Chief Development Officer

YMCA
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Come join our dynamic and driven team in the Florida sunshine to promote the Y mission!
Job Description

YMCA of Southwest Florida is seeking a dynamic Chief  Development Officer (CDO), an accomplished philanthropic professional, to join our senior leadership team of the YMCA of Southwest Florida.   The Y’s president and the Board of Directors wish to partner a true strategic team member who can ensure that YMCA of Southwest Florida benefits from philanthropic development processes, disciplines and data-based aspirations that are consistent with the Y’s strategic ambitions in regards to fundraising and community engagement. The Chief  Development Officer will be expected to instill a vibrancy in the Y’s fundraising efforts.

Qualifications

In concert with the president, the Chief Development Officer must be both a captivating ambassador for YMCA of Southwest Florida and a compelling manager of the processes that support the YMCA’s outreach.  The CDO  is expected to nurture active, ongoing relationships with leaders across Southwest Florida. The CDO will help create and foster the YMCA's relationships with civic leaders and community-minded residents, recognizing those leaders and relationships will become the foundation of YMCA of Southwest Florida’s financial strength in decades to come.  

YMCA of Southwest Florida has been consistently successful in attracting support for specific health & wellness; early childhood learning; youth development and sponsorship initiatives and has capitalized on building relationships with a several key foundations. It is the primary role of the CDO to foster and expand the support for these programs.   

The CDO must be exceptionally good at telling the untold story to those outside of the YMCA while providing the tools to those outside the organization with which to spread that story even further. Balancing the strategic imperative of a comprehensive development plan with solid implementation tactics will be essential to long-term success. Accordingly, at this stage of the Y’s maturation and, consistent with its hands-on, can-do environment, the CAO must be both strategist and project manager, proactively aligning organizational needs and donor commitment.

Essential Functions

Accordingly, the Chief Development Officer must:

  • Partner with other members of the senior staff in collaborative pursuit of strategic goals, especially those requiring outside financial support. 
  • Promote YMCA of Southwest Florida’s cause-related story and find ways both creative and compelling to make that story tangible for personal and institutional stakeholders.
  • Ensure the processes and activities of the development office support achievement of long-term development goals while furthering short-term priorities. 
  • Reinforce a philanthropic culture across the volunteer, staff and member populations to ensure the sustainability of YMCA of Southwest Florida’s special brand of programs and outcomes.
  • Develop a network of relationships that complement and support those already in place. The CEO expects to remain personally involved in the most important relationships, of course, but he intends to attract a CDO with the capability, capacity, and credibility to initiate and sustain many relationships on his/her own. 
  • Guide and strengthen the Y’s development office so that it becomes consistently respected for impact and effectiveness, both internally and externally.
Cause-Driven Leadership Competencies

The Candidate 

Expertise: The ideal candidate will be able to show… 

  •  A record of clear success in strengthening and leading a comprehensive development strategy in an aspirational context. 
  • A facility for balancing projects and priorities within a strategic framework. 
  • Demonstrated respect for the difference an energized development function can make in an otherwise mature institution. 

Culture: YMCA of Southwest Florida seeks a Chief Development Officer who exhibits… 

  • A collegial operating style informed by passion for the mission and respect for the culture; the CDO must be a leader whom colleagues and donors enjoy  working with, even when they are being asked for new levels of performance or commitment. 
  • An affinity for federated settings combined with a penchant for execution and  accountability within a collaborative framework. 
  • Intellectual curiosity and a pragmatic bent. 
  • The ability to model and apply best practices in a collaborative environment. Just as YMCA of Southwest Florida promotes innovative thinking, so too must the CDO embrace working priorities and relationships beyond the development silo. 
  • The cultural competence to work regionally and locally, a leader who can relate well to volunteer, staff and the organization’s ambitions that leverage far-flung aspirations and relationships. 
  • Alignment with the Y’s values and traditions. 

Commitment: YMCA of Southwest Florida expects to hire a CDO who… 

  • Brings an infectious personal commitment to philanthropic engagement.
  • Models the qualities the Y seeks to instill in its own volunteers and staff, among them personal engagement, intellectual curiosity, and tenacious pursuit of aspirational goals.
  • Understands both the art and science of development—a savvy leader who knows how to leverage best practices for optimal impact.
  • Has the experience and capacity to strengthen and lead a self-perpetuating development team, the members of which will come to be widely respected for their commitment to excellence, their sense of urgency—and their results.
  • Understands impact, someone whose legacy will live on in the people, processes and pride of accomplishment to which her or she has contributed directly and substantively.