Vice President of Development

The Opportunity

• Are you excellent at tying mission to value from a charitable donor’s perspective?
• Are you excited about your role as being instrumental in bringing a world-class entertainment experience for theater patrons and donors?
• Do you have a passion for the performing arts?
• Are you excellent at planning, inspiring others to do their very best, and overseeing a team of approximately 10 people whose job it is to delight donors through a seamless, easy, engaging, grateful experience?
  
  

Primary Function

The Vice President of Development’s strategic and operational leadership promotes and instills best practices in fundraising operations, board and donor engagement, and team management, ensuring the long-term success of CAPA’s mission in our historic theatres. This fundraising leader is responsible for generating $5m+ in contributed revenue and $2m+ in capital revenue this fiscal year across five distinct arts organizations, including one large-scale festival. This role manages four direct reports and provides team oversight, currently, for four additional development professionals. This leader serves as the primary liaison to board members, executive leadership, department heads, and cross-functional peers—especially in Marketing and Operations—ensuring alignment and excellence in fundraising strategy, execution, and outcomes.

Duties, Responsibilities, and Key Performance Objectives

First 3 Months

• Meet the team and understand their perceptions of value and opportunity.
• Meet with key donors, board members, shared services CEOs/Executive Directors, and departmental leaders of each of the five supported organizations to understand the same.
• Review campaign goals and progress to date, both in the annual and capital campaigns.
• Learn the existing processes and systems.
• Document what is going well and what could be improved; share observations and suggestions for improvement with stakeholders.
  
  

First 6 Months

Leadership & Management

• Supervise and mentor direct reports, fostering a collaborative and high-performing development team.
• Provide strategic oversight and guidance to all development staff.
• Foster an understanding of philanthropy within each organization and among staff.
• Develop and maintain ongoing relationships with major donors.
  
  

Fundraising Strategy & Execution

• Develop and implement fundraising strategies tailored to the unique needs of each organization, including one that leverages a sufficiently large, sustained base of annual corporate donors.
• Lead all contributed revenue efforts, including annual giving, major gifts, corporate sponsorships, foundation support, and special campaigns.
• Collaborate with executive leadership to achieve fundraising goals.
• Oversee donor stewardship, cultivation, and recognition programs to deepen engagement and loyalty.
• Monitor and evaluate all fundraising activities to ensure that fundraising goals are being achieved across all organizations
• Monitor trends in the community and/or region and adapt fundraising strategies as necessary
  
  

Stakeholder Engagement

• Oversee the development of a comprehensive communication plan to promote the organization to its donors and maximize public awareness of the fundraising activities of each organization.
• Build effective and lasting relationships with community stakeholders to advance the mission and fundraising goals of the organization.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for board members, ensuring effective communication, engagement, and alignment with fundraising priorities.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with department heads and peers across organizations to support integrated fundraising efforts.
• Represent the development function in executive leadership meetings and strategic planning sessions as demonstrated by effective distillation and reporting of progress against goals.
  
  

Operations & Reporting

• Oversee development operations, including CRM management, gift processing, and donor analytics.
• Monitor and report on fundraising performance across all entities, providing insights and recommendations for goal attainment and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with fundraising regulations and ethical standards.
  
  

First 9 Months

Leadership & Management

• Continue to seek input from stakeholders regarding what is going well and what could be improved; share observations and suggestions for next fiscal year improvement with leadership and, upon approval, with stakeholders.
• Develop and gain approval for an expenditure budget for the development program.
  
  

KPOs

• Annual survey feedback from stakeholders in each of the shared services groups and CAPA CEO achieving an overall Exceeds Expectations rating.
• Receive team engagement feedback that is at or above company average for a majority of measures.
• Oversee and/or successfully execute primary development events (e.g., Galas) for CAPA and each shared services organization. Develop monthly patron engagements, and quarterly community outreach events, as appropriate, for each entity.
• Achieve annual and campaign fundraising goals at 100% or better by the end of each fiscal year.
  
  

Other Duties

• This job description is not designed to cover or contain an exhaustive listing of duties, responsibilities, and key performance objectives that are expected of the employee. These items may change, or new job-related items may be assigned from time to time.
  
  

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Knowledge of comprehensive campaign management.
• Exceptional communication, relationship-building, and strategic planning skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Proficient and comfortable working knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
• Knowledge of fundraising databases (Archtics, Raiser’s Edge, etc.) a plus.
• Excellent problem solving and planning skills with the ability to identify and address immediate and long-term issues.
• Budgeting process understanding and the ability to create and achieve budget adherence.
• Ability to train, direct, and evaluate the performance of staff members.
• Ability to walk, stand, and sit for extended periods.
• Ability to climb stairs and ladders, bend and kneel, and lift up to 50 pounds.
  
  

Credentials and Experience

• Proven track record of success in fundraising leadership, preferably within the arts sector.
• Experience managing multi-entity fundraising portfolios and cross-functional teams of 3-5 direct report professionals and a team of 8-10.
• Bachelor's degree required; master’s degree is a plus, especially in non-profit management, arts management, marketing, communications, business or a related discipline
• Typically, 10+ years of experience working in non-profit organizations with progressive experience in development, including fundraising, is needed to have sufficient experience and judgement to lead development in an organization of this size and complexity.
  
  

Special Requirements

• Requires flexibility of schedule to accommodate the needs of each organization.
• In addition to a standard background check, this position requires a credit check that is satisfactory to management.
• The majority of CAPA’s and our Shared Service partner fundraising and public events take place at night and on weekends. This position requires occasional, and at some times, frequent, presence on-site during nights and weekends.
• Must have reliable transportation for off-site meetings.