Chief Development Officer

Waves for Change (W4C) is a South Africa-based nonprofit that delivers an evidence-based surf therapy program to children and adolescents from under-resourced communities. Led by mental health and social service professionals, W4C’s Take 5 Model focuses on building resilience, confidence, and emotional wellbeing through weekly, structured surf sessions. Local community members are trained as surf therapy coaches to support referred at-risk youth, improving behaviour, learning outcomes, and access to social support in volatile environments.

Each session provides safe transportation, surf equipment, psychosocial support, and a nutritious meal, creating a consistent, safe space for healing and growth over the course of a year. W4C is committed to accessible, community-based mental health care that is engaging, impactful, and empowers young people to cope with trauma, violence, and adversity.

Since 2011, Waves for Change has delivered Surf Therapy to over 15,000 highly vulnerable youth. More recently, we have developed Take 5, a product that takes the key ingredients of Surf Therapy and packages them for use by coaches in any sporting or learning environment. We have established relationships with Government and Humanitarian partners that could see Take 5 being used by 10,000 coaches across Africa by 2030, reaching in excess of 1,000,000 children per year.

The Take 5 model is being reviewed by leading systems change partners including Mulago, Audacious and Co-impact. We seek a driven, passionate and seasoned development officer who will join our executive team and tell our scaling and impact journey to a growing global audience whilst securing the funding to meet our scaling goals.

The Chief Development Officer (CDO) is a full-time, hybrid role based in Muizenberg, with flexibility for some work from home. The CDO will lead the organisation’s fundraising and development strategy, designing and implementing comprehensive plans to grow philanthropic support from individuals, foundations, corporations, and other partners. You will lead all external development functions at Waves for Change and ensure that fundraising and communications collectively strengthen organisational visibility and drive sustainable revenue growth.

You will manage a budget of 2.5m USD and ensure budget growth to 4m USD by 2030. Day-to-day responsibilities include managing annual and planned giving programs, cultivating and stewarding major donors, overseeing grant proposals and reporting, and ensuring consistent donor communications and impact storytelling. The CDO will report to the CEO and collaborate closely with the executive team to align development goals with organisational strategy, lead budgeting and revenue forecasting for fundraising activities, and build systems to track performance against targets.

This role will also involve coaching and supporting staff and board members in fundraising efforts, representing W4C at events and meetings, and strengthening relationships with key stakeholders locally and internationally. You will manage and support a communications team to ensure our messaging and communications support donor acquisition and retention and increase awareness of our mission, our growth and our impact.

The CDO is accountable for the following core KPAs:

• Sustain budget of 2.5 Million US in Year One, grow to 3m USD annually by 2030.
• Develop and lead a multi-year fundraising strategy that diversifies W4C's income across individual philanthropy, corporate partnerships, trusts and foundations, and bilateral/multilateral donors.
• Set and meet ambitious annual income targets, maintaining a healthy pipeline of prospective funders at all stages.
• Lead the cultivation and stewardship of high-value donor relationships, acting as the senior relationship holder for strategic funders
• Identify and pursue emerging funding mechanisms including new markets,, and government partnerships.
• Provide the CEO and Board with regular pipeline, income performance, and strategic risk reporting.