Chief Advancement Officer (CAO)

Description

Job Description

JOB TITLE: Chief Advancement Officer (CAO)

Team: Executive Leadership Team

Job Status : Active

FLSA Status: Exempt

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Amount of Travel Required: 40% of travel time expected

Job Type : Full-time

Positions Supervised: Current span of stewardship = 5 (Donor Engagement staff, Director of Marketing, Community Collaboration Manager)

Position Summary

The Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) is an executive leader responsible for setting and executing the strategic direction for community engagement, donor stewardship, brand marketing, and strategic partnerships. As a core member of the Executive Leadership Team, the CAO passionately articulates the vision and mission of FIVE18 Family Services to external stakeholders, church partners, individual donors, corporate sponsors, and civic leaders.

The CAO directly oversees the Community Focus Team , driving strategic alignment and high-level performance across three key functional areas:

• Donor Engagement: Major gifts, annual campaigns, planned giving, and donor relationship management.
• Marketing & Communications: Brand strategy, digital communications, public relations, and storytelling.
• Community Collaboration: Church relations, corporate partnerships, community outreach, and advocacy.

Essential Functions

Executive Leadership & Strategic Vision

• Serve as a key strategic advisor to the CEO and Board of Directors on community relations, fund development, and public messaging.
• Champion the Christian mission, vision, and core values of FIVE18 Family Services internally and externally.
• Develop and manage the annual operating budgets for the Community Focus Team (DE, Marketing and Community Collaboration), ensuring optimal resource allocation and measurable return on investment.
• Collaborate with other executive leaders to ensure program outcomes and organizational impact are effectively communicated to stakeholders.

Donor Engagement & Philanthropy

• Oversee the design and implementation of a comprehensive, multi-channel development strategy to grow individual, church, corporate, and foundation support.
• Cultivate and maintain personal relationships with a portfolio of major donors, select mid-level givers, and key foundation prospects.
• Lead capital campaign, annual giving drives, fundraising events, and planned giving initiatives to achieve both annual capital campaign and operating giving goals.
• Ensure high standards of donor stewardship, ensuring timely recognition, transparent reporting, and deep donor connection to our mission.
• Provide oversight of our foundation engagement work to ensure annual grant targets are met.

Marketing, Communications & Brand Strategy

• Guide the overall brand positioning and messaging framework to elevate organizational visibility across local and regional communities.
• Oversee public relations, crisis communications, media strategies, and content creation across digital, print, and social media platforms.
• Ensure all communications reflect a Christ-honoring tone, compelling storytelling, and dignity toward the families and children served.

Community Collaboration & Partnership Development

• Build and nurture robust relationships with local churches, pastoral networks, faith-based ministries, civic organizations, and government agencies.
• Position FIVE18 Family Services as a thought leader and key partner in family-strengthening initiatives throughout the region.
• Establish strategic coalitions and collaborative efforts that amplify the organization’s reach, resources, and community impact.

Team Leadership & Culture

• Provide inspirational leadership, mentorship, and professional development to the directors and team members within the Community Focus Team.
• Foster a culture of prayer, excellence, collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement within the team.
• Establish clear goals and right performance metrics (RPMs) across Donor Engagement, Marketing, and Community Collaboration sub-teams, and support the Community Focus Team to accomplish its quarterly and annual goals.

Competency Statements

• Coaching and Development - Ability to provide guidance and feedback to help others strengthen specific knowledge/skill areas.
• Delegating Responsibility - Ability to allocate authority and/or task responsibility to appropriate people.
• Initiative - Ability to make decisions or take actions to solve a problem or reach a goal.
• Innovative - Ability to look beyond the standard solutions.
• Interpersonal - Ability to get along well with a variety of personalities and individuals.
• Leadership - Ability to influence others to perform their jobs effectively and to be responsible for making decisions.
• Persuasive - Ability to influence others to change position or to adopt a specific point of view.
• Relationship Building - Ability to effectively build relationships with customers and co-workers.
• Strategic Planning - Ability to develop a vision for the future and create a culture in which the long range goals can be achieved.
• Team Builder - Ability to convince a group of people to work toward a goal.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Spiritual & Cultural Fit

• A deep and active personal Christian faith that aligns with the mission, values, and statement of faith of FIVE18 Family Services.
• A genuine passion for family strengthening, child welfare, and community transformation.
• High emotional intelligence, spiritual maturity, and commitment to integrity in all professional interactions.

Education & Experience

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Non-Profit Management, Marketing, Communications, Development, or a related field (Master’s degree or CFRE certification preferred).
• Experience: Minimum of 8 - 10 years of progressive leadership experience in non-profit fundraising, community relations, or marketing, with at least 5 years in an executive or directorial capacity.
• Proven Track Record: Demonstrated success in 1) securing major gifts, 2) leading fundraising programs that raise $1 million dollars or more annually, 3) effectively managing budgets, and 4) executing strategic marketing and community partnership campaigns.

Skills & Competencies

• Exceptional written, public speaking, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Strong leadership abilities to inspire, manage, and empower multi-disciplinary teams.
• Proficiency with donor management software/CRMs and marketing analytics tools.
• Strategic thinking capability paired with the willingness to execute operationally when needed.
• Strong technical skills including ability to leverage Google Suite, AI, Virtuous (Donor CRM), Paylocity and other software.

Work Environment

• Office-based with frequent local travel for donor meetings, community events, and church presentations. Evening and weekend attendance at events or church engagements will be required as needed.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

N (Not Applicable) Activity is not applicable to this position.

O (Occasionally) Position requires this activity up to 33% of the time (0 - 2.5+ hrs/day)

F (Frequently) - Position requires this activity from 33% - 66% of the time (2.5 - 5.5+ hrs/day)

C (Constantly) - Position requires this activity more than 66% of the time (5.5+ hrs/day)

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Stand: F Walk: F Sit: F

Manually Manipulate F Reach Outward O Reach Above Shoulder O

Climb O Crawl N Squat or Kneel F

Bend O Grasp O Speak F

Other Physical Requirements

Vision – ability to see to operate a vehicle to get to appointments in the community is a must.

Sense of Sound – ability to actively listen to and engage stakeholders, donors, etc. in many settings is a requirement of this position.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: Staff are expected to work from their primary FIVE18 office at least 4 days per week. This person would be working from their agency office located at 4009 Murray Place, Lynchburg, VA except when meeting with community stakeholders, donors, church leaders, other non-profit leaders, etc.

Supervisor signature:____________________________ Date: ______________

Employee Signature: ____________________________ Date: ______________

The company has reviewed this job description to ensure that essential functions and basic duties have been included. It is intended to provide guidelines for job expectations and the employee's ability to perform the position described. It is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all functions, responsibilities, skills and abilities. Additional functions and requirements may be assigned by supervisors as deemed appropriate. This document does not represent a contract of employment, and the company reserves the right to change this job description and/or assign tasks for the employee to perform, as the company may deem appropriate.

Requirements

The CAO directly oversees the Community Focus Team, driving strategic alignment and high-level performance across three key functional areas:

Donor Engagement: Major gifts, annual campaigns, planned giving, and donor relationship management.

Marketing & Communications: Brand strategy, digital communications, public relations, and storytelling.

Community Collaboration: Church relations, corporate partnerships, community outreach, and advocacy.