Chief Advancement Officer

Job Title: Chief Advancement Officer

Employment Status: Full-time exempt (An average of 40 hours per week, but as an exempt employee this position will be expected to prioritize fulfilling their job responsibilities)

Location: This is a remote position. We are a California-based organization, and this individual will be expected to work predominantly on a Pacific time zone schedule.

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Salary: $145,000 - $165,000/yr

About The Center for Cultural Power:

The Center for Cultural Power (Cultural Power) is a women of color, artist-led organization, inspiring artists and culture makers to imagine a world where power is distributed equitably and where we live in harmony with nature. We support artists through fellowships, training, and opportunities for activation. We create intersectional stories and content addressing issues of immigration, climate, gender and racial justice. We engage movement groups in cultural strategy and organize artists around issues that inspire them. Together with allies, we are co-creating a field of cultural strategy with organizations and practitioners through convenings, design teams, and strategy tables. Our website has more about the organization and our team.

Our staff and board align around the following organizational values:

• Trust
• Collaboration
• Care
• Learning
• Inspiration

We assess our progress and work around the following organizational core competencies:

• Cultural Competency
• Empowers Others
• Ethics
• Strategic Alignment and Partnerships
• Collaboration
• Project Management
• Leadership
• Accountability

Cultural Power is part of a family of organizations including The Cultural Engagement Lab (CEL) and The Constellations Culture Change Initiative & Fund. More on these organizations and initiatives are below. This position may be split between Cultural Power and CEL approximately 80/20.

About The Constellations Culture Change Initiative & Fund

Housed at Cultural Power, The Constellations Initiative is a field-wide initiative to accelerate narrative and social change by creating a place-based network that distributes power and allows for collaboration. The goal is to build worldviews based on abundance and regeneration. Constellations is about BIPOC communities building their own power from the ground up by working with artists and culture-makers to shift narratives and worldviews. The Constellations Culture Change Fund is the grantmaking arm of the Initiative and housed at the Amalgamated Foundation. This position will work across both entities. Learn more about the Constellations initiative here.

About The Cultural Engagement Lab (CEL)

CEL is our 501(c)(4) organization that organizes a powerful network of seasoned artists and culture makers from impacted communities to lend their storytelling talents to meaningful advocacy, electoral, and civic engagement efforts. You can visit CEL’s website to learn more about this body of work and what we accomplished during the 2020 election year.

Position Overview:

The Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) will be charged with developing, leading, and implementing a robust communications and resource development strategy to forge new partnerships, enhance the organization’s visibility, and secure financial resources. They will collaborate with colleagues across the organization to leverage existing organizational relationships as well as to identify new potential sources of philanthropic support. A key member of Cultural Power’s Executive Team, the CAO will work closely with colleagues across the organization to apply moves management strategy to the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of both individual and organizational donors. They will lead a team of development and communications staff in operationalizing the organization’s fundraising and communications strategy.

As Cultural Power seeks to shift to a mixed-funding model with greater emphasis on individual giving and earned income revenue, the CAO will play a critical role in cultivating a culture of philanthropy across the organization – both among staff as well as the Board of Directors. They will partner with the CEO to identify opportunities to meaningfully engage staff and Board members in fundraising activity and dialogue, including offering coaching and guidance to increase individual’s confidence and impact in philanthropic conversations with prospects and donors.

The Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) will build and supervise a team that may include: Director of Development (DoD), Senior Manager, Institutional Communications, Funder Relations Manager and team operations and/or administration. The CAO ensures best practices of managing teams, fidelity of implementation of portfolios – and thought partnership to shape new and emergent opportunities.

The CAO will regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment in performing the following key areas of expertise and mastery:

• Cultural Competency:
  • They champion diversity and inclusion initiatives, ensuring that they are embedded in the organization's strategic goals and decision-making processes.
• Empowers Others
  • They set the tone for the entire company by promoting a leadership style that emphasizes trust, collaboration, and employee development.
• Ethics
  • They drive ethical conduct throughout the organization by creating and reinforcing ethical policies, procedures, and controls.
• Strategic Alignment and Partnerships
  • They establish partnerships and alliances at the highest level, such as with key creative community members, philanthropic entities, or other organizations to drive growth and expand the Center for Cultural Power's reach.
• Collaboration
  • They establish partnerships and alliances that leverage complementary strengths and resources, driving innovation and growth.
• Project Management
  • They ensure that projects are aligned with the Center for Cultural Power's vision and goals, and they make informed decisions regarding project investments and prioritization.
• Leadership
  • They demonstrate visionary thinking, navigate complex business environments, and lead the company through challenges and opportunities.
• Accountability
  • They establish clear organizational goals, define performance expectations, and ensure that the company operates with integrity and transparency.

