Chief Development Officer

About Little Brothers—Friends of the Elderly, Chicago Chapter 

Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (LBFE) is a national network of nonprofit, volunteer-based organizations committed to relieving isolation and loneliness among older adults. Rooted in the belief that friendship, dignity, and celebration of life are as essential as meeting physical needs, LBFE offers people of goodwill the opportunity to join older adults in enduring friendships grounded in respect, compassion, and joy—often guided by its founding principle, “flowers before bread.” 

Founded in 1959, the Little Brothers—Friends of the Elderly, Chicago (LBFE Chicago) is one of LBFE’s most established and influential affiliates, serving more than 800 older adults annually across Chicago, DuPage and Kane Counties, and Northwest Indiana. LBFE’s model is intentionally simple and profoundly human: conversation over coffee, shared meals, birthdays and holidays celebrated together, home visits, phone calls, outings, and the steady presence of a friend. Relationships are volunteer driven, built around shared interests, and often last seven to eight years - or longer - accompanying older adults for life. All services are provided at no cost and are supported entirely through private philanthropy.

As awareness grows that loneliness is a public health crisis, LBFE has emerged as a trusted, values-driven leader in this space. With a loyal donor community, a strong culture of legacy giving, and a thoughtful strategic foundation, LBFE is focused on sustaining depth while responsibly expanding reach—strengthening community partnerships, visibility, and long-term philanthropic support without losing the care and support that defines its impact.

For more information about Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (LBFE), Chicago Chapter, visit https://lbfechicago.org/.

The Opportunity  

Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (LBFE Chicago) seeks a Chief Development Officer to lead its fundraising, partnerships, and advancement strategy at a moment of meaningful opportunity. LBFE has set an ambitious goal to expand its reach from more than 800 older adults to 1,200 older adults in the next three years. Advancing this vision will require sustained, diversified philanthropic investment and a development leader who can mobilize resources while retaining the organization’s highly personal approach to building relationships with individual donors.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and working closely with the Board and senior leadership team, the Chief Development Officer will design and execute a comprehensive development strategy spanning individual giving, major and legacy gifts(trusts, planned gifts and bequests), foundations, corporations, direct response, and integrated communications. LBFE Chicago enters this next chapter with strong financial fundamentals, including a loyal donor base and meaningful legacy assets. The opportunity ahead is to build greater predictability and scale by deepening major giving, strengthening institutional partnerships, and engaging new donors drawn to long-term, human-centered impact.

LBFE Chicago is also entering an important facilities chapter, with plans underway to redesign approximately 10,000 square feet of its 40,000-square-foot headquarters to support flexible program delivery, volunteer engagement, and expanded event and community‑building capacity. This presents a meaningful opportunity for the Chief Development Officer to support financing strategy, engage donors in the vision, and leverage the space for fundraising and “friendraising.”

This role is well suited to a seasoned development leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution. The CDO will lead and mentor a talented team of three while strengthening systems, discipline, and data-informed decision-making to support sustained growth. In partnership with program leadership, the CDO will translate LBFE’s distinctive model into compelling philanthropic opportunities that resonate with donors seeking depth, authenticity, and measurable impact.

Beyond fundraising and advancement, the Chief Development Officer will serve as a visible ambassador for LBFE Chicago, helping elevate the organization’s profile across the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana philanthropic communities. This is a rare opportunity to steward an organization where fundraising is rooted in dignity, long-term commitment, and human connection—and where philanthropic leadership directly enables older adults to age with friendship, joy, and belonging.

Key responsibilities of the CDO include, among others:

Strategic Fundraising & Revenue Growth

• Develop and execute an annual development plan and budget aligned with LBFE’s strategic priorities, establishing clear revenue goals and ensuring disciplined execution.
• Lead and continuously optimize a robust and high-performing direct response program, including campaign planning, performance evaluation, and ongoing refinement; ensure strong integration with digital and multi-channel fundraising efforts,
• Grow and manage a diversified portfolio of supporters through varied revenue streams, including major gifts, planned and legacy giving, individual giving, corporate partnerships, foundations, direct response, and events.
• Reduce reliance on volatile revenue sources (e.g., bequests) by strengthening predictable and relationship‑based funding streams.
• Set clear annual and multi‑year revenue targets, benchmarks, and performance metrics for all fundraising programs.
• Monitor progress against goals and adjust strategies, tactics, and resource allocation in response to performance trends, pipeline health, and emerging opportunities.
• Align fundraising strategy with organizational budget, cashflow needs, and long-term financial sustainability.

