Overview

Chief Advancement Officer Jobs in Halethorpe, MD at Special Olympics Maryland

At Special Olympics Maryland, we believe in the power of sport to transform lives. Every day, we work to create inclusive communities where athletes with intellectual disabilities are celebrated, empowered, and given opportunities to thrive—on and off the field.

We’re looking for a visionary and relationship-driven Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) to join our executive leadership team and help fuel the next chapter of our impact.

Why This Role Matters

The CAO is more than a fundraiser—it’s a strategic leader who will shape how we grow, connect, and sustain our mission for years to come. Reporting directly to the President & CEO and partnering closely with our Board and senior leadership, this role leads all philanthropic revenue generation while building a culture of philanthropy across the organization.

This is a unique opportunity to design and drive a comprehensive fundraising strategy that supports athletes, strengthens communities, and ensures long-term sustainability for Special Olympics Maryland.

What You’ll Do

· Lead with vision: Develop and execute a multi-year fundraising strategy spanning major gifts, corporate partnerships, foundation support, events, and campaigns.

· Inspire and grow: Lead and mentor a high-performing development team, fostering accountability, collaboration, and innovation.

· Build meaningful relationships: Partner with donors, corporate leaders, foundations, and community stakeholders to deepen engagement and expand support.

· Drive major giving: Cultivate and steward a portfolio of major donors while supporting transformational campaigns, endowment growth, and legacy giving.

· Strengthen partnerships: Grow and retain corporate partnerships while aligning opportunities with mission impact and brand strength.

· Elevate signature events: Provide strategic oversight of statewide fundraising events and initiatives, including innovative growth opportunities.

· Collaborate across the organization: Work closely with program, marketing, and operations leaders to ensure alignment between revenue strategy and mission delivery.

Who You Are

You’re a strategic thinker and passionate relationship builder who thrives in a mission-driven environment. You bring:

· A proven track record of leading successful fundraising efforts

· Experience managing teams and building a culture of accountability and collaboration

· Proven leadership and expertise in major gifts, partnerships, and campaign strategy development.

· A deep belief in inclusion and the power of sport to change lives.

Interested?

At Special Olympics Maryland, your work will directly impact thousands of athletes and families across the state. You’ll be part of a passionate, collaborative team committed to creating a more inclusive world through sport.

If you’re ready to lead with purpose and drive meaningful impact, we’d love to hear from you.

Job Title: Chief Advancement Officer

FLSA Status: Exempt, salaried

Department: Advancement

Direct Reports: VP Donor Relations, VP Special Events, VP Marketing & Communications, Senior Director – LETR

Reports To: President and CEO

Purpose: The Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) is a key member of Special Olympics Maryland’s executive leadership team, responsible for advancing philanthropic growth, brand visibility, and stakeholder engagement. Reporting to the President and CEO and working closely with the Board of Directors and executive leadership team, the CAO leads Development, Special Events, and Marketing & Communications, ensuring these functions work together to grow revenue, deepen relationships, expand awareness, and strengthen SOMD’s long-term sustainability.

A primary mandate of the CAO is to accelerate the growth and diversification of philanthropic revenue, with particular emphasis on individual giving and major gifts. Building on SOMD’s established event, corporate partnership, grants, and foundation fundraising programs, the CAO will develop and lead a sophisticated, relationship-based individual giving program that expands the donor pipeline, increases major philanthropic investment, strengthens donor retention and stewardship, and prepares the organization to plan and execute future campaigns.

The CAO partners with the President and CEO and executive leadership team to develop and advance an integrated development, marketing, and communications strategy. The role ensures consistent messaging, strong brand positioning, compelling storytelling, and coordinated stakeholder engagement while empowering division leaders to execute high-performing, mission-aligned strategies within their areas of responsibility.

