Chief Development Officer

Global Energy Monitor; Remote; USD 151,000; Full time

Job summary

A non-profit environmental organization is seeking a Chief Development Officer to lead fundraising strategies and cultivate relationships with major donors. This role requires significant experience in fundraising leadership, especially in securing major gifts. The ideal candidate will manage the development team, collaborate with executive leadership, and ensure compliance with donor requirements. This full-time position offers a salary of $150,298.31 and benefits including health insurance and paid leave.

Benefits

100% paid health, vision, and dental insurance

Retirement plan with 5% employer match

4 weeks paid vacation

Paid 12-week sabbatical after five years

Remote work stipend

Qualifications

• 10+ years of demonstrated fundraising leadership experience.
• 2+ years of experience supervising and mentoring staff.
• Fluency in English.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement GEM’s long-term fundraising and revenue strategies.
• Build, manage, and grow a robust major gifts pipeline.
• Collaborate with GEM’s communications team for effective storytelling.

Skills

Fundraising leadership

Relationship management

Strategic thinking

Interpersonal skills

Communication skills

Flexibility and adaptability

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

CRM systems

Salesforce

Job description

Overview

The Chief Development Officer (CDO) is a senior leader responsible for designing and executing Global Energy Monitor’s comprehensive fundraising strategy, with a primary focus on cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major individual and foundation gifts. Reporting to the Executive Director, the CDO will partner closely with the executive leadership team and the Board of Directors to grow and diversify GEM’s revenue base, ensuring long-term sustainability and impact.

This role is externally facing, relationship-driven, and highly strategic, centered on building deep partnerships with philanthropists, foundations, and aligned institutions that share GEM’s commitment to open data and data-driven accountability in the global energy transition.

Applicants for the Chief Development Officer role must be United States residents, either U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Preference will be given to California residents.

The Challenge

According to the IPCC, we have less than a decade to make massive and unprecedented changes in the global economy to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To meet that challenge, Global Energy Monitor is creating trackers and other tools to provide detailed information on energy facilities, sponsors, and financing.

About Global Energy Monitor

Global Energy Monitor (GEM) is a network of researchers developing information for the worldwide climate and clean energy movement. Since the organization’s founding in 2007, GEM’s research has become an essential tool for activists, journalists, policymakers, and scientists. GEM’s data and reports are used and cited by organizations ranging from Greenpeace to The Wall Street Journal. GEM’s information is used by Bloomberg Terminals, the International Energy Agency, the IPCC, Climate Analytics, Carbon Tracker Initiative, and hundreds of others.

Location

GEM is a remote-first organization and does not maintain a central office. We work with employees to create suitable home office setups aligned with the needs of their role. This role is open to candidates based in the United States. Preference will be given to candidates based in California.

The CDO must be willing and able to travel up to approximately 25% of the time—domestically and internationally.

Supervisory Responsibilities

The CDO will manage GEM’s development team.

Responsibilities and Duties

Organizational & Revenue Strategy

• Partner with the Executive Director and Board of Directors to develop and implement GEM’s long-term fundraising and revenue diversification strategy, with a strong emphasis on major gifts.
• Set annual and multi-year fundraising targets and lead strategies to achieve them across individual, foundation, and institutional funding streams.
• Position GEM as a trusted, high-impact organization for philanthropic investment in energy transparency, open data, climate accountability, and public-interest data.

Major Gifts & Relationship Management

• Build, manage, and grow a robust major gifts pipeline and portfolio, cultivating relationships with high-net-worth individuals, philanthropists, family foundations, and donor-advised funds.
• Partner with the Executive Director and personally lead on several efforts to cultivate and solicit new donors and stewardship efforts, including preparing customized engagement strategies and solicitation plans.
• Strategically support and prepare the Executive Director and Board members to serve as effective ambassadors and fundraisers.
• Deepen relationships with existing funders while identifying and cultivating new domestic and international major gift prospects.
• Oversee institutional fundraising strategy, including foundations, corporate philanthropy, and select public funding opportunities.

Board Engagement

• Partner with the Board of Directors to strengthen board-level fundraising engagement and accountability.
• Support board members in donor outreach, cultivation meetings, and strategic introductions.
• Provide regular updates on fundraising progress, pipeline health, and revenue risks/opportunities.

