Education & Youth Development

Reporting to the Executive Director (ED), the Chief Development Officer (CDO) serves as a key leadership team member and an active participant in making strategic decisions affecting StartOut. In partnership with the ED and supported by the VP Development, this position is responsible for all fundraising and development activities. The successful candidate will leverage their relationships and knowledge of foundation and individual philanthropy to help forge new relationships to build StartOut’s visibility, impact, and financial resources.

The CDO is responsible for providing leadership, strategy, planning, and guidance for the comprehensive fundraising efforts and day-to-day management for key external alliances by first and foremost cultivating foundational and individual philanthropic support to complement StartOut’s success with corporate sponsors. The CDO is responsible for identifying an optimal pool of high-capacity prospects, supporters, and donors as well as representing the organization at key donor meetings, events, and fundraising conferences, articulating the organization’s innovative business model, operational strategies, and successes.  The CDO will streamline all fundraising activities, including identification, qualification, and assignment of prospects, as well as cultivation, solicitation, closure, and stewardship.

The CDO will have primary responsibility for establishing and implementing the infrastructure needed to grow a $2.4 million budget through the solicitation of foundation support, major gifts, federal and state grants, special events, and corporate sponsors.

She/he/they will expand and diversify StartOut’s donor base/pipeline from a primary dependence on corporations and corporate foundations with the CDO’s deep network of foundations, family offices and high net worth individuals and work closely with other team members to secure funding for new initiatives. In addition, the CDO will work closely with the board of directors and support board members as they take on a more active fundraising role.

It is expected that the amount raised by StartOut will increase in future years as the CDO systematically and effectively strengthens the organization’s overall fundraising capacity.  Over the last five years, StartOut’s budget has successfully grown at 38% annually primarily through corporate sponsors and corporate foundations. The new five-year strategy is targeting a $10 million budget by 2026.

Responsibilities

• Provide the StartOut with strong, creative, energetic, strategic leadership on all fundraising initiatives and set new, ambitious, but attainable goals in order to increase annual operating funds.
• Provide vision and comprehensive development strategy to build and manage a full-scale development program, including foundations and family offices, major gifts, planned-giving, federal grants, annual giving, gift processing and acknowledgment, and other support; convert fundraising results and programs into tangible accomplishments that StartOut benefactors care about and of which they can be proud.
• Support and partner with the ED and board members on all major fundraising initiatives.
• Actively partner with the VP of Development (a seasoned, successful professional with 3.5 years at StartOut focusing on corporate development) on cultivation, messaging, joint events, and stewardship of corporations and corporate foundations.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward gifts and pledges from an active portfolio of key major gift and foundation prospects; maintain and manage a personal portfolio of prospects at all times.
• Create the strategy, messaging, programs and outreach to add significant foundation support to StartOut’s revenue sources.
• Provide key support and strategy to significantly expand StartOut’s small portfolio of the most important principal gift donors.
• Identify new major gift sources, research funding sources and trends, serve as the organization’s primary knowledge source for funding opportunities and philanthropic outlets, lead the development team in efforts to significantly increase the numbers and size of major gifts, benchmark and keep abreast of important developments within the local, regional, and national funding landscape.
• Manage and nurture the current development team of three (VP of Development, deliverables manager and contract grant writer) to achieve or exceed their revenue targets; with the support of the COO and her team, manage margins, control costs, capitalize on operational efficiencies, develop high-end innovative donor event programs regionally and nationally, including expanding online opportunities to garner support.
• Plan and execute the recruitment, management, development, and retention of future professional and support staff in the development organization; evaluate all staff, develop a strong sense of teamwork, and establish an environment of mentoring and support; coach the team and bring strategic focus to the development department; foster a work ethic deeply rooted in innovation and a commitment to being the best at all times.
• Collaborate with the COO for growth, maintenance, and enhancement of the organization’s development database; manage fundraising and direct mail campaigns; foster innovation on the internet and social networking tools to optimize the use of technology in garnering contributed revenue.
• Develop, administer, and maintain the organization’s master prospect list as well as conduct appropriate follow-up and stewardship on all gifts.

Qualifications

• Development/Fundraising: Proven success in development for a large nonprofit. Experience running capital campaigns and success fundraising from multiple donor channels.
• Network: Strong relationships with foundations, family offices and high net worth individuals that can be immediately tapped to complement StartOut’s existing network.
• Project Leadership: Experience in planning, leading, and managing development projects, including coordinating with peers to achieve desired outcomes, and tracking and reporting on progress to senior managers/board of directors.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: Takes initiative and actively seeks to deepen current donor relationships and to forge new ones.
• Communications: Exemplary skills in creating powerful, compelling written and oral communications for fundraising. Ability to convey complex ideas through brief, simple materials. Experience and credibility when presenting materials to external audiences.
• Influencing: Gets others to accept ideas by using convincing arguments, creates a win-win situation and responds appropriately to key stakeholders.
• Collaboration: Effective at working with others to reach common goals and objectives
• Relationship Building: Skilled at establishing and cultivating strong relationships with peers, across different levels of the organization and externally.

Requirements

• 8-plus years of professional experience development leadership positions in a nonprofit organization; demonstrated success in a development function (managing and forging relationships with multiple donor sources) including tangible experience of having expanded and cultivated existing donor relationships over time.
  Bachelor’s Degree required; master’s preferred with strong academic credentials is strongly preferred.
  Demonstrated track record of effective solicitation, including a proven record of accomplishment in foundation, family office, and major gifts – from identification, planning, cultivation, implementation, management, and successful conclusion of major gifts and campaigns and ongoing stewardship.
  A person with passion and charisma; superior communication skills to express, both orally and in writing, the mission and fundraising goals of StartOut and its innovative model with clarity, passion, and persuasion; ability to credibly and compellingly present the StartOut story to external and internal constituencies.
  Action-oriented, hard-working with an ability to make decisions in a fast-paced, changing, and interactive environment; self-starting, self-motivating and ability to show results on time and in a highly ethical and professional manner; customer focused, dedicated to meeting and exceeding the expectations and requirements of internal and external constituents.
  Ability to work both independently without close oversight, but also a team player who will productively engage with others at varying levels of seniority within and outside StartOut.
  Demonstrated ability to provide management oversight, leadership, and strategic direction; ability to develop trust and strong collaborative working relationships; must be a team builder who is willing to empower staff to get the job done through providing the needed support; must have a history of recruiting and developing exceptional people.
  Strong competency in leading others to meet goals, establishing clear direction, setting objectives, and monitoring progress and results in a deadline driven environment.
  Deeply demonstrated passion for equality for the LGBTQ+ community.

Development Overview

StartOut overall raised $2.4 million annually and the office of development secures approximately 80% ($1.6 million) of this goal. Support for StartOut is generated from primarily corporations and their foundations, as well as major and individual gifts, and an annual appeals program. The Chief Development Officer will collaborate and work closely with development team, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chairperson and Executive Committee, the Chief Operating Officer, and Marketing/Communications professionals.

Location / Travel

StartOut is a fully virtual organization, so the CDO can be based anywhere.  It is anticipated that the CDO will travel for both internal meetings (with the StartOut board, executive team and development team) as well as external meetings (with StartOut prospects, donors, partners and others).

Compensation

StartOut provides a competitive salary with a potential bonus scheme, complemented by a generous health care and benefits package.

For more information or to Apply

Please send a note and resume to [email protected]

Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at StartOut, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.