Essential Functions / Responsibilities:

Strategic & Executive Leadership

  • Serve as a member of the executive leadership team, contributing to overall organizational strategy, planning, decision-making, and long-term sustainability.
  • Develop and lead a integrated advancement strategy that aligns philanthropy, donor relations, special events, corporate partnerships, grants and foundations, marketing, communications, brand, and stakeholder engagement.
  • Lead, mentor, and hold senior advancement leaders accountable for clear goals, measurable results, measures, effective collaboration and ongoing professional development.
  • Partner with the President and CEO, Chief Program Officer, and other organizational leaders to align advancement strategies with overarching organizational goals, annual priorities, goals and objectives with consideration for organizational capacity.
  • Establish annual and multi-year revenue, engagement, awareness, and measurable performance goals/objectives for the Advancement division; regularly assess progress and adjust as necessary.
  • Provide agreed upon timely reporting, analysis, projections, and strategic recommendations to the President and CEO and Board of Directors related to revenue, donor pipeline, campaigns, marketing and communications performance, and emerging advancement trends.
  • Foster an organization-wide culture of philanthropy, relationship management, brand stewardship, accountability, and cross-departmental collaboration throughout the organization.

Individual Giving, Major Gifts & Campaign Strategy

Work with the President and CEO and Vice President, Donor Relations to:

  • Develop and execute a comprehensive individual giving strategy that significantly grows philanthropic revenue and expand SOMD’s base of individual donors.
  • Build a strong Annual Fund that supports the operating priorities through major gifts and leadership gifts, donor acquisition, renewal, retention, and year-over-year increased giving from retained donors.
  • Develop an Endowment Fund strategy, that creates long-term support for program priorities, organizational capacity, and selected endowed positions through major and legacy gifts.
  • Prepare for, and lead major, capital, or comprehensive campaigns, including a multi-year Campaign for Special Olympics Maryland to advance strategic priorities and organizational growth.
  • Build and manage a robust major gift pipeline through disciplined prospect identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
  • Personally manage a portfolio of significant donors and prospects and play a direct role in securing major philanthropic commitments.
  • Use donor data, research, segmentation, and giving trends to strengthen portfolio management, forecasting, and donor engagement.
  • Strengthen stewardship and retention strategies to deepen donor relationships, increase lifetime value, and create pathways for greater philanthropic investment.
  • Engage the Board of Directors and organizational leaders in identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major gift prospects and donors.

Integrated Marketing, Communications & Brand Strategy

Work with the Vice President, Marketing & Communications to:

  • Develop and lead an integrated marketing and communications strategy that advances SOMD’s mission, strategic priorities, philanthropic goals, program participation, and statewide awareness.
  • Ensure consistent and compelling organizational messaging, storytelling, and brand positioning across fundraising, programs, events, media, digital channels, stakeholder communications, and public-facing materials.
  • Provide executive oversight for SOMD’s brand, media and public relations, digital communications, website and email strategy, advertising, photography and video, and internal and external communications.
  • Align marketing and communications campaigns with advancement priorities so that audience engagement, storytelling, and brand strategy support donor acquisition, cultivation, stewardship, event participation, volunteer engagement, and revenue growth.
  • Ensure communications effectively support the President and CEO and executive leadership team, including organizational announcements, strategic priorities, reputation management, and crisis communication.
  • Establish meaningful performance measures and use audience, campaign, media, digital, website, and engagement data to evaluate effectiveness and guide strategy and investment.

Corporate Partnerships

Work with development staff responsible for corporate partnerships to:

  • Develop and lead a comprehensive corporate partnerships strategy focused on new business, increased investment, strong retention, and expanded engagement.
  • Ensure sponsorship assets, partnership opportunities, and activation strategies are compelling, appropriately valued, aligned with SOMD’s brand, and connected to organizational priorities.
  • Build relationships with senior corporate leaders and support the development of a strong partnership pipeline and account management approach.
  • Ensure corporate partnerships are coordinated across development, events, programs, and marketing and communications to maximize value for SOMD and its partners.