External Engagement & Visibility

• Collaborate with GEM’s communications team to align fundraising, messaging, and public positioning.
• Represent GEM in high-level donor meetings, briefings, and virtual site visits.
• Ensure consistent, compelling storytelling that translates GEM’s data and research into clear philanthropic value propositions.

Systems, Operations & Accountability

• Guide proposal development team and reporting processes to ensure alignment with funder priorities, strategic positioning, and timely compliance.
• Support Development Manager in building out GEM’s CRM systems and fundraising infrastructure (e.g., Salesforce, Raiser’s Edge, Bloomerang).
• Ensure best practice systems are in place to track donor engagement, proposal activity, revenue forecasts, and performance metrics.
• Ensure compliance systems are robust and aligned with all grant and gift requirements and best practices.
• Ensure high-quality narrative and financial reporting that reinforces donor confidence and long-term partnership.

Required Qualifications

Applicants who tailor their resume and cover letter to these requirements will be prioritized. Applications at GEM are carefully reviewed by our team. We take the time to consider each candidate individually.

The following experience and skills are required for this position:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10+ years of demonstrated fundraising leadership experience, with a strong emphasis on major gifts.
• 2+ years of experience supervising and mentoring staff.
• Fluency in English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated success securing seven-figure gifts from individual and institutional donors.
• Experience partnering with executive leadership and boards on high-level fundraising.
• Deep understanding of philanthropic strategy, donor psychology, and relationship-based fundraising.
• Strong alignment with GEM’s mission and commitment to environmental and social justice.
• Exceptional relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
• Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline.
• High degree of flexibility and agility, with the ability to adapt fundraising strategies in response to evolving organizational priorities, external conditions, and funding landscapes.
• Persuasive communicator with the ability to translate complex research and data into compelling donor narratives.
• High degree of professionalism, discretion, and emotional intelligence.
• Comfortable engaging with senior philanthropists, board members, and global leaders.
• Proficiency with CRM systems and financial tracking tools.
• Self-directed and entrepreneurial leader with a demonstrated ability to build, scale, and continuously improve fundraising systems in a growing organization.
• Track record of working to advance a diverse, inclusive, social justice, and equitable work environment.

• Advanced degree in a related field (i.e. non-profit administration, public relations, finance, etc).
• Comfort with a remote work environment and work travel.

Pay and Benefits

This is a full-time, 40-hour-per-week, work-from-home position. The salary is $150,298.31.

Benefits include:

• 100% paid health, vision, and dental insurance for employees & contribution towards dependent coverage
• Long-term disability and worker’s compensation insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Retirement plan with a 5% employer match & access to a financial advisor specializing in socially responsible investing
• 4 weeks paid vacation, plus 18 holidays, 15 sick leave days, and other leave
• Remote work stipend
• Home office set up assistance and sponsorship
• Ergonomics consultation & equipment reimbursement
• Paid 12-week sabbatical leave after five years
• 14 weeks of paid parental leave
• 14 weeks of paid medical and/or gender-affirming care leave

Application Requirements

Applications will be reviewed in the order they were received. Applicants must provide a resume, cover letter, two writing samples (published work, grant reports, or grant proposals), and one presentation sample.

If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact People & Culture at [e-mail].

Visa Sponsorship Policy

At this time, we are unable to sponsor visas for this position. Candidates must be United States residents, either U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Hiring Practices

Equal Employment: Global Energy Monitor is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment determinations at GEM are based exclusively on the needs of the organization, specific job requirements, and a candidate’s individual qualifications. These determinations are made without regard to race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, age, physical, mental, and/or sensory disability, sex, orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, medical history, or military service. GEM is committed to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment.

Diversity and Inclusion: Our goal is to listen, engage, and activate voices across our global organization to ensure all identity groups and perspectives are represented in our work. Our aspiration is to foster a diverse work environment and encourage women, LGBTQIA individuals, people of color, people with disabilities, older members of the community, ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and others from minority groups and diverse backgrounds to apply. We designed our hiring process to foster an inclusive and welcoming experience that allows candidates to feel respected, appreciated, and comfortable, thereby creating the conditions for both GEM and the candidate to determine if there is a good fit.

Accommodations: We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities. This includes providing reasonable accommodation where appropriate. Should you require a reasonable accommodation to apply or participate in the job application or interview process, please contact [e-mail].

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