Vice President, Development

Feeding America; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 216,000 - 248,000; Full time

Job summary

Feeding America seeks a strategic Vice President, Development to lead principal and major gifts fundraising and donor engagement across national and local channels. This executive will shape strategies, staff, and partnerships to advance Feeding America’s mission and drive transformational philanthropic support.

The role emphasizes building relationships with high-net-worth donors, guiding moves management, and delivering innovative campaigns that expand giving and impact across the network.

Qualifications

• Expertise in principal, major, annual, and planned giving programs.
• Track record of securing transformational, 7- and 8-figure gifts; campaign leadership preferred.
• Experience navigating all stages of the donor journey: identification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute fundraising strategies informed by trends and donor behavior to advance organizational growth.
• Lead moves management and communication strategies to deepen relationships with Strategic Gifts donors.
• Set annual goals and operating plans for major gifts, leadership annual giving, planned giving, and donor engagement teams.

Skills

Major gifts

Principal gifts

Fundraising strategy

Donor engagement

Job description

About Feeding America

As the nation's largest nonprofit and domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America is at the forefront of the fight to end hunger. With total public support and revenue of $5.2 billion (FY2025), which includes 7.2 billion pounds of food sourced and 4.3 billion pounds rescued from retailers, manufacturers, and farms, Feeding America engages our country and communities in the fight to end hunger on an unprecedented scale, serving as a catalyst at both the national and local levels, reaching every county in the United States.

Learn More: Review Feeding America's 2025 Annual Report here. For more information, please visit Feeding America's website: http://www.feedingamerica.org.

The Opportunity

At this moment of rising need and extraordinary potential, Feeding America is seeking a strategic, collaborative, and dynamic leader to serve as the Vice President, Development (Vice President). This role represents a uniquely meaningful opportunity to join an organization positively impacting tens of millions of people each year and to help shape the partnerships and resources that will advance its mission at a critical moment.

Key responsibilities of the Vice President include:

• Develop and execute fundraising strategies informed by philanthropic trends, donor behavior, and market opportunities to advance Feeding America's mission and long-term philanthropic growth.
• Lead moves management and communication strategies that deepen relationships and increase giving from Strategic Gifts donors.
• Establish annual goals and operating plans for the major gifts, leadership annual giving, planned giving, and donor engagement teams; monitor performance and manage the Strategic Gifts and Donor Engagement expense budget.
• Lead donor engagement and stewardship strategies that deepen relationships, strengthen donor loyalty, and inspire philanthropy through events, recognition programs, donor societies, affinity groups, and other meaningful experiences.
• Personally build, advance, and maintain relationships with Feeding America's most significant donors and prospects, including the solicitation and close of transformational, 7- and 8-figure gifts, and serve as a model for best-in-class principal gifts fundraising.
• Oversee Feeding America’s planned giving program including marketing and frontline fundraising strategies to drive significant growth in both planned giving revenue and long-term expected planned giving revenue.
• Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and inclusion while developing talent through coaching, performance management, and leadership development.
• Lead a high-performing, inclusive team by setting clear expectations, developing leaders, driving accountability, and guiding teams through change and growth.
• Serve as a trusted strategic partner to the CEO, CDO, Development Leadership Team, Executive Team, Board members, and food bank leaders, leveraging relationships to advance donor engagement and solicitation strategies.
• Facilitate alignment for cross-functional initiatives, driving execution across Development, Marketing and Communications, Programs, Finance, Network Relations, and Executive Leadership.
• Build relationships with network member food bank leaders to advance fundraising and strengthen collaboration between national and local giving.

