Chief Advancement Officer

Evergreen; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 160,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading non-profit organization in Toronto is seeking a Chief Advancement Officer to lead audience engagement and revenue generation strategies. This role includes developing partnerships and fundraising initiatives, overseeing a team, and communicating the organization’s mission. The ideal candidate should have extensive leadership experience, a passion for public service, and a proven track record in fundraising. This full-time role offers a competitive salary ranging from $160,000 to $185,000 with various employee benefits.

Benefits

Reduced work week (4.5 days)

Employer-paid health care and dental benefits

Paid vacation and personal days

Access to skills development opportunities

Qualifications

• Prior experience in an organisational leadership position, ideally with 10+ years in fundraising or business development.
• Track record of multi-year funding relationships with six and seven-figure gifts.
• Ability to engage partners at an executive level.

Responsibilities

• Lead a cohesive engagement strategy across community, partners, and investors.
• Secure and steward major philanthropic partnerships.
• Shaping strategies to garner public and corporate support.

Skills

Organizational leadership

Fundraising

Business development

Public speaking

Financial acumen

Marketing campaigns

Equity, diversity and inclusion

Job description

Evergreen is seeking a Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) to join our team. As a member of Evergreen’s executive leadership group, the CAO holds overall responsibility for audience engagement and revenue generation at the organization, through a cohesive strategy that includes fundraising, marketing & engagement, and social enterprise activities at Evergreen Brick Works. This is a fantastic role for someone who is energized by Evergreen’s mission to build better public spaces and by the opportunity to engage others to help support and fund that work.

About Evergreen

Evergreen Brick Works (our head office) is located on the traditional territory and homelands of the Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas of the Credit.

We are a national non-profit charity transforming public spaces in our cities for the health of people and our planet. With over 30 years of championing urban sustainability, we see the potential of our cities to solve some of the biggest issues facing our time and believe that our public spaces are the key to unlocking it. We see beyond the spaces that exist today and imagine them transformed into places where people and nature thrive.

Why Evergreen?

In staff engagement surveys, Evergreen employees consistently report that their colleagues are one of the best things about working here. What else is in it for you?

• A reduced work week (4.5 days) for all full‑time staff.
• Flexible workdays that align with your life needs and role responsibilities.
• Paid vacation, 3 paid personal days (Evergreen Days), and a paid day off on your birthday.
• Employer‑paid extended health care and dental benefits, including a Health Care Spending Account and access to mental health resources.
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that support staff who are Indigenous, racialised, or 2SLGBTQ+, as well as ERGs for allyship learning, and to support caregivers of all kinds.
• Active workplace committees, including Health & Safety, IDEA, and Employee Engagement.
• Access to informal and formal skills development and resume building opportunities.
• A beautiful head office location surrounded by nature at Evergreen Brick Works, with a free shuttle bus from Broadview Station

Key Accountabilities

This role is integral to the organization’s ability to advance its mission, by leading a cohesive and compelling engagement strategy across key audiences – community, partners, and investors. It is not purely a fundraising role, though securing and stewarding major philanthropic partnerships is a critical accountability. We are looking for a creative leader who can successfully navigate the fundraising landscape and help shape the way we drive revenue more broadly at the organization by delivering content and programs that delight and inspire, and have measurable impact. In addition to fundraising, this includes our marketing and engagement strategies for community and investor audiences; partnership development that reinforces our mission and provides funding support; and business development on site at Evergreen Brick Works, helping to fully realise the capabilities of the space as a social enterprise.

A day‑in‑the‑life of this role might include:

• Partnership meetings, and lots of them. We expect a significant portion of the CAO’s time to be spent meeting potential and existing philanthropic donors and partners, effectively communicating Evergreen’s story of impact and innovation.
• Business planning, constantly evaluating opportunities to leverage our incredible site to drive revenue and maximise impact.
• Shaping innovative strategies to garner public and corporate interest and support.
• Leading a high‑performing group of directors who each contribute to advancement at Evergreen in different ways, ensuring a strategic focus across these three branches (Marketing, Communications & Engagement; Events & Public Programming; Fundraising).
• Fostering trust‑based relationships within the community and among partners, including building and motivating the team.

What You’ll Bring

Success in this role will be supported by the following target qualifications and core competencies.

• Prior experience in an organisational leadership position, and 10+ years of fundraising and/or experience in business development, ideally in a place‑based service context.
• A track record of building multi‑year funding relationships and/or fundraising campaigns, with large‑scale gifts (six and seven figures).
• Demonstrated ability to engage partners at an executive level, including board members, senior volunteers, major funders, donors and partners.
• Demonstrated experience developing successful marketing campaigns that inspire participation.
• Comfort with public speaking, media interviews, or representing an organisation at a high‑profile event or pitch opportunity.
• Belief in the importance of leading with curiosity and welcoming ideas that can be thoughtfully considered and turned into opportunities.
• A demonstrated deep commitment to advancing reconciliation, equity, diversity and inclusion in all its forms.
• Demonstrated financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, and revenue accountability.
• A strong understanding of emerging fundraising strategies, technologies, and data analytics.
• Experience working in a large charitable or non‑profit environment is preferred, with weight given to environments where site‑based revenue generation has been part of your portfolio.
• Familiarity with government relations and effective advocacy.

Aren’t sure if you check every requirement on this list? That’s ok! We are still interested in hearing from you. We’d love to learn more about how your unique experience might make you a great addition to Evergreen.

Still Interested? Here are some other things you should know.

• This is a full‑time salaried role.
• The target hire range for this role is $160,000 – $185,000.
• The paid vacation allocation for this role is four (4) weeks.
• This role is supervised by the CEO and has three (3) Director reports (Director of Marketing, Communications & Engagement; Director of Events & Public Programming; Director of Philanthropy).
• While Evergreen is a hybrid organisation, regular presence on site at Evergreen Brick Works will be required for success in this role, and the preference is for a Toronto‑based candidate. The successful applicant should expect to be on site at Evergreen Brick Works on a weekly basis.
• There will be occasional evening and/or weekend work, as needed, as well as the occasional need to travel within Canada.
• Work environment is a collaborative office space (open concept).

Our Recruitment Process

Interested applicants should submit their candidacy by November 10, 2025 through our career portal. Please limit your resume to three pages. Please also include a cover letter to introduce yourself and to give us further context on your job history and skills you’d like to highlight. Candidates selected for an interview will be contacted directly by a member of our People & Culture team.

• You should expect there to be at least two interviews for this role, one of which may include a brief pitch.
• We are committed to ensuring that all applicants are notified when the role has been filled so that you aren’t left wondering about the position.

We’re always learning, so please reach out at any stage of the application process if you require support or adaptations. Evergreen is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all qualified individuals. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code, Evergreen will provide accommodations throughout the recruitment cycle to applicants who request them.

Evergreen uses a people‑focused approach to evaluating applicants. We do not utilise artificial intelligence during the recruitment process.