Major, Legacy & Institutional Giving

• Personally manage a portfolio of major and principal gift prospects and donors; meet defined personal fundraising goals.
• Lead major gift strategy and execution, including cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, in partnership with the CEO and Board.
• Lead and advance a comprehensive legacy and planned giving program, integrating bequests and trusts into the donor lifecycle while building and sustaining a strong pipeline through targeted outreach and stewardship.
• Provide strategic oversight of corporate and foundation giving, ensuring efforts are intentional, targeted, and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Strengthen systems for prospect research, moves management, and donor tracking to support long‑term relationship growth.

Donor Stewardship & Culture of Philanthropy

• Establish and uphold best practices in donor stewardship, recognition, reporting, and engagement across all donor segments.
• Position stewardship as a driver of donor retention, increased giving, and long‑term loyalty.
• Promote a culture of philanthropy across LBFE Chicago by engaging staff, volunteers, and Board members in donor‑centered practices.
• Ensure donor communications and engagement reflect LBFE Chicago’s mission, values, and commitment to dignity and long‑term relationships.

Board & Volunteer Engagement

• Serve as lead staff partner to the Board’s fund development efforts, including the Board Development Committee.
• Equip Board members with clear roles, expectations, tools, and support to participate meaningfully in fundraising.
• Activate Board and volunteer networks to support donor cultivation, stewardship, and relationship building.
• Strengthen shared accountability for fundraising success at the governance level and instill a culture of philanthropy.

External Relations & Partnerships

• Lead development‑aligned communications across website, social media, digital, and print channels, driving a coordinated annual calendar that supports donor engagement and fundraising priorities.
• Represent LBFE Chicago externally with donors, funders, corporate partners, and community stakeholders.
• Build and steward strategic partnerships that advance philanthropic support and organizational visibility.
• Strengthen LBFE’s presence across Chicago, DuPage, Kane, and Northwest Indiana within the philanthropic and nonprofit ecosystem.
• Stay informed on regional philanthropic trends and funding opportunities relevant to LBFE Chicago’s mission and growth priorities.

Advancement Operations, Data & Accountability

• Partner closely with the Director of Finance to align fundraising performance, forecasting, and revenue strategy with organizational budgeting, cashflow, and long‑term financial planning—ensuring strong integration between development and finance, supported by clear systems and shared data.
• Lead disciplined, data-informed fundraising using strong systems, metrics, and insights to improve performance and inform strategy.
• Oversee accurate donor data, reporting, and gift processing.
• Use analytics to evaluate fundraising effectiveness, cost of fundraising, donor retention, and portfolio performance.
• Report regularly to the CEO and Board on fundraising results, forecasts, risks, and opportunities.
• Establish and monitor KPIs for the development function and individual team members.

Team Leadership & Growth Readiness

• Operate effectively within an environment that values both longstanding, relationship‑driven approaches and thoughtful evolution.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the development team with clear goals, roles, and accountability.
• Lead RFP strategy and oversee the evaluation and selection of external vendors and consultants, ensuring alignment with organizational needs, performance expectations, and cost management.
• Ensure staffing, systems, and workflows evolve to support organizational and program growth.
• Foster strong collaboration across development, communications, programs, and operations.
• Build a positive, high‑performing, mission‑aligned team culture capable of meeting ambitious growth goals.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

While it is understood that no candidate will offer every desired skill, quality, and characteristic, the following offers a detailed, aspirational view of the ideal candidate profile:

Strategic Fundraising Leadership & Organizational Growth

The Chief Development Officer is a strategic fundraising executive with a demonstrated ability to architect, execute, and continuously refine a diversified philanthropic revenue strategy in support of LBFE’s long-term strategic ambitions. A growth-oriented enterprise fundraiser, this leader brings a disciplined approach to building sustainable philanthropic revenue that aligns tightly with organizational goals, expansion priorities, and programmatic growth. With fluency across individual giving, major and legacy gifts, corporate partnerships, foundations, and direct response, the CDO strengthens revenue diversity while mitigating exposure to volatility inherent in legacy driven funding models. The successful candidate brings a balanced and pragmatic approach to fundraising innovation—respecting and maximizing proven revenue streams while thoughtfully testing and integrating emerging channels. They understand how to engage an older, loyal donor base through traditional methods such as direct mail and email while building pathways to attract and engage the next generation of supporters via digital and social platforms. They bring the ability to scale fundraising capacity thoughtfully, ensuring LBFE Chicago’s financial model evolves in step with its mission reach.

Major & Legacy Giving Expertise

An accomplished relationship‑based fundraiser, our next CDO excels at engaging donors in meaningful, values‑aligned philanthropic partnerships. This leader brings deep experience cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major and principal gifts, personally managing a portfolio of high‑value donor relationships while partnering closely with the CEO and Board on top prospects. The CDO understands the strategic importance of legacy and planned giving within a long‑term relationship model and integrates bequests, trusts, and other planned gifts into a broader donor engagement continuum. Stewardship is treated as a core strategic function—timely, personal, impact‑driven, and designed to foster long‑term loyalty and trust. 

