Chief Advancement Officer

Position Overview

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Direct reports: Vice President of Development and Director of Brand

Team: Approximately 12 professionals across Development and Brand

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and a member of a four-person Executive team, the Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) will lead the strategy and execution of Hot Bread Kitchen’s fundraising, external engagement, and brand-building work. The CAO will oversee a sophisticated advancement function spanning private and public institutional giving, major and individual giving, a capital campaign, events, development operations, and brand and communications.

The CAO will inherit strong teams and a fundraising operation that consistently meets or exceeds its goals. They will partner closely with the Vice President of Development, who leads the day-to-day development structure and operations, and with the Director of Brand, who oversees the organization’s brand presence, earned and owned media, cause marketing, and the look and feel of events and external communications. The successful leader will build trust, generate enthusiasm, and bring people along around a cohesive advancement vision while respecting and extending the expertise already in place.

The CAO will be both strategist and practitioner: a visible ambassador and compelling storyteller who can cultivate and solicit up to eight-figure gifts; an engaging leader who motivates people and creates clarity and shared ownership; and an agile executive who can move from visionary long-range planning to the details of a donor meeting, gala, proposal, or emerging opportunity. They will work in close partnership with the CEO, Executive Team, Board of Directors, and Fund Development Committee to advance Hot Bread Kitchen’s mission and financial sustainability.

Key Responsibilities:

Executive Leadership

• Serve as a trusted thought partner to the CEO and Executive Team on organizational strategy, planning, vetting of incoming opportunities, and complex or emergent issues.

• Bring an enterprise-wide perspective to decision-making, helping colleagues see how priorities connect, building alignment around difficult tradeoffs, and moving the organization from strategy to action.

• Serve as a visible and compelling external ambassador for Hot Bread Kitchen, representing the organization at key events and with philanthropic, business, civic, and food-industry leaders.

Development Strategy and Revenue Growth

• Set and execute a multi-year advancement strategy that drives ambitious revenue growth, diversification, and long-term financial resilience.

• Establish ambitious, achievable revenue targets with the CEO, CFOO, and Vice President of Development, building shared ownership around clear measures of success and accountability.

• Grow and diversify revenue across foundations, corporations, major and individual giving, campaigns, events and sponsorships, government funding, and new opportunities.

• Partner with the Vice President of Development and fundraising Directors to drive strategy for priority donors and prospects; personally cultivate, solicit, and steward top donors, including six- to eight-figure gifts.

• Strategically deploy the CEO and other leaders in high-value donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and external engagement.

• Provide executive oversight of Hot Bread Kitchen’s annual gala, ensuring strong fundraising results, as well as an excellent experience for sponsors and attendees.

Capital Campaign and Transformational Giving

• In partnership with external counsel, lead Hot Bread Kitchen’s anticipated capital campaign, setting strategy, goals, and prospect priorities aligned with the organization’s vision for growth and long-term sustainability.

• Partner with the CEO and Board to secure transformational gifts, personally leading key relationships and solicitations while building campaign capacity that also strengthens annual and long-term fundraising.

Brand, Communications, and Events

• Set a clear, integrated vision for how brand, communications, events, and fundraising work together to strengthen Hot Bread Kitchen’s visibility, reach, and revenue.

• Provide strategic stewardship of the Hot Bread Kitchen brand, setting high standards for a distinctive, compelling, and consistent identity across internal and external audiences.

• Lead and support the Director of Brand, the organization’s creative lead, providing clear strategic direction and context, generating enthusiasm around priorities, and creating space for creative expertise and strong execution.

• Ensure the brand is powerfully expressed across communications, physical spaces, events, and other experiences for members, funders, industry partners, employer partners, government stakeholders, staff, and the broader public.

• Establish clear criteria and build alignment around disciplined decisions about which event, partnership, media, and sponsorship opportunities Hot Bread Kitchen pursues.

Board Partnership

• Partner with the Fund Development Chair and Committee, and Board leaders to set clear expectations for Board engagement in fundraising and maximize the Board’s reach and influence.

• Drive Board engagement, particularly around Advancement, including donor relationships, solicitations, recruitment, and onboarding; provide clear, actionable reporting on revenue, pipeline, risks, and opportunities.

• Develop and execute a 3–5-year vision for Board composition and effectiveness, proactively identifying and recruiting members who advance Hot Bread Kitchen’s mission and ambitions.

Team Leadership and Cross-Functional Management

• Lead and develop a high-performing Advancement team that consistently exceeds targets, creating clarity and shared ownership around goals, roles, and accountability while fostering a warm, collaborative, mission-driven culture.

• Oversee the strategy and execution to engage 250+ volunteers annually, ensuring a strong volunteer experience and effective deployment of volunteer talent.

• Partner effectively with Program and Finance leaders to strengthen funder narratives, budgets, forecasts, grants, reporting, and revenue processes.

Systems, Performance, and Stewardship

• Use Salesforce and other tools to actively manage pipeline, donor engagement, revenue performance, and ROI, using data to identify gaps and drive decisions.

• Maintain high standards of donor stewardship, grant compliance, ethical fundraising, confidentiality, and financial accountability.

• Anticipate shifts in philanthropy, workforce development, food and hospitality, corporate social impact, and public funding, and move quickly to capitalize on opportunities for Hot Bread Kitchen.

The Leader:

Experience and Qualifications

• Significant senior-level fundraising and advancement experience within a comparable or larger nonprofit, with demonstrated success growing and diversifying revenue at meaningful scale.

• Proven success cultivating, soliciting, and closing significant gifts, including gifts up to eight figures, from individuals, foundations, or corporations.

• Capital campaign leadership experience, including strategy, case development, prospect development, Board engagement, and transformational giving.

• Strong knowledge of New York City’s philanthropic landscape and an established network among foundations, major donors, corporations, and nonprofit leaders.

• Significant people-management experience, with a track record of leading and developing multi-layered teams, setting clear direction and high expectations, building commitment, and coaching and developing talent.

• Strong strategic and financial acumen, including forecasting, budgeting, pipeline analysis, and using CRM data to drive decisions; Salesforce experience preferred.

• Exceptional communication, listening, persuasion, and relationship-building skills, with the presence and judgment to engage, influence, and represent Hot Bread Kitchen with diverse internal and external audiences.

• Familiarity with workforce development; small business services; economic mobility; food and hospitality; social enterprise; local media and influencer engagement; and government funding expertise is highly valued but not required.

Leadership Attributes

• Mission-centered and energized by Hot Bread Kitchen’s commitment to economic mobility and the potential of New York City’s food industry.

• Innovative and forward-thinking, particularly about fundraising, brand, and external engagement; brings fresh ideas that differentiate Hot Bread Kitchen while remaining disciplined about what will advance the mission and drive impact.

• Energetic, action-oriented, and goal-focused; creates momentum and enthusiasm in a fast-paced environment, while knowing when to slow down, listen, and take a more deliberate approach.

• Warm, engaging, and highly relational; a natural relationship-builder and connector who builds trust easily, works a room comfortably, and energizes and influences colleagues, donors, partners, and other external stakeholders.

• A persuasive and collaborative decision-maker who actively engages colleagues to surface perspectives, expertise, and data, builds buy-in around a path forward, and has the judgment and confidence to make decisions when needed.

• Brings executive presence and gravitas without relying on hierarchy; approachable, optimistic, and hands-on, with the confidence and interpersonal skill to engage senior philanthropic, corporate, civic, and food-industry leaders and roll up their sleeves when the work requires it.

• Committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and to a culture in which staff and partners feel respected, supported, and accountable.