Chief Development Officer
Working Families Party
ABOUT THIS ROLE
The Chief Development Officer (CDO) sets the fundraising vision and leads the overall fundraising strategy for Working Families Party and Working Families Power. Reporting to the Chief of Staff and working closely with the National Director, the CDO is a core member of the senior staff team and plays a central role in shaping the organization and party's long-term political growth.
This is a senior role with both an external mandate: major donor leadership, new revenue, and long-term expansion, and an internal mandate: serving as the connective tissue across development, digital, and state and federal fundraising functions, building alignment and shared strategy across a decentralized ecosystem.
The CDO is accountable not only for sustaining and aligning an existing national donor base, but for growing it: bringing in new major supporters, deepening conviction, and converting alignment into long-term investment and donor leadership. This role requires sophisticated political judgment, comfort operating in high-stakes moments, and the ability to translate strategy, elections, and movement goals into compelling fundraising opportunities.
The CDO supervises the Managing Director of Development who manages a team of five direct reports, systems, forecasting, and day-to-day execution of fundraising programs. This structure allows the CDO to focus on long-term growth strategy, donor relationships, funder-facing narrative, and setting a culture of ambition and accountability across the organization’s and party's fundraising work. The CDO is also overseeing the systems, shared language, and operating rhythms that allow the broader fundraising ecosystem to function as a unified whole.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Set and own the long-term fundraising strategy for both Working Families Party and Working Families Power, with full accountability for overall fundraising performance, growth, and sustainability.
Serve as a senior thought partner in organizational strategy and planning, bringing insight into political fundraising trends, donor behavior, and shifts in the funding landscape.
Play a central role in annual planning and budgeting, including participation in the Budget Process and Allocations Committee and final approval of revenue projections developed by the Managing Director of Development.
Lead evaluation, testing, and innovation across the fundraising program identifying where new strategies, audiences, or giving models are needed and designing pilots to drive long-term growth.
Push the organization beyond replication of past approaches, particularly in underdeveloped areas such as mid-level donor growth, donor leadership models, and connecting donors more directly to priority candidates and campaigns.
Support in developing consistent donor engagement standards and touchpoint cadence across the development team and state and federal fundraising staff, reducing reliance on individual initiative.
Lead the fundraising strategy and planning process, ensuring the development team operates with clear annual objectives that ladder up to organizational strategy.
Personally own and steward a portfolio of major individual and institutional supporters, with a focus on securing new, expanded, and multi-year investments.
Lead the strategy to identify, cultivate, and close new major donors, including members of the top tier of political funders nationwide.
Drive fundraising strategy during flash point moments, including election cycles and expansion opportunities that require rapid judgment and decisive action.
Direct and manage the fundraising engagement of the National Director, ensuring leadership time is focused on the highest-impact donor opportunities and used effectively.
Own and operationalize the party and organization's funder-facing narrative, partnering with the Chief Brand Officer to co-develop a consistent north star message, and ensuring every fundraising touchpoint from state-level asks to major donor briefings reflects that through line with clarity and consistency.
Build the development team's capacity to deploy narrative effectively, providing entity-specific talking points, donor segment messaging guides, and clear cases for support so that every member of the fundraising ecosystem can fundraise with confidence and consistency.
Build and maintain strong relationships with donor advisors, funding networks, and political giving gatherings to ensure the party and organization have visibility, credibility, and influence within the broader funding ecosystem.
Serve as a visible internal and external leader on questions of political giving, money in politics, and strategic philanthropy.
As appropriate, advise donors on their broader political giving strategy beyond our budgets, strengthening trust and positioning the party and organization as a long-term strategic partner.
Serve as a senior staff leader, helping set a culture of ambition, accountability, and shared responsibility for fundraising success across the organization.
Navigate and resolve cross-department fundraising tensions while maintaining trust, clarity, and momentum toward aggressive revenue goals.
Partner closely with the Managing Director of Development to translate organization-wide strategy into clear fundraising priorities, goals, and expectations for the Development team.
Supervise and support the Managing Director of Development, ensuring strong internal execution while maintaining clear separation between external leadership and internal management.
Build coordination and shared strategy across development, digital fundraising, and state and regional fundraising teams, establishing shared planning rhythms, aligned priorities, and joint accountability for the party and organization's full fundraising ecosystem.
Fundraising Vision, Strategy, and Accountability
Fundraising Systems and Infrastructure
Donor Cultivation, Closing, and Growth
Funder-Facing Narrative and External Positioning
Senior Staff Leadership
SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
15 or more years of experience leading major donor fundraising in political, movement, or Democratic-aligned organizations, including personal responsibility for cultivating and closing six- and seven-figure gifts.
Demonstrated success building trust with major individual donors, donor advisors, and funding networks, and converting alignment and interest into sustained, long-term investment. Is trusted by donors for their judgment, not just access.
Experience operating at the executive level, including close partnership with an Executive Director and senior leaders, and the ability to lead through influence and shaping culture.
Strong narrative and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex political strategy into clear, compelling fundraising opportunities.
Demonstrated ability to design, test, and refine new fundraising strategies or models, using data, experimentation, and political judgment to drive growth beyond existing approaches.
Comfort serving as a visible external representative of the organization in donor meetings, funding networks, and political giving spaces.
Willingness and ability to travel regularly and work flexibly in response to fast-moving political moments.
Experience building fundraising operations in resource-constrained environments, including donor engagement cadence systems, reporting infrastructure, standardized toolkits, and planning frameworks that allow teams to execute with consistency.
Demonstrated ability to drive alignment and collaboration across functions without direct authority including digital, communications, brand, and state or regional teams in complex, decentralized organizations.
Demonstrated experience designing and building donor pipeline and progression systems, including grassroots and mid-tier donor cultivation programs, not only major gift portfolios.
Are primarily interested in internal operations, systems management, or day-to-day staff supervision as their core focus.
Prefer executing an established fundraising plan over building and evolving strategy.
Have limited experience with major donor fundraising or national political funding networks.
Are uncomfortable taking direct accountability for ambitious revenue growth goals.
Are seeking a role with limited external engagement, travel, or exposure.
Are primarily relationship fundraisers without experience building cross-functional systems, team infrastructure, or operational frameworks that scale beyond their personal portfolio.
Required experience and capabilities:
This role is likely not a fit for candidates who:
LOCATION AND TRAVEL
SCHEDULE
UNION AFFILIATION
138200 - 232200 USD a year
The final salary offer will fall into one of the following ranges depending on where you live:
Base Market A: (e.g., Cleveland, Detroit, Phoenix) $138,200 - $182,800
Base Market B: (e.g., Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas) $147,900 - $195,600
High Market (e.g., Baltimore, Los Angeles, Portland): $161,700 - $213,900
Very High Market: (e.g., Boston, New York City, San Francisco) $175,500 - $232,200
The locations listed above are just examples and not an exhaustive list.
We also offer a robust benefit package for full time employees including paid time off; health, dental, vision, and life insurance; flexible spending accounts; retirement plan options; professional development funding; and remote work support.