with the President & CEO covering sustainable fundraising outcomes, revenue mix, donor acquisition and retention, major gifts, planned-giving and endowment pipelines, partnership and event results, fundraising efficiency, forecast accuracy, CRM discipline, stewardship, staff development, and Board participation.

Requirements

Progressive nonprofit fundraising leadership, including personal success securing major gifts and managing full-cycle fundraising strategies; generally eight or more years of relevant experience or comparable achievement.
Experience managing and developing fundraisers, leading revenue plans, and holding teams accountable with sound executive judgment and empathy.
Working experience with planned or legacy giving, major gifts, corporate philanthropy, donor stewardship, and relationship-based fundraising.
Ability to develop credible fundraising budgets, interpret financial and donor data, use a CRM to manage pipeline performance, and clearly communicate forecasts and results.
Strong interpersonal, executive communication, public speaking, major-gift solicitation, negotiation, and cross-functional leadership skills.
Commitment to ethical fundraising, donor confidentiality, respectful community relationships, and responsible stewardship of donor intent.

Nice To Haves

Experience building an endowment fundraising program or securing complex or noncash gifts in collaboration with financial and legal experts.
Experience with workplace campaigns, corporate executive partnerships, leadership giving societies, revenue-generating fundraising events, multi-year fundraising initiatives, or the United Way network.
Familiarity with Central Kentucky’s philanthropic environment.
CFRE or CAP certification; valued but not required.

Responsibilities

Develop and deliver a multi-year fundraising strategy and annual operating plan with revenue goals, donor segments, campaign priorities, ownership, forecast assumptions, and performance measures.
Lead workplace and annual giving campaigns; individual and leadership giving; major and transformational gifts; corporate philanthropy and sponsorships; recurring gifts; and giving societies.
Expand unrestricted and flexible philanthropic revenue, improve donor retention and lifetime value, and diversify funding sources.
Maintain an executive portfolio of major and prospective donors and personally lead discovery, cultivation, solicitation, negotiation, closure, and stewardship of significant gifts and multi-year commitments.
Design and advance planned and legacy giving opportunities, including bequest intentions, beneficiary designations, and other suitable giving vehicles in consultation with qualified advisers.
Lead the philanthropic strategy for endowment growth, including cases for support, prospect development, donor conversations, and suitable gift structures subject to governing policies and approval.
Build a donor-centered stewardship program with accurate acknowledgments, impact reporting, personalized engagement, recognition, renewal, and donor reactivation.
Ensure nonstandard gifts and donor restrictions receive appropriate legal, financial, executive, or Board review before binding commitments are made.
Strengthen corporate partnerships through executive engagement, workplace campaigns, employee giving, matching gifts, sponsorships, and multi-year philanthropic investment; equip Board members and volunteers to support donor cultivation.
Lead fundraising events from strategy through execution, including revenue and sponsorship goals, donor engagement, budgets, delivery with internal partners and vendors, and conversion of event participants into sustained donor relationships.
Evaluate fundraising events by net proceeds, fundraising efficiency, and donor experience.
Lead, coach, evaluate, and develop the Resource Development team; establish individual portfolios, measurable outcomes, accountability, and succession continuity.
Direct prospect research, qualification, moves management, donor segmentation, contact reporting, and CRM data integrity through the Donor Intelligence & CRM function.
Manage departmental resources within delegated authority and evaluate fundraising effectiveness, campaign costs, pipeline coverage, return on investment, and staff capacity.
Provide development dashboards and forecasts that distinguish pledges, cash received, restricted and unrestricted giving, donor pipeline, and anticipated closings.
Collaborate with Community Impact leadership to align donor opportunities and impact promises with organizational strategy, program capacity, and credible outcome information.
Partner with Communications on donor-facing campaigns, materials, and recognition.
Coordinate with the Chief Programs Officer and Funding Administration when private foundation and institutional donor relationships overlap with program grants.
Work with Finance on gift recording, receipting, reconciliation, donor restrictions, pledge status, and financial reporting while maintaining segregation of duties and delegated approval limits.
Follow applicable gift-acceptance, endowment, donor privacy, fundraising ethics, and authority policies; elevate decisions before accepting exceptional gifts or commitments when needed.
Develop an annual performance scorecard with the President & CEO covering the specified measures of sustainable fundraising and organizational performance.