Chief Development Officer - Higher Ed. jobs in Nebraska

Big Brothers Big Sisters seeks a dynamic and forward-thinking leader to join our team as the Chief Development Officer (CDO). This is a rare and exciting opportunity for an accomplished fundraising professional to make a significant impact on the lives of children and families in our community. 

Consistently recognized as one of the 50 Best Nonprofits to Work For in the nation by The NonProfit Times, joining our team offers an unparalleled experience. From the moment you come aboard, you'll discover why. 

With the recent launch of our ambitious new strategic plan, BBBSM aims to nearly double its revenue within the next three years. If you're eager for a challenge, this opportunity provides an extraordinary platform to collaborate with a dedicated Board of Directors, an enthusiastic fundraising team, and a CEO poised to propel Big Brothers Big Sisters to unprecedented heights. 

Job Code: Full-Time      

Overtime Status:    Exempt      

Department: Fund Development           

Location:  Omaha, NE

Reports To: President/CEO        

Number of Direct Reports: 4

POSITION PURPOSE

As the Chief Development Officer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands, you will be the primary strategist driving the agency's development efforts. Collaborating closely with the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors, your key responsibility will be crafting a comprehensive multi-year plan aimed at bolstering voluntary revenue and fostering deeper community and corporate engagement. Your strategic insights will inform and guide plans for expansion and long-term sustainability.

Central to your role is cultivating an authentic culture of engagement and stewardship within the organization. You'll work to ensure that our systems, processes, and procedures are finely tuned to support the realization of our revenue objectives, adhering to the highest standards of development practices. Effectively growing the major gifts program, including solicitation of gifts, will be among your core duties.

Your focus areas will encompass various facets of development, including donor stewardship, acquisition, and retention, as well as overseeing the annual giving program, establishing a mid-level giving program, and securing major individual gifts and corporate and foundation contributions. Additionally, you’ll oversee critical supporting functions such as events management, database administration, donor research, alumni engagement, grant writing, marketing initiatives, donor communications, and corporate sponsorships.

As a senior leader within our organization's Leadership Team, you will contribute to defining our strategic direction. Your role will involve fostering collaboration and alignment among internal departments, ensuring that all efforts are coordinated toward achieving our overarching agency objectives. Through your leadership, we will continue to advance our mission and positively impact the lives of those we serve.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Fundraising Leadership

• Ability to articulate the agency's mission and vision and communicate compellingly to others with passion and desired results; motivate and inspire others to believe in the organization's mission and vision.

• Ensures the continued adoption of best practices in development and donor communications.

• Ensures compliance with all applicable regulations and laws, as well as the code of ethics for fundraising professionals.

• Proposes annual revenue and performance targets for development.

• Prepares, administers, and manages the department expense budget.

• Regularly analyzes the effectiveness and efficiency of development programs based on established strategic and operational benchmarks; make adjustments to plans based on trends.

• Set and achieve, in close collaboration with the Chief Executive Officer, multi-year and annual agency revenue goals and support the CEO’s major gift work with top prospects.

• Leads the development and implementation of an individual major gifts program, including identification & research, donor strategy development and execution, including meaningful engagement, and impact-driven stewardship.

• Designs and applies a custom cultivation strategy to each critical donors; deepens relationships through appropriate and regular communication to foster retention and increase overall giving.

• Develops and implements solicitation strategies for donors for all campaigns; matches donors' philanthropic interests with organizational funding needs; drafts compelling written solicitations and makes in-person asks.

• Develop and implement a strategy to scale the organization’s mid-level giving program including both monthly and annual gifts.

• Manage the acquisition, reporting, and stewardship of all corporate and foundation grants.

• Develop and implement a planned giving program.   

• Collaborate closely with the CEO and board of directors to strategize and achieve fund development objectives.

Staff Leadership

• Lead efforts toward a culture of engagement and stewardship among the agency’s employees; communicate, with enthusiasm, the need for revenue from various sources; inspire and model participation in, and support for, fundraising events and engagement opportunities.

• Ensure the department’s activities are executed in alignment with the organization’s values, vision, and mission.

• Recruit, manage, and retain a high-performing development team that achieves fundraising goals.

• Provide mentorship, guidance, and professional development to team members.

• Supervise Event & Partnership Manager; collaborate and coach to develop a demonstrable understanding of and supervisory capacity for: agency fundraising events, including Bowl for Kids’ Sake; identifying and cultivating corporate sponsorships; leading the agency’s Service League.

• Supervise Donor Communications Specialist; collaborate on donor stewardship, direct mail appeals, donor newsletter, information systems (database management; report generation), and prospect research.

• Supervise Grants Manager; collaborate on researching, identifying, preparing potential grants; tracking and managing awarded grant reporting; engage in projecting and building grants portion of the revenue budget annually.

