Chief Relationship Officer

Communities Foundation of Texas•University Park, TX

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About The Position

The mission of Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) is to improve the lives of all people in our community by investing in their health, wealth, living, and learning. CFT works to accomplish this by growing community giving, expanding community impact, and advancing community equity. With a vision of building thriving communities for all, CFT works locally and across the state with many individuals, families, companies, foundations, and nonprofits through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. CFT professionally manages more than 1,400 charitable funds and has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since its founding in 1953. CFT is committed to serving and understanding donor needs, expertly handling complex gifts, wisely managing charitable funds, and leveraging its community knowledge to increase charitable impact, in addition to powering several initiatives including the W. W. Caruth, Jr. Fund at CFT, the Center for Business Impact, Educate Texas at CFT, Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy at CFT, GiveWisely, and CFT’s North Texas Giving Day. CFT’s North Texas Giving Day raised more than $78 million in 2025 to help over 3,500 North Texas nonprofits, and has raised more than $712 million since its inception in 2009. Learn more at CFTexas.org.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required
At least ten years of progressively responsible experience in relationship management, donor engagement, business development, fund development, professional services, philanthropy, or a comparable goal-oriented environment.
Demonstrated success building and managing prospect pipelines, cultivating complex relationships, and converting relationships into significant gifts, business opportunities, organizational growth, or community impact.
Strong understanding of charitable giving vehicles, donor-advised funds, planned giving, complex gifts, philanthropic motivations, and the needs of high-net-worth individuals, families, businesses, and professional advisors.
Proven ability to lead high-performing teams, set clear expectations, build accountability, develop talent, and foster cross-functional collaboration.
Executive presence, sound judgment, and exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to represent CFT credibly with varied internal and external audiences.
High degree of integrity, discretion, emotional intelligence, and judgment in handling confidential information, sensitive donor matters, complex relationships, and strategic priorities.
Comfort using data, Salesforce or other relationship management systems, and reporting tools to track pipeline activity, measure progress, guide decisions, and support accountability.
Willingness and ability to travel moderately and attend occasional evening or community events as needed.
Ability to model CFT’s core competencies of Communication, Collaboration, and Trust, as well as leadership competencies including Leadership, People Management, Developing and Retaining Talent, and Team Building.

Nice To Haves

Graduate degree in business, nonprofit management, philanthropy, public administration, law, finance, or a related field preferred.
Experience with community foundations, public charities, family offices, financial institutions, professional advisory firms, or other mission-driven organizations preferred.
Familiarity with compliance, governance, grantmaking, and operational considerations relevant to community foundations or nonprofit organizations preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead an organization-wide strategy to grow community giving, expand the donor and prospect pipeline, deepen fund holder engagement, and increase gifts, new funds, planned giving commitments, and other charitable opportunities aligned with CFT’s mission.
Build consistent practices for understanding donor goals, family dynamics, philanthropic interests, and long-term charitable intent, including legacy planning, complex gifts, multigenerational giving, and customized giving opportunities.
Strengthen relationships with attorneys, financial advisors, estate planners, accountants, and other trusted advisors so CFT is viewed as a preferred partner for charitable planning and giving solutions.
Lead cultivation strategies for high-net-worth individuals and families, including prospect identification, relationship mapping, tailored engagement plans, and collaboration with legal, finance, investment, and program colleagues.
Connect donors and prospects with timely information about community needs, strategic initiatives, nonprofit partners, funding opportunities, and philanthropic approaches aligned with their interests.
Ensure responsive, consistent, high-quality service to donors and fund holders, with clear standards for stewardship, issue resolution, communication, grantmaking support, and relationship management.
Support the Center for Business Impact in cultivating companies, developing business giving strategies, employee engagement opportunities, corporate philanthropy solutions, and related offerings.
Leverage North Texas Giving Day as a relationship-building platform for donors, prospective fund holders, nonprofit discovery, employee giving campaigns, and business engagement.
Partner with Marketing and Communications to ensure donor, advisor, business, and prospect communications are coordinated, compelling, mission-aligned, and reflective of CFT’s value proposition.
Strengthen the use of Salesforce and related systems to organize relationship data, track pipeline activity, measure progress, support reporting, and guide staff accountability and leadership decision-making.
Lead, coach, and develop the Relationships department by setting clear goals and performance measures, fostering collaboration, strengthening staff capability, and building a culture of service, trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Serve on the Executive Leadership Committee, contribute to enterprise-wide strategy, represent donor and partner insights, promote cross-functional alignment, and represent CFT credibly with donors, advisors, businesses, nonprofit and civic leaders, and community partners.