Donor Engagement & Ambassadorship

A natural storyteller, the CDO brings the experience and judgment to serve as a compelling ambassador for LBFE Chicago, translating external leadership into greater visibility and influence for the organization. This leader excels at translating deeply human, relationship-centered work into a clear and differentiated case for support, drawing on strong narrative and positioning skills to elevate institutional mission as essential to community well-being. In close partnership with communications and program leadership, the CDO applies disciplined, narrative‑driven engagement strategies that strengthen donor understanding and commitment across channels. Drawing on their prior success representing mission‑driven organizations at a regional level, the CDO brings the capability to expand LBFE’s presence, credibility, and leadership across the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana philanthropic landscape.

Data-informed Decision-Making & Operational Discipline

The next CDO brings strong operational judgment and a disciplined, strategic approach to data‑informed fundraising leadership in service of organizational growth. Highly analytical, they are an experienced development leader who leverages analytics, dashboards, and performance metrics to inform decision‑making. They consistently evaluate fundraising efficiency, donor retention and acquisition, portfolio movement, and lifetime value across revenue streams and work in close partnership with finance and operations leadership to translate insight into action and ensure that development strategies are fully aligned with budgeting, cash‑flow management, and long‑term financial planning. Valuing rigorous systems, clean data, and transparent reporting, they apply evidence‑based analysis to optimize performance, manage risk, and bring the skills necessary to scale LBFE Chicago’s philanthropic model in support of its expanding mission and strategic priorities. They bring a data-driven understanding of direct mail’s role within a diversified fundraising program—recognizing its strong connection to planned giving and long-term donor value—while identifying opportunities to thoughtfully evolve the channel over time.

Board Partnership & Culture of Philanthropy

The Chief Development Officer is adept at engaging Boards as strategic partners in advancement, particularly in organizations where fundraising has historically been secondary to asset strength or legacy support. This leader brings proven experience equipping Board members to serve as effective ambassadors and philanthropic partners, tailoring engagement to individual strengths and comfort levels rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. The CDO establishes clear expectations, practical tools, and defined pathways for Board involvement that strengthen governance‑level accountability for philanthropic success. By reinforcing the Board’s role in sustaining long-term impact, the CDO helps embed a culture of philanthropy that supports LBFE Chicago’s growth and future resilience. The CDO brings demonstrated success activating fund development committees and reinforce a culture of philanthropy—establishing clear expectations, accountability, and meaningful roles for participation. With persistence, diplomacy, and structure, this leader is comfortable coaching Board and Committee members into action, transforming nominal participation into engaged partnership that drives tangible fundraising outcomes.

Collaborative and Mission-driven Leadership

Highly mission-driven, the CDO is a collaborative, mission‑anchored leader who builds alignment, trust, and shared ownership across staff and volunteers in support of LBFE’s mission and ambitious growth goals. Balancing strategic vision with active engagement, they mentor teams through clarity, accountability, and mutual respect by strengthening internal capacity and remaining closely connected to programmatic delivery as the organization scales. The CDO brings strong organizational discipline, follow‑through, emotional intelligence, and adaptability, fostering effective collaboration across development, communications, programs, and operations. Grounded in LBFE’s values, this leader advances the mission with professionalism, warmth, and a sense of humor, fostering a positive, resilient culture that can meet the demands of growth while keeping people and purpose at the center.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree and/or CFRE preferred.
• 10+ years of fundraising leadership experience, with strength in individual and major giving.
• Proven success growing donor relationships, including direct response and institutional partnerships.
• Strong financial acumen and ability to align fundraising with organizational sustainability.
• Ability to work effectively with the executive office, Board, staff, older adults, and volunteers.
• Familiarity with the philanthropic landscape across Chicago, DuPage and Kane Counties, and Northwest Indiana is highly desirable, with the ability to quickly build relationships and visibility across these communities.
• Deep commitment to LBFE’s mission and to ensuring the dignity and well-being of the older adults it serves is nonnegotiable.

Compensation & Benefits 

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $140,000-$175,000 with a generous benefits package.  

LOCATION

This is a place‑based leadership role requiring an on‑site presence during key, organization‑wide initiatives. The successful candidate will participate in at least one of LBFE’s signature holiday events (Thanksgiving or Christmas) and the annual Spring Fête d’Armand Marquiset. The role also requires regular travel across Chicago, DuPage and Kane Counties, and Northwest Indiana.

CONTACT

DSG | Koya has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Anne McCarthy and Malissa Brennan. Express interest in this role by filling out our Talent Profile or emailing the search team directly at [email protected]. All inquiries and discussions are strictly confidential.

DSG | Koya is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.