• Supervise Development Support Specialist: ensure compliance with best practices in gift entry and acknowledgment, among other duties.

• Serve as a strategy advisor to the Lincoln staff; collaborate with Lincoln’s Director of Community Engagement to ensure consistent messaging and stewardship across the various levels of donors.

• Directly supervise contractors supporting the development department.

• Assist with the creation and implementation of a plan for alumni relations in support of the agency’s mission and strategic plan.

• Actively represent organization in service area to include attendance at community events and membership in appropriate organizations.

• Serve as a vital member of the leadership team by staying abreast of organization-wide issues and contributing to the development and achievement of the agency’s vision and operating plans.

• Engage with BBBSA staff and development staff from other BBBS agencies to ensure the agency is aware of national partnership and funding opportunities and participate as appropriate.

• Support, and collaborate with, other departments, including Program, Marketing, and Mission Support, along with the agency’s DEI efforts, to accomplish organizational goals.      

• Other duties as assigned by the President/CEO.

EDUCATION & RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE

Education Level: Bachelor’s degree required, CFRE or master’s degree preferred

Years of Related Work Experience: Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience in fund development, including demonstrated success managing a major gifts program and minimum one year of management experience.

SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Required:         

• Management experience with at least 2 direct reports               
• Demonstrated personal solicitation success                 
• A proven track record as a major gift manager                
• Technical expertise in working with a CRM and related technology        
• Demonstrated strategic agility               
• Proven integrity                             
• Proficient computer skills, including MS Office products                        
• Reliable transportation and ability and willingness to travel and attend functions with flexible hours                    

Preferred:

• CFRE    
• A proven record of accomplishment as a grant writer  

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS 

Less than 25%

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Work from Home First model/Hybrid work environment. Must have a secure internet connection to support remote work. General home office environment includes the use of computer and telephone. Some evenings and weekends are required to attend events. Must have reliable transportation for travel to meetings/events at the agency or at other locations in the service area.  

CORE COMPETENCIES & HIGH PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Continuous Quality & Performance Improvement:  Able to encourage team members to share ideas that lead to improvement; minimize barriers to accomplishing the team’s work; hold others accountable for identifying and removing obstacles that negatively affect quality; monitor the group’s process for quality and efficiency issues that become targets for improvement; establish measures/benchmarks to track individual and/or team performance.

Decisiveness & Judgement: Able to consider both the short and long-term impact of decisions; plan for how the consequences of decisions affect the team; coach others to make effective decisions; hold others accountable for making sound decisions; make and act on decisions even if they are unpopular.  Able to establish resources and/or processes to gather information/data for problem solving or analysis; create an environment that supports cross-functional analysis and problem solving; ensure that organization-level decisions are based on data and sound reasoning.

Develops Capability: Able to proactively coach others to help improve their contribution; provide positive as well as constructive feedback on an ongoing basis; take responsibility for holding regular coaching and development discussions with team members; delegate assignments which provide others learning opportunities; reinforce the value of active learning and highlight its organizational impact for others; seek ideas from others in improving the team’s capabilities; ensure that others are taught key skills.

Flexibility & Achieving Change: Able to help others overcome their resistance to change; gain others’ willing participation for change initiatives; help others translate new change goals into practical implementation steps and adapt to change without disruption of productivity; coach others in accomplishing goals in an unstructured environment.   Able to pursue and generate innovative ideas that further the group or team’s goals and foster an environment that encourages innovation.

Gets Results: Able to create an environment of accountability for meeting agreed upon expectations; hold others accountable for managing the performance of a group; eliminate barriers to group performance; lead/champion efforts that increase productivity and goal accomplishment throughout the group or team; drive the implementation of systems that reward employees for contributing to group or team goals.

Values Diversity: Able to make diversity/inclusion an integral part of overall long-term plan; sponsor/mentor individuals from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives; communicate and enforce a department-wide zero-tolerance policy toward inappropriate, illegal or discriminatory behaviors; hold all managers (including self) accountable for achieving diversity/inclusion goals; make departmental or team changes that enhance workforce diversity.  Ensure fundraising efforts are accessible and inclusive to all communities. Able to communicate internally and externally that diversity/inclusion is an integral part of how your organization does business.

Equal Employment Opportunity

BBBSA provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable local, state or federal law.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Applicants as well as employees who are or become disabled must be able to perform the essential duties & responsibilities either unaided or with reasonable accommodation.   The organization shall determine reasonable accommodation on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.

Job Responsibilities

The above statements reflect the general duties, responsibilities and competencies considered necessary to perform the essential duties & responsibilities of the job and should not be considered as a detailed description of all the work requirements of the position. BBBSM may change the specific job duties with or without prior notice based on the needs of the organization.