Key Responsibilities:

Fundraising Strategy & Operations

• Develop and implement a multi-year fundraising strategy that is inclusive of diverse revenue streams – including foundations, earned income, corporations and individuals. As part of this strategy, set, monitor, and report on measurable goals for revenue sustainability and growth;
• Partner with CEO and Executive Team to define Cultural Power’s fundraising priorities as related to the organization’s strategic priorities;
• Work closely with the Finance team to forecast annual revenue goals, perform monthly revenue reconciliation and manage donor reports to maintain accuracy and financial accountability;
• Collaborate with colleagues across the organization to research and identify philanthropic potential within existing organizational relationships, and to identify new prospective corporate and foundation funders, with an emphasis on major national and international foundations;
• Create and manage cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies for the most promising corporate and foundation prospects, partnering with Cultural Power leadership and/or key staff members as relevant;
• In partnership with CEO, DoD and key staff, manage a portfolio of the organization’s highest capacity funders (current and prospective);
• Identify and prioritize individual major gift prospects, leveraging existing relationships and staff and Board member networks;
• Oversee creation and implementation of a segmented annual giving strategy that seeks to increase donor retention and overall commitment levels;
• Partner with Communications staff to develop and implement an annual giving solicitation strategy, with an emphasis on digital engagement.

Communications

• Serve as primary communication strategist on Cultural Power’s initiatives, goals and priorities with focus on forward-looking message and communications planning;
• Lead strong, vision-focused, service-oriented team of professionals across all aspects of media, internal and external communications, multi-cultural outreach, web design and communications and marketing;
• Oversee public communications and Cultural Power’s brand through well-developed internal communications, external relations, crisis communications and marketing plan and strategy;
• Develop, direct, and evaluate the Cultural Power’s public relations, marketing, communications, and public affairs strategy; execute effective campaigns/programs on a local, state, and national basis, with major emphasis communications between Cultural Power and our communities;
• Identify organizational and community issues and concerns, and develop strategies for dealing effectively and proactively with issues and concerns;

Board Management

• Partner with the CEO in managing fundraising-related activities of the Board of Directors, including training and management of the Strategic Relationships & Development Committee.
• Identify opportunities to enhance Board confidence and impact in fundraising conversations.

Leadership & Culture

• Champion diversity and inclusion initiatives, ensuring that they are embedded in the organization's strategic goals and decision-making processes. Actively build diverse teams and create opportunities for employees from all cultural backgrounds to succeed and contribute to the organization's success.
• Provide inspirational leadership and direction, and ensure the continued development and management of a professional and efficient organization; establish effective decision-making processes that will enable long- and short-term goals and objectives to be achieved.
• Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration and impact and strengthen internal communications with staff throughout the organization; create and promote a positive, multicultural work environment that supports consistency throughout the organization's strategy, operational methods, and data collection needs.
• Identify, attract, recruit, develop, and retain leading talent.
• Create a culture of empowerment and enable the success of all employees within the organization by promoting a leadership style that emphasizes trust, collaboration, and employee development.
• Promote a sense of ownership and accountability throughout the organization, ensuring that staff have the authority and support they need to make informed decisions.

Qualifications:

The candidate must have:

• 10+ years in fundraising and communications with organizations that serve diverse communities.
• 5+ years managing teams, with a track record of creating collaborative, high performing, cross-functional teams
• Demonstrated success in identifying and securing new foundation grants of six-figures and up.
• Demonstrated success with generating increased funds from individual donors, both major donors and annual appeals, through a coordinated, strategic approach. Knowledge of planned giving and experience with online fundraising preferred.
• Hands-on experience with one or more donor databases/software, such as Salesforce
• Demonstrated success in learning the details of an organization’s substantive work and applying that knowledge in drafting successful fundraising solicitations.
• Demonstrated success in conducting initial outreach to prospective foundations/donors, arranging for organizational leadership to meet with prospective donors/foundations and successfully preparing them for those meetings.
• Strong project management skills and ability to maintain high-level focus, delegating tasks while keeping momentum on projects.
• Exceptional written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills
• Cultural fluency and direct experience working with diverse communities.

Cultural Power supports artists and culture makers whose voices are most needed to transform the status quo towards a more just and inclusive future. This includes all artists and cultural workers whatever their individual designations, cultural backgrounds, sexual or gender identity, citizenship status, or color. As such, we strongly encourage individuals from all communities to apply. We are committed to the collective work and intentional investment necessary to consistently move in the direction of equity and inclusion. Cultural Power is an at-will employer.