The OpportunityThe chief development officer is a senior, strategic position who will drive The Chronicle's work to attract foundation grants and explore other sources of philanthropic support, especially major gifts. The successful fundraising leader will understand our special role in providing independent journalism and professional development to nonprofits and foundations and in complementing our strong earned-revenue efforts, which represent about 80 percent of our budget.
The chief development officer will work closely with our CEO, chief revenue officer, and chief content officer to:
- Set our philanthropic strategy
- Develop our case for general operating support and innovation funding
- Cultivate foundations and other supporters
- Build a culture that ensures long-term fundraising success
The right candidate is a seasoned development executive who is both a strategist and a doer: comfortable writing a six-figure letter of intent one day and building a multi-year revenue forecast on the next.
Beyond building a strong fundraising plan for the next three years, you'll also assemble a team who can assist you and the rest of the organization. To aid you in that work, you'll have an opportunity to gain insights from a feasibility study the Bridgespan Group is undertaking on our behalf.
Key Responsibilities - Strategy & Leadership
- Design and implement a comprehensive development strategy, building on our successful foundation grant seeking
- Expand the number of foundations who provide support to the Chronicle, focusing both on support for specific programs and unrestricted funding
- Serve as a thought partner to the CEO in articulating programs, new initiatives, and the overarching impact and ambitions of The Chronicle.
- Examine the potential for attracting support from individuals, focusing on major and planned gifts
- Collaborate with our earned-revenue team to build strategic partnerships and other opportunities
- Work with the Chronicle's leadership team to build a culture of philanthropy in the organization, ensuring that all parts of the organization work together to carry out ambitious projects to serve the nonprofit world.
- Recommend annual fundraising targets (realistic yet ambitious) to the CEO and CFO and build a three-year philanthropic plan that allows The Chronicle to expand service to the sector.
2. Foundation Giving
- Identify grant makers who can support our work and provide end-to-end support for the CEO to solicit funding, with the goal of raising at least $2 million, or 20 percent of our budget, annually
- Write major proposals and concept papers that the CEO can submit to funders that share our aims
- Develop and manage relationships with foundation leaders and program officers interested in advancing journalism, nonprofit capacity-building, and social sector leadership
- Oversee the grants pipeline-from prospecting through letters of inquiry, proposals, and reporting
3. System & Infrastructure
- Establish or refine gift tracking and reporting
- Create donor communications, case for support materials, and campaign messaging in collaboration with our revenue and content leaders.
- Build reports for key leaders on fundraising progress and work with the CEO, chief content officer, audience team members, and others to ensure project managers are carrying out deliverables promised to foundations.
- Ensure we're measuring our impact smartly and constantly learning from our experiences working with donors and carrying out programs
Qualifications Required:
- 10+ years of progressive development experience, with a demonstrated track record of closing large foundation grants as well as major gifts from individuals.
- Experience raising money for organizations that focus on big ideas, such as colleges and museums; experience raising money for media organizations is a plus.
- Proven ability to work as a strategic partner to executive leadership and boards
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; a compelling and authentic storyteller
- Comfortable working independently and managing up without direct staff support
Strongly preferred:
- Existing relationships within the philanthropic and/or media funding ecosystem
- Experience building or significantly scaling a development function from early stages
- Familiarity with the Chronicle's work and knowledge of big-picture issues in the social sector
What Success Looks Like: First 90 days:
- Complete a thorough assessment of existing donor relationships, prospect pipeline, and development infrastructure
- Develop a 12-month fundraising plan with clear goals, timelines, and metrics
- Begin active cultivation of a priority list of foundation prospects
- Lay out plans for your examination of our individual fundraising potential
By End of Year One:
- Secure meaningful philanthropic revenue from new and renewed sources
- Establish a reliable cadence of donor communication, stewardship, and reporting
- Position the Chronicle for a major campaign focused on innovation and possibly an endowment campaign to mark our 40th anniversary
- Develop a team structure that provides the talent we need - and begin hiring for key roles
JOB CODE: 1000014 