Grants & Foundations Support

Work with the Vice President, Donor Relations and appropriate development staff to:

  • Provide strategic oversight of grant prospecting, proposal development, reporting, and stewardship processes to ensure a coordinated and disciplined approach.
  • Identify and pursue opportunities to expand annual and multi-year support from foundations and other grant-making partners.
  • Ensure grant-seeking activities align with SOMD’s strategic priorities, program needs, organizational capacity and annual fundraising objectives.

Special Events & LETR Strategy

Work with the Senior Director, LETR and the Special Events team to:

  • Provide executive oversight for SOMD’s statewide Law Enforcement Torch Run initiatives and fundraising events while ensuring alignment with revenue goals, advancement strategy, brand standards, and the strategic plan.
  • Evaluate the event portfolio for revenue growth, sustainability, return on investment, participant and partner experience, and opportunities for innovation or expansion.
  • Integrate event-based fundraising with individual giving, donor cultivation, corporate partnerships, marketing, communications, and long-term constituent engagement.
  • Support the continued growth and sustainability of LETR fundraising, law enforcement partnerships, volunteer engagement, and agency participation.

Advancement Operations, Data & Performance

  • Leverage Salesforce, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, Monday.com, and other tools to establish division-wide goals, dashboards, and accountability measures that connect activity to measurable revenue, engagement, awareness, and relationship outcomes.
  • Promote consistent and effective use of Salesforce and other organizational systems for donor and prospect management, relationship tracking, segmentation, campaign performance, forecasting, and coordinated stakeholder engagement.
  • Align advancement budgets, staffing, external partners, and other resources with organizational priorities and deploy them effectively to maximize impact and return on investment.
  • Use data and analysis to identify growth opportunities, improve forecasting and decision-making, evaluate performance, and return on investment, and guide resource allocation across the Advancement division.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred. Candidates with substantial relevant experience demonstrating comparable qualifications may also be considered.
  • Minimum of 10 years of senior or executive-level fundraising and advancement leadership experience with comparable organizational scope and responsibility, including substantial experience leading professional staff and multi-functional teams.
  • REQUIRED: Demonstrated expertise and a record of measurable success in individual giving and major gifts, including direct experience developing and executing comprehensive annual giving, major gifts, capital or comprehensive campaign, and donor cultivation and stewardship strategies.
  • Demonstrated success personally identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major gift prospects and securing significant philanthropic commitments.
  • Demonstrated experience building or significantly growing an individual giving and major gifts program, donor pipeline, or campaign effort.
  • Demonstrated experience providing strategic leadership or executive oversight for marketing, communications, brand, public relations, and stakeholder engagement functions.
  • Proven ability to develop and execute comprehensive fundraising and advancement strategies, establish measurable goals, and achieve revenue targets.
  • Demonstrated experience leading and managing high-performing teams, including senior-level staff, with a focus on accountability, collaboration, coaching, and professional development.
  • Strong executive presence, interpersonal skills, and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with major donors, corporate partners, Board members, volunteers, media, community leaders, and internal stakeholders.
  • Exceptional organizational, analytical, financial, and strategic planning skills, including the ability to interpret data and translate organizational priorities into actionable advancement strategies.
  • Ability to pass criminal and NSOR background screening and maintain Special Olympics “Class A” volunteer status.
  • Must have the ability to work from or close to Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Commitment to the mission, vision, and values of Special Olympics Maryland.
  • Ability and willingness to work nights/weekends and travel throughout the state of Maryland as needed with own transportation.
  • Ability to lift 25 lbs.
  • Proficiency with PC-based programs and applications such as Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams) and Salesforce is required. Familiarity with Monday.com is preferred.
  • Experience working in a proactively diverse and inclusive organization is preferred.

Pay: $150,000.00 – $175,000.00 per year

Benefits:

  • 403(b)
  • 403(b) matching
  • Dental insurance
  • Employee assistance program
  • Flexible spending account
  • Health insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Paid time off
  • Vision insurance

Work Location: In person

Title: Chief Advancement Officer

Company: Special Olympics Maryland

Location: Halethorpe, MD

Category:

 

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