The American Lung Association has an excellent opportunity for a Chief Development Officer. Working as a member of the Development department, you will join an outstanding group of professionals dedicated to our mission: to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through research, education, and advocacy. Kittleman has been retained to manage this search. Interested applicants should send a current resume and letter of interest to Kittleman via their website. Working closely with the CEO, the Chief Development Officer (CDO) will be responsible for driving the planning, development, and management of all revenue programs for ALA including developing strategic objectives for the Development department. Alongside the CEO and Executive Leadership Team members, the CDO will develop a strategic direction to respond to the organization’s revenue, management, and external engagement needs, as well as direct and guide the stewardship of ALA’s current and potential donors, sponsors, and partners. The CDO is ALA’s chief revenue strategist and fundraiser. The CDO partners closely with other members of the Executive Leadership Team to align revenue plans with the organization’s strategic priorities. The CDO serves as a core member of the Executive Leadership Team and is responsible for designing, leading, and executing a unified performance-oriented advancement program that grows diversified revenue, strengthens donor relationships, and uses data and technology to inform strategy. ALA seeks a development executive with proven management and leadership experience in a similar position in a voluntary health organization, college or university, healthcare environment, or a related nonprofit organization. This is an exceptional opportunity to help lead a strong, nationally recognized organization with a long history and a powerful mission - to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. Location: Candidates based in the Chicago area will work on a hybrid basis from the American Lung Association’s Chicago office. Candidates based outside the Chicago area may work remotely, with the expectation of being in the Chicago office several days each month.
Responsibilities:
Strategic Revenue Leadership
- Lead the development and execution of a coordinated nationwide integrated fundraising strategy, including donor cultivation and engagement across individual giving, planned giving, and workplace giving. Increase revenue from individuals and corporate partners through fundraising and signature events, corporate and foundation relations, cause marketing partnerships, sponsorships, and grants.
- Partner with the President & CEO and senior leadership to evaluate market performance, implement strategic priorities, and adjust goals or strategy based on conditions.
- Work nationwide and with senior leadership to develop the overarching strategy for individual and corporate revenue growth aligned with ALA’s mission.
- Works cross‑functionally with transparency, respect, and accountability.
Board and Volunteer Engagement
- Staff the Regional Relations Committee to recruit, train, and activate board members as fundraising ambassadors. Support field leaders in recruiting and engaging local leadership volunteers.
- Equip volunteer leaders with talking points, prospecting tools, and clear performance expectations.
- Represent Development on national committees, task forces, and leadership bodies; act as strategic liaison nationwide.
Team Leadership and Culture
- Lead, mentor, and retain a results‑oriented advancement team, setting measurable goals, coaching to outcomes, and celebrating wins.
- Foster a culture of equity, inclusion, learning, and accountability, encouraging smart experimentation and continuous improvement.
- Ensure best practices in donor identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship; lead policy, standards, and strategic approach development for nationwide fundraising.
- Guide development staff by monitoring performance, providing solutions, and supporting effective growth-focused strategies.
Donor Strategy and Engagement
- Personally manage a select portfolio of principal and transformational gift prospects and partners; model cross‑organizational cultivation.
- Elevate donor experience, aligning messaging with programmatic and advocacy impact.
Planned & Individual Giving
- Establish and oversee a nationwide planned giving lead-generation program.
- Increase revenue from individuals through planned giving, mid-level and major gifts and direct mail.
- Foster an environment of donor centricity throughout all individual giving revenue streams.
- Support field teams in building and strengthening mid-level giving programs.
- Expand the annual fund and grow the individual donor pipeline across all donor levels.
National Signature Events
- Provide national strategic direction, leadership, and accountability for ALA signature events (e.g. Fight For Air Climbs, LUNG FORCE Walks).
- Secure national corporate sponsors for signature events and ensure consistent, high-quality execution across markets.
- Partner with Marketing to develop event collateral, branding platforms, and communication strategies that enhance participation and revenue.
- Evaluate opportunities to expand or develop new national signature and DIY events.
- Help identify, share, and implement best practices to improve nationwide consistency and impact.
Corporate Relations
- Lead all strategies for securing support for ALA’s mission, campaigns, events, and programs through corporate partnerships.
- Identify and execute strategies to increase unrestricted support from corporations including, but not limited to cause marketing, licensing and sponsorship.
- Grow national and field-level corporate foundation revenue models, ensuring transparency, reporting, tracking, and renewals.
- Develop new corporate funding opportunities through industry engagement, outreach, cross-functional collaboration, competitive intelligence, and leveraging national/field relationships.
- Participate in strategic external meetings and prepare ALA leadership for donor and partner engagement.
- Ensure consistent, proactive communication with division and regional offices regarding national corporate activities that may affect local relationships.
- Partner with mission and marketing teams regarding developments in pharmaceutical and medical industries relevant to ALA’s mission.
Financial, Data and Technology
- Lead development budgeting and forecasting.
- Establish and manage portfolio financial and operational performance dashboards (e.g., ROI by program, cost to raise a dollar, pipeline coverage).
- Partner with the Chief Information & Technology Officer and Chief Marketing Officer to guide advancement technology, including CRM, marketing automation, data warehousing, and analytics, ensuring clean, reliable data and actionable reporting.
- Ensure data governance, documentation, and user‑friendly dashboards for leadership, development staff, and board committees.
Qualifications:
ALA seeks a development executive with proven management and leadership experience in a similar position in a voluntary health organization, college or university, healthcare environment, or a related non-profit organization. This individual’s background and experience would include proven expertise and a record of achievement in development and fundraising practices utilized and envisioned by ALA, including specific experience in corporate engagement, effective national events, and major, principal, and planned gift development. Strong leadership and management experience are essential. The ability to build, grow, and elevate the people, systems, and infrastructure within the Development functions at ALA is critical to the success of this role and ALA’s ambitions. The person ALA seeks is a self-starter who actively pursues, cultivates, and enjoys building and maintaining teams, programs, and activities, as well as an exceptional ability to build strong donor relationships and internal collaboration. ALA seeks a person who makes people comfortable and is genuine in his or her engagement. This person must be able to engender trust and empathy and relate to staff, donors, and key stakeholders in a highly professional, honest, and caring manner. Experience with all aspects of fundraising, including campaigns, annual fund, grants, special events, corporate engagement, and major and planned gifts is required. A proven track record of closing significant gifts of six figures and above is essential. The successful candidate must have excellent communication skills, oral and written, along with stellar public speaking and presentation abilities. The skill to build and nurture relationships, internally and externally, and a willingness to master a thorough understanding of ALA’s goals and strengths and express these clearly and effectively to prospects, donors, and constituents is critical. The successful candidate must demonstrate the ability to understand and operate effectively within a nonprofit governing environment while providing strong leadership in the implementation of best practice management techniques in development/fundraising. Knowledge of voluntary health organizations is preferred but not required; the ability and capacity to understand the mission and structure of these organizations is essential. A proven record of elevating the operational, cultural, and financial results of a development program is critical. Experience driving growth within a changing environment is required. Equal Employment Opportunity The American Lung Association is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the American Lung Association to prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type and to provide equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants, without regard to their race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, religion, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or physical and/or mental disabilities, veteran status, or any other status protected by law. Policy Statement It is the policy of the American Lung Association to prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type and to provide equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants, without regard to their race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, religion, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or physical and/or mental disabilities, veteran status, or any other status protected by law. This policy applies in all employment actions including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, corrective actions, terminations, compensation, benefits and training.