Chief Development Officer

Catholic Charities Fort Wayne-South Bend is seeking a Chief Development Officer to lead and strengthen the organization's fundraising, donor engagement, community partnership, and development team efforts.

This is a meaningful opportunity for a development leader who enjoys building relationships, representing a respected organization in the community, leading a team, and creating the structure needed for sustainable fundraising growth.

The next CDO will help Catholic Charities deepen donor relationships, expand support across the Fort Wayne and broader diocesan community, strengthen annual giving, grow foundation support, lead three direct reports, and connect donor generosity to measurable community impact.

• Build strong relationships with donors, board members, Catholic community leaders, and community partners.
• Lead, coach, and develop direct reports across development, donor engagement, and mission advancement work.
• Set clear priorities, expectations, and accountability rhythms for the development team.
• Develop a more robust annual fund strategy.
• Strengthen donor segmentation, stewardship, and follow-up.
• Expand foundation and grant support.
• Support major gifts, planned giving, and targeted fundraising opportunities.
• Improve development systems, donor tracking, and reporting discipline.
• Partner with leadership, marketing, mission advancement, and program teams to tell a stronger donor story.
• Represent Catholic Charities with professionalism, humility, and credibility.

This role includes direct leadership of team members. The successful candidate will be expected to bring clarity, coaching, and accountability to the development function.

• Clarify roles, priorities, and ownership across the development team.
• Coach team members toward stronger execution, donor follow-up, and collaboration.
• Create a regular cadence for planning, progress review, and problem-solving.
• Model a leadership style that is humble, direct, mission-centered, and action-oriented.

• Trust built with the CEO, board, staff, donors, and key community partners.
• Clear development priorities and a practical annual fund plan.
• Three direct reports have clear priorities, expectations, and accountability.
• The development team is operating with stronger alignment, follow-through, and shared ownership.
• Improved donor relationship management and follow-through.
• Increased engagement with Fort Wayne-area supporters and Catholic community connections.
• Stronger foundation strategy and clearer grant/funding opportunities.
• Better alignment between development activity, organizational priorities, and measurable outcomes.
• Confidence that Catholic Charities is represented well in the community.

• Proven fundraising, development, advancement, or philanthropy experience.
• Direct people leadership experience, ideally managing fundraising, development, advancement, or donor-facing staff.
• Experience cultivating donor relationships and supporting meaningful gift conversations.
• Comfort engaging major donors, annual fund supporters, board members, and community partners.
• Ability to set expectations, coach performance, create accountability, and help team members execute consistently.
• Experience with annual giving, donor stewardship, foundation support, grants, campaigns, or planned giving.
• Strong communication skills and professional presence.
• Comfort using donor databases, CRM systems, and development tracking tools.
• Appreciation for Catholic mission, values, and service to the community.
• Strong connection to Fort Wayne, Northeast Indiana, the Catholic community, or demonstrated ability to build those relationships quickly.
• Humility, curiosity, resilience, and a continuous improvement mindset.

Relevant experience may come from:

• Nonprofit development or advancement.
• Catholic or faith-based organizations.
• Human services organizations.
• Healthcare foundations.
• Community foundations.
• Higher education advancement.
• Major gifts, donor relations, annual fund, foundation relations, or planned giving roles.

Candidates do not need to come from Catholic Charities specifically. What matters most is the ability to build trust, represent the mission well, lead the team effectively, and strengthen fundraising strategy and execution.

This role requires someone who can balance external relationship-building with internal discipline. The successful candidate will be:

• Comfortable spending time with donors and community leaders.
• Organized and consistent with follow-up.
• Collaborative with internal team members.
• Comfortable leading direct reports while staying close enough to the work to support execution.
• Confident without being ego-driven.
• Strategic, practical, and action-oriented.
• Able to operate with autonomy while staying aligned with leadership.
• Willing to travel periodically within the diocese for meetings, events, and relationship-building.

Catholic Charities offers a…