Founded in 1885 in Evanston, IL, the McGaw YMCA (the McGaw Y or YMCA) has more than 10,000 members and serves an estimated 20,000 people each year. In making the YMCA accessible to all people, donors provided $1.9 million in fee assistance and scholarships in fiscal year 2015.
To advance our mission, the McGaw Y has a three-fold focus:
Youth Development
The McGaw Y believes in nurturing the potential of every child and teen and that all youth deserve the opportunity to discover self and affirm their potential. Working with community organizations and families, the McGaw Y seeks to build character among its youth via values clarification, teamwork, self-discovery, transformative learning and academic excellence as demonstrated through healthy living, behavior modification and educational achievement.
Healthy Living
In Evanston and surrounding communities, the McGaw YMCA is a leading voice on health and well-being. The McGaw YMCA brings families closer together, encourages good health and fosters community through fitness, sports, fun and shared interests. Youth and adults receive the needed support, guidance and affirmation required to achieve greater health and well-being.
Social Responsibility
Since its inception, the McGaw YMCA has been listening and responding to the community’s most critical social needs. With a demonstrated history of social change and impact, the McGaw YMCA continues to be a creative catalyst for a diverse and changing community. From acts of advocacy, generosity, volunteerism and civil liberties, the McGaw YMCA is well-recognized as a leader of positive change, social access and equity.
 
 
The Opportunity:  Chief Advancement Officer
 
Reporting to the President and CEO, the Chief Advancement Officer oversees two primary areas: Advancement/Development and Marketing/Communications. The Chief Advancement Officer will ensure the effective delivery of McGaw YMCA’s vision, mission, and brand by raising financial support and volunteer engagement via fundraising, education, messaging and external communications. The Chief Advancement Officer will be responsible for the strategic planning, management, implementation and evaluation of all philanthropic and communications strategies and activities. Similarly, the Chief Advancement Officer will design and undertake strategies to strengthen current relationships while broadening the scope of outreach to new relationships (e.g., individual donors, corporations, foundations and other potential stakeholders). Essential to ultimate success is the strategic proviso for an integrated and coordinated approach to communications/messaging and philanthropy. The successful Chief Advancement Officer will oversee an existing (combined) workforce of seven (7) professionals (6 FTEs) and will be authorized to build an exemplary professional team as appropriate.
 
The successful candidate will have demonstrated competencies in Advancement leadership. (S)he will be approachable, interpersonal, strategic, self-motivated, results-oriented, creative, resourceful, highly energetic, intelligent and passionate about the mission of the McGaw YMCA. Demonstrated integrity, character and ethics are essential.
 
The Chief Advancement Officer will serve as a member of the President and CEO’s senior leadership team comprised of five professionals, providing strategic leadership via traditional philanthropy, relationship-building and communications. The incumbent will provide primary leadership in fostering a philanthropic culture that includes annual gifts, continual major and planned gifts, and projected comprehensive campaigns. As one of the primary philanthropic leaders, the Chief Advancement Officer will play a vital role in emulating a strong culture of philanthropy within the McGaw YMCA and the community.
 

 
Performance Objectives
 
Leadership

• Work closely with the Board of Directors Standing Committee of the Board, as well as various Advisory Councils, Task Forces and Volunteer cadres.
• Lead the process for establishing attainable short and long term goals while ensuring successful implementation via research, planning, education/training, mentoring, professional development and evaluations.
• Identify the resources for sustainability and growth.
• Ensure the proviso for advancement policies and protocols.
• Provide extrinsic motivation for staff and volunteers and heighten the understanding of roles and accountability.
• Demonstrate excellence in advancement leadership via such things as mentoring, relationship-building/image building, charity, volunteerism, publications and/or public speaking.
• Facilitate dynamic training experiences for staff, leaders and volunteers.
• Play an integral role on the leadership team, continually advancing the role and importance of philanthropy within the organizational culture. Collaborate closely with other McGaw YMCA teams to synchronize branding and messaging, and to communicate outcomes commensurate with the mission, program offerings and services.

 
 
Fund Development Management and Implementation

• Successfully manage a personal portfolio of donors and prospects while ensuring professional support to the Board of Directors, President/CEO and designated volunteers.
• Provide appropriate cultivation/solicitation training opportunities as appropriate.
• Ensure advancement of the institution via the deployment of appropriate staff leadership for communications, marketing, branding and messaging.
• Oversee the continual, successful and useful management of an effective marketing, communications and fundraising database. Similarly, provide periodic and appropriate reports on trends and various analytics.
• Identify archival repositories and various metrics to gauge and track major activities and trends. Analyze data and provide periodic assessments/reports as appropriate. Take sufficient actions to achieve projected goals.
• Nurture partnerships and relationships with current/prospective funders and/or members. Cultivate significant long-term relationships ensuring continual support, funding and/or engagement.
• Ensure ethical and appropriate financial administration of contributed income, including donor and prospect records, gift processing, gift acknowledgement and donor stewardship. Foster a learned community of members, leaders, donors, and staff via periodic tracking of industry trends, strategies and best practices.