Candidate Profile

While it is understood that no candidate will offer every desired skill, quality, and characteristic, the following offers a detailed, aspirational view of the ideal candidate profile:

An Expert in Principal and Major Gifts Fundraising

• Brings deep knowledge of fundraising best practices, including principal, major, annual, and planned giving programs, as well as campaigns
• Has demonstrated success in principal gifts fundraising, including personally securing transformational, 7- and 8-figure gifts; campaign leadership experience is preferred
• Understands and can navigate every stage of the donor journey, from identification and cultivation through solicitation and stewardship
• Understands how to engage and inspire diverse funders and build long-term, values-aligned relationships

Highly Strategic, Results‑Oriented, and Leads with Accountability

• A visionary thinker who can effectively navigate periods of change and translate high-level strategy into effective, actionable plans
• Motivated by possibility; a self-starter who drives ambitious goals forward with discipline and focus
• Anchors decisions and actions in Feeding America’s values, even in moments of complexity or pressure
• Data-informed and decisive, drawing on experience and enterprise insight to make, own, and clearly communicate decisions

A Bold, Curious, and Entrepreneurial Leader

• Comfortable taking thoughtful risks and unafraid to fail
• Fosters a culture of innovation and adaptability, creating space for the team to experiment, learn from mistakes, and course correct

In addition to the competencies outlined above, this executive will demonstrate the following leadership competencies, which are expected for all members of the Feeding America senior leadership team:

• Fosters an Enterprise Mindset: Centers neighbors, and lives into Feeding America’s shared value statement in working with network partners to have the desired mission impact. Acts as a champion of the enterprise by embracing FANO decision making and stewardship. Aligns department and team to enterprise decisions and priorities. Takes ownership for enterprise decisions and processes. Creates and communicates a clear shared vision for the future consistent with the values and mission of Feeding America. Promotes a neighbor-centered strategy and maintains a balanced perspective between short- and long-term priorities.
• Fosters an Open and Supportive Environment: Seeks and values varied perspectives and consistently treats others with fairness, dignity, compassion, and respect – proactively takes action to ensure this is reflected in Feeding America’s culture. Keeps people at the center of all that Feeding America does and centers resources to address disparities wherever they exist. Acknowledges, repairs, and recommits when out of Feeding America’s Group Agreements. Is fully engaged in their own personal learning around appreciating varied backgrounds and perspectives, understanding of power dynamics and creating open and supportive environments where all staff can thrive.
• Leads with Accountability: Upholds ethical standards and consistently demonstrates a commitment to doing what is consistent with Feeding America’s values rather than what is expedient. Anchors actions and decisions in Feeding America’s values and mission while building trust and taking responsibility for the hard decisions. Expresses best independent thinking by leveraging data, functional experience and Feeding America's values to inform decisions. Once decisions are made, actively support and take responsibility, and communicate them, regardless of personal point of view. Takes personal accountability for results, demonstrates a learning mindset, self-awareness, self-monitoring, and self-regulation.
• Collaborates Internally and Externally: Builds partnerships internally and externally and works collaboratively with stakeholders, the network, and neighbors to remove silos and gain multiple perspectives to meet shared objectives. Represents Feeding America positively, highlighting its mission of ending hunger. Engages and communicates in ways that create brave spaces for collaboration and shared learning.
• Focuses on People and Teams: Prioritizes people and ensures they are supported and developed in their work with candid, timely, and constructive coaching, feedback, fosters a learning mindset, and recognizes and rewards strong performance. Focuses on the development of self and others to accelerate performance in current and future roles. Holds self and others accountable to high standards of performance and results. Promotes a healthy and engaging work environment and mobilizes the team around Feeding America’s work and mission.
• Manages Organization and Business Complexity: Translates organizational priorities into specific goals to ensure accomplishment of critical results. Sets clear and ambitious plans and holds self and others accountable for achieving desired outcomes. Interprets new challenges and finds solutions in response to changing circumstances. Achieves or exceeds desired outcomes while managing organizational risk and maintaining space for innovation and new ideas. Creates an environment that encourages doing things differently, where it is safe to learn from mistakes.
• Communicates with Impact and Influence: Communicates directly, clearly and with integrity, across all levels. Crafts and delivers timely, impactful communication using multiple modes to impart a clear understanding tailored to the specific needs of all audiences.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for the Vice President, Development is $216,000 - $248,000 and will be based on the successful candidate’s skills and experience. In addition, there is a target bonus of 10%.

This is a permanent, full-time, exempt position and is eligible for Feeding America’s comprehensive benefit package.