Role Description

The Chief Development Officer (CDO) will serve as a member of the executive leadership team and will provide leadership, strategy, and management for all components of the organization's fundraising and revenue generation. Cure Blindness Project is looking for a leader who has a vision to build upon current strengths and relationships, embrace new opportunities and thinking, and lead our organization in designing and executing a clear, multi-year plan to sustain and grow our revenue base of $40M. The ideal candidate will bring deep acquisition and stewardship experience, show a proven commitment to team development, and exhibit the collaborative nature to work closely with the CEO, other functional leaders, and the Board of Directors to bring their vision to life.

Essential Job Functions

• Development Portfolio Management
  • Develop and oversee annual Development goals, priorities, and key deliverables that support the overall organizational plans.
  • In collaboration with Finance, build the annual budget and track results on an ongoing basis to assess and forecast organizational revenue expectations.
  • Assess current strengths and opportunities of Cure Blindness Project fundraising portfolio.
  • Develop a comprehensive, data-driven fundraising plan that continues to steward and grow a strong base of individual donors and build plans to support additional expansion in areas of legacy giving, institutional giving, corporate partnerships, or other avenues as identified.
  • Personally manage a portfolio of approximately 125-150 HNWI donors and support others managing portfolios of major donors.
  • Track portfolio activity, key metrics, communication, and progress.
  • Create a comprehensive cultivation and solicitation plan for donors and prospects in the portfolios and execute strategies that fulfill donors’ goals and increase giving.
  • Provide guidance and support to development personnel, other senior leaders, or Board members to support their effective stewardship of donors and potential donors.
  • Oversee grants acquisition and grants management, including establishing best-in-class practices for grants research, application, and subsequent reporting.
  • Collaborate with staff, board, and volunteers to align prospect interests to Cure Blindness Project's highest priority needs.
  • Work with leadership and program staff to develop fundraising strategies around emerging organizational projects and priorities.
  • Collaborate with CMO and marketing team to create compelling correspondence, including solicitations, cultivation pieces, proposals, reports, and other stewardship materials, to engage high-value donors and prospects.
  • Serve as a key liaison to the Board of Directors (along with CEO) for regular updates and to leverage Board networks; Lead the Strategic Development committee of the Board.
• Management and Organizational Leadership
  • Contribute to organizational strategy as a member of Cure Blindness Project’s leadership team, including the development of organization-wide and department annual goals, strategies, and desired outcomes, along with the development of corresponding budgets.
  • Lead and develop a team of 8 staff members.
  • Ensure each team member has a clear understanding of their role scope and deliverables.
  • Establish clear expectations to motivate and assess team effectiveness.
  • Provide guidance, feedback, coaching, and mentoring to enable team members to continually develop and improve their effectiveness while also building a collaborative, motivated team.
  • Manage Development team staffing and hiring processes.
  • Oversee Development systems, infrastructure, and processes (CRM, prospect research, gift processing).

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree preferred.
• Minimum of fifteen years’ experience in fundraising, including increasing levels of leadership in portfolio and team management and executing against multi-year plans.
• Minimum of 10 years managing and developing a team of fundraising professionals.
• Proven track record of raising funds from diverse sources, including major gifts from individuals, foundations, corporations, and other grant organizations.
• Tangible experience of having expanded and cultivated existing donor relationships over time; this includes donor stewardship and solicitation, event planning, grant writing, contracts management, and database management.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral; ability to influence and engage a wide range of donors and build long-term relationships across a variety of stakeholders with different communication styles and needs.
• Proven commitment to collaboration and productive relationship building across diverse groups of people and perspectives.
• Familiarity with donor tracking systems, preferably a detailed knowledge of Salesforce and how to leverage data for clear strategic prioritization.
• Experience working in a global health iNGO, ideally with familiarity with eye health.
• Experience working with a Board of Directors on strategy and supporting stewardship and acquisition efforts.
• A sense of discretion and a high degree of professionalism is required, including the ability to maintain confidentiality of highly sensitive information.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Detail-oriented and able to efficiently prioritize tasks and demonstrate follow-through.
• Flexibility to adjust and contribute to continually evolving work situations and changing priorities.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% when needed for donor interactions.
• Willingness and ability to work across multiple time zones, including participating in morning and evening calls.
• Excellent computer skills and technical aptitude, proficient with MS Office and ideally Salesforce.
• Committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at a time.

Company Description

Cure Blindness Project encourages applications from people of all races, religions, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and ages, as well as veterans and individuals with disabilities.