Description

The Chief Philanthropy Officer (CPO) serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and oversees two core revenue-generating departments: Scholarships and Philanthropic Services. The CPO sets the vision for fundraising, directs scholarship programs and leads major gift initiatives. This role cultivates transformative partnerships with donors, corporate partners and community stakeholders while fostering operational excellence and team performance. Working collaboratively across the Organization and with the Board of Directors, the CPO ensures exceptional stewardship, inclusive donor experiences and a high-performing culture aligned with the values and strategic goals of the Area Foundation.

The ideal candidate will be an enterprise-minded philanthropy leader who combines strategic perspective with deep credibility in relationship-driven organizations. This leader will serve as a trusted partner to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team, helping the Foundation strengthen its philanthropic approach, enhance donor engagement and position the Organization for long-term growth and impact while building on its strong culture and community relationships without disrupting what is already working.

This individual will excel at developing and leading teams, building trust across the Organization and influencing outcomes through collaboration and alignment. They will be grounded