 

 
Marketing and External & Community Relations

• Lead and oversee all Marketing and Communications efforts for the McGaw YMCA including development-focused materials, membership recruitment, testimonials, impact assessments via media releases and social media, etc.
• Develop short and long range communication plans to ensure that stakeholders understand the case for support, service to community, benefits of membership and more.
• Oversee the production of all brochures, collateral materials, letters, reports, newsletters and/or proposals. Lend expertise to special presentations, publications, videos and promotions.
• Serve as an articulate, passionate, visible spokesperson/ambassador for the McGaw YMCA. Maintain active membership and a strong presence in professional organizations.
• Provide a best practice approach to the McGaw YMCA’s efforts. Communicate excellence, impact and achievement commensurate with the mission.

 
The Qualified Candidate
 
The McGaw YMCA seeks a passionate, results-driven professional with demonstrated achievement and excellence in philanthropy and overall advancement. The successful candidate should exude the confidence to successfully manage a diversified portfolio of donors, prospects and affinity groups, and demonstrate experience in building up a successful and robust philanthropic culture over time. S/he must provide stellar leadership in managing change while heightening the confidence of both donors and staff. Similarly, s/he will be visionary and assertive, yet patient and passionate toward people and goals, respectively. The incumbent must have a high acumen for organizational development, management, learning, team building and perpetual achievement. In a highly competitive donor and membership driven marketplace, such an incumbent must not be adverse to challenges, feedback or constructive change.
 
Specific Requirements Include:

• Keen interest in the McGaw YMCA’s mission, with the demonstrated ability to understand programs, communicate narratives and applaud the teamwork of staff and volunteers.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of successful and progressive advancement leadership overall and fundraising specifically.
• A minimum of four (4) years managing a team of fundraising- and marketing-focused professionals.
• Knowledge of best practices within the profession and ancillary disciplines alike.
• Proven ability to motivate, inspire and manage peers, volunteers, donors, diverse teams and/or directors.
• Critical and strategic thinker with a demonstrated ability to translate strategy into successful operational outcomes.
• A strong acumen toward the management of day-to-day details and incremental goal accomplishments.
• Excellent, effective listener and communicator (both verbal and written).
• Demonstrated experience with Raiser’s Edge and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Familiarity with the Evanston and North Shore philanthropic communities as well as Chicagoland and the Midwest.
• Bachelor's degree required; an advanced degree and/or CFRE credential preferred.  
• Spanish language fluency preferred.

 
This position offers a highly competitive salary with generous benefits. All inquiries will be held in strict confidence.
 
To Apply
 
This search is being managed by the Alford Executive Search team of Laura Weinman, Senior Consultant and Heather A. Eddy, President and CEO. Questions may be addressed to Ms. Weinman at lweinman@alfordexecutivesearch.com.
 
To apply, candidates should submit their cover letter and resume to: https://alfordexecutivesearch.applicantstack.com/x/openings. To assure confidential tracking, no resumes will be accepted via email.
 
Alford Executive Search (www.alfordexecutivesearch.com), a division of Kistner Eddy Executive Services (KEES), is a retained search firm dedicated to providing recruitment services of exceptional quality and strengthening the not-for-profit community through professional staffing solutions.
 
 
More about the McGaw YMCA
 
McGaw YMCA offers more than 70 programs to the community including:
 
Camp Echo
Camp Echo is a coed, residential YMCA camp on Long Ryerson Lake near Fremont, Michigan, amidst 500 acres of woodlands and wetlands. Every summer, over 1,500 campers of all ages get the Echo experience -- some for the first time, others returning as families with children of their own, and everything in between. During the seasons of Spring and Fall, the Camp is host to schools and special community groups.
 
Men’s Residence
The McGaw YMCA residence for men is situated in the YMCA’s historic building in the heart of Evanston. Nightly, the McGaw Y offers convenience, security and comfort to more than 172 low-income men.
 
Children’s Center
Skills and values learned early are essential building blocks for future success. For that reason, programs at the Children’s Center (infant/toddler, preschool, and school age programs) are staffed with professional and competent educators who understand the cognitive, physical and social development of children.
 
MetaMedia
MetaMedia, one of the newest programs, was developed as collaboration between McGaw YMCA, Youth Organizations Umbrella (Y.O.U.), and Northwestern University's Office of STEM Education Partnerships (OSEP). MetaMedia offers free after-school digital media lab and hang-out space for middle-school youth.
 
Y Readers
Y Readers is a free literacy camp for 1^st through 3^rd grade students that is run in partnership with Y staff, community volunteers and District 65 teachers. The program aims to close the achievement gap between children from lower-income and middle-income families by providing kids with specialized reading instruction and enrichment activities, such as arts and crafts, swimming lessons and field trips.