MLKFS is looking for a Chief Development Officer who brings both fundraising expertise and genuine commitment to this community. The right candidate knows how to build and own a development program from the ground up — deepening major donor relationships, building a stronger individual giving base, and establishing the infrastructure a serious development operation requires.

The CDO works in close partnership with the President & CEO, jointly carrying primary relationships with major donors and civic leaders. Your job is to build the development program, own the strategy, expand the donor base, and make sure the work runs with discipline year-round.

Institutional giving (foundation and government grants) is handled collaboratively, with grant writing and submission supported by other team capacity. The CDO contributes strategy and donor intelligence to that work but does not own day-to-day grants execution.

What You’ll Do

Build and own the organization’s fundraising strategy.

You’ll set annual fundraising goals across individual giving, corporate sponsorships, and events, and maintain a rolling 12-month development calendar. You’ll track progress, report monthly to the CEO and Finance Committee, and adjust strategy when the data tells you to.

Own major donor cultivation with CEO support.

You’ll build and manage the major gift pipeline — identifying and qualifying prospects, designing cultivation strategy, and moving donors through to solicitation. The CEO is your partner in this work and a primary face to donors and civic leaders; you own the strategy, the pipeline, and the discipline behind it.

Build the individual donor program.

Annual giving campaigns, Giving Tuesday, year-end appeals, and a growing mid-level and major gift base. You’ll design the program, build the segmentation, and make sure every donor is acknowledged within 48 hours.

Contribute to institutional giving strategy.

You’ll work alongside CEO and grant writing capacity on foundation and government funder strategy — bringing donor intelligence, helping prioritize prospects, and ensuring institutional and individual giving work in alignment. Day-to-day grant writing and submission sit elsewhere.

Build board engagement in fundraising.

You’ll work with the CEO to clarify board members’ fundraising roles, build their confidence and capacity to make asks, and grow a culture of board giving and engagement. You’ll staff or support the formation of a Development Committee.

Own development events.

The Annual MLK Day Celebration is the organization’s signature event. You’ll own fundraising strategy, sponsor packages, acknowledgment, and budget discipline — and bring the same ownership to any other fundraising events across the year.

Coordinate marketing and communications.

You’ll serve as the primary internal point of contact for the organization’s marketing and communications contractor — briefing on priorities, reviewing donor-facing materials, and making sure what goes out reflects the development strategy.

Build and own the development operation.

CRM data integrity, monthly fundraising dashboards for the CEO, gift acceptance policies, and accurate records. A development program is only as strong as the infrastructure underneath it, and you build and own that infrastructure