Chief Development & Communications Officer

Association of Fundraising Professionals; Oakland (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

ICA Fund in Oakland, CA seeks a strategic Chief Development & Communications Officer to lead development, marketing, and communications, reporting to the CEO. This executive will craft an enterprise-capital narrative, build scalable fundraising infrastructure, and partner with the Board to secure long-term capital and growth for mission impact.

The role requires entrepreneurial vision, exceptional relationship-building, and the ability to drive organizational capacity, systems, and talent to

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead an integrated development, marketing, and communications strategy.
• Build a compelling capitalization narrative and fundraising program.
• Advance enterprise-capital case for ICA Fund and scale impact.
• Design and manage major gifts, institutional funders, and partnerships.

Job description

Location:

Location: Oakland, CA (Hybrid: in-office Tuesdays & Thursdays)

Position: Full-time, reporting to the CEO

About ICA Fund—Not Business as Usual

ICA accelerates great businesses through mentorship and mission-aligned investments to catalyze value in missed markets to transform communities. With a deep commitment to identifying, supporting and helping to grow small businesses run by underrepresented entrepreneurs, ICA is innovating ways to leverage coaching, capital and connections to amplify our impact.

By offering targeted acceleration workshops and operating tools, alongside hands‑on advising from a network of highly experienced business operators, ICA is democratizing access to resources that catalyze value and growth in small businesses.

The Role

ICA Fund is entering its next chapter of impact, and we are seeking an entrepreneurial, strategic, and relationship‑driven Chief Development & Communications Officer (CDCO) to help build the capital, visibility, and market presence required to realize that opportunity.

This is not simply a fundraising role. The CDCO will help articulate and advance the enterprise‑capital case for ICA Fund’s next decade, moving beyond an additive story of more products, more entrepreneurs, or broader geography to a multiplication story about how adequate, flexible, and sustained capitalization can fundamentally change the organization’s capabilities, economics, durability, and impact.

Reporting directly to the CEO and serving as a member of the executive leadership team, the CDCO will develop and lead an integrated development, marketing, and communications strategy that positions ICA Fund for long‑term growth and impact. The role will build the case for investing not only in annual programmatic needs, but also in the organizational capacity, talent, infrastructure, systems, and strategic capabilities that enable ICA Fund to multiply its impact over time.

The ideal candidate is a strategic visionary with executional discipline and an entrepreneurial development spirit. They also have a keen ability to see around corners, build a compelling narrative and fundraising strategy, cultivate sophisticated relationships, and create the systems and operating rhythms required to execute at an executive level.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Capital & Development Strategy

• Develop and lead an integrated, multi‑year development strategy aligned with ICA’s strategic direction and next chapter of impact.
• In partnership with the CEO and Board, build a compelling multiplication narrative, grounded in organizational strategy and financials, that articulates how adequate capitalization changes the organization’s capabilities, economics, durability, and impact over the next decade, rather than simply funding incremental growth.
• Translate ICA’s organizational strategy into a compelling enterprise‑capital investment thesis that demonstrates how capitalization can multiply organizational capacity, financial sustainability, reach, and impact.
• Develop a diversified fundraising portfolio comprising major gifts, individual philanthropy, institutional funders, foundations, corporate and strategic partnerships, campaigns, and other sources of long‑term capital.
• Establish fundraising goals, strategies, priorities, metrics, and accountability mechanisms that balance near‑term revenue generation with long‑term market development.
• Design and manage a rigorous pipeline and capitalization campaign, including case development, prospect identification, relationship mapping, cultivation strategy, leadership engagement, and campaign infrastructure.
• Partner closely with the CEO, executive leadership and board to structure gift levels, campaign phasing (quiet and public phases), and board/leadership engagement in solicitation.

Fundraising Infrastructure & Organizational Capacity

• Assess and strengthen the infrastructure required to support a more sophisticated and ambitious development function.
• Build scalable systems for prospect research, list development, portfolio management, pipeline tracking, donor intelligence, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Establish clear fundraising operating rhythms, dashboards, metrics, and accountability practices.
• Identify the staffing and external resources required to support the organization’s fundraising ambitions and recommend investments accordingly.
• Develop clear roles and expectations for the CEO, Board, executive team, and other organizational leaders to take fundraising and external relationship development to the next level as this function expands.
• Build the internal capacity required to have strong proactive, strategic relationship development across fundraising channels.
• Improve systems and partnerships with external consultants, grant writers, communications professionals, and other specialized resources.

Major Gifts & Market Development

• Build and manage a sophisticated major‑gift and principal‑gift pipeline, with particular attention to developing relationships with high‑net‑worth individuals and other significant philanthropic investors.
• Expand ICA’s external network and prospect universe through strategic list development, relationship mapping, research, introductions, events, thought leadership, and other market‑building activities.
• Create a disciplined prospect lifecycle encompassing identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Cultivate and steward high‑value relationships and serve as a senior external representative of ICA.
• Support the CEO, Board, and other organizational leaders with information, guidance and skill‑building coaching to serve effectively as fundraisers and relationship‑builders.
• Develop the systems, expectations, and leadership practices necessary to make fundraising an organization‑wide responsibility rather than a function owned solely by the development team.

Funder‑Facing Strategic Communications, Marketing & Storytelling

• Oversee