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About the Role

Creative Action seeks an accomplished, collaborative, and relationship-centered fundraising leader to serve as Chief Development Officer. This role will lead a comprehensive development program, grow philanthropic support, strengthen donor relationships and fundraising systems, and build an organization-wide culture of philanthropy. The CDO will be both a strategic leader and an active fundraiser, personally cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major donors while leading the development team and engaging the Board as fundraising partners.

Responsibilities

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.
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.
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.

Requirements

Seven or more years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience, including significant leadership responsibility.
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.

Skills

Fundraising strategy
Major gifts
Annual giving
Institutional support
Corporate partnerships
Special events
Planned giving
Donor cultivation
Donor solicitation
Donor stewardship
Revenue forecasting
Performance metrics
Team leadership
Board engagement
Community representation
Marketing and Communications partnership
Development operations
Prospect management
CRM systems
Data integrity
Gift tracking
Reporting
Relationship-building
Communication
Storytelling
Writing
Presentation
Planning
Analytical skills
Strategic thinking
Proactive approach
Collaboration
Ethical conduct
Adaptability
Emotional intelligence
Judgment

Location

Austin metropolitan area

Work Type

Full-time
Hybrid

Experience Level

Senior leadership
Seven or more years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience

Salary/Compensations

$115,000-$135,000

Benefits

Employer-subsidized health insurance
Employer-paid basic life/AD&D and long-term disability insurance
Virtual mental health and telehealth care
Generous paid time off, including two organization-wide rejuvenation weeks
12 weeks of paid parental leave
403(b) retirement plan
Flexible/hybrid work environment

About the Company

Creative Action is a nationally recognized youth arts education organization in Austin, Texas. Through school-based, after-school, teen, and community programs, we use the arts to build community and foster Creative Artists, Critical Thinkers, Confident Leaders, and Courageous Allies.

Equal Opportunity

Creative Action is an equal opportunity employer. We recruit, train, compensate, uplift and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.
Creative Action believes in diversity, equity, inclusivity and belonging, and this core set of values is reflected across every department and community in which we serve.
We are committed to and focused on anti-racism and anti-oppression, and fold this into our organizational foundation.
We believe deeply that diversity and differences are what make us an innovative, compassionate, and forward-thinking organization.
We strongly encourage individuals to apply who identify as LGTBQIA+, bilingual, Black, Brown, Indigenous and/or people of color.