Chief Development Officer — Strategic Fundraising Leader

ADP, Inc.; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life/AD&D insurance

Mental health care (telehealth)

Paid time off

Parental leave

403(b) retirement plan

Flexible/hybrid work environment

Job summary

Creative Action in Austin, Texas seeks a Chief Development Officer to lead a comprehensive fundraising program, grow philanthropic support, and build a culture of philanthropy. Reporting to the Executive Director, the CDO will personally cultivate major donors and supervise the development team.

This senior leader will collaborate with the Capital Campaign Director, engage the Board, and partner with Marketing to tell impact stories while ensuring strong donor strategies, systems, and metrics.

Qualifications

• Seven or more years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience, including significant leadership responsibility; experience in arts, education, youth development, or the cultural sector is preferred.
• Proven success securing significant individual gifts, growing a donor pipeline, and executing fundraising strategies across multiple revenue streams.
• Experience leading and developing teams and working effectively with executives, Board members, donors, volunteers, community leaders, and colleagues across an organization.
• Strong knowledge of donor cultivation and stewardship, prospect management, fundraising metrics, development operations, and CRM systems.
• Excellent relationship-building, communication, storytelling, writing, presentation, planning, and analytical skills.
• A strategic, proactive, collaborative, ethical, and adaptable leadership style, with emotional intelligence and sound judgment.
• Ability to attend occasional evening and weekend donor, program, community, and fundraising activities.

Responsibilities

• Fundraising Strategy and Donor Development
• Develop and lead annual and multi-year fundraising strategies across major gifts, annual giving, institutional support, corporate partnerships, special events, planned giving, and other philanthropic opportunities.
• Build and actively manage a portfolio of major donors and prospects, personally leading cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of significant gifts.
• Set clear revenue goals, forecasts, metrics, and accountability practices; use results and donor data to strengthen performance, retention, and the prospect pipeline.
• Partner with the Executive Director on funding priorities, donor strategy, and management of the Executive Director's portfolio.
• Leadership and External Engagement
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing development team with clear roles, goals, and expectations.
• Engage and equip the Board of Directors and its development-related committee(s) as active fundraising partners, providing regular reports on progress, opportunities, and challenges.
• Represent Creative Action in the community and build relationships with donors, institutional partners, community leaders, and other stakeholders.
• Partner with Marketing and Communications to create compelling cases for support, donor communications, and stories of impact.
• Development Operations and Campaign Partnership
• Ensure effective development operations, including prospect and moves management, CRM and data integrity, gift tracking and acknowledgement, reporting, forecasting, and donor stewardship.
• Strengthen fundraising policies, systems, and cross-departmental practices that support collaboration, accountability, and informed decision-making.
• Coordinate closely with the Capital Campaign Director so annual, major-gift, institutional, and campaign fundraising efforts are integrated, donor relationships are managed thoughtfully, and campaign donors remain engaged with Creative Action over time.

Skills

Fundraising strategy

Donor cultivation

Major gifts

Team leadership

Board engagement

Analytical skills

Storytelling/writing

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

Creative Action in Austin, Texas seeks a Chief Development Officer to lead a comprehensive fundraising program, grow philanthropic support, and build a culture of philanthropy. Reporting to the Executive Director, the CDO will personally cultivate major donors and supervise the development team.

This senior leader will collaborate with the Capital Campaign Director, engage the Board, and partner with Marketing to tell impact stories while ensuring strong donor strategies, systems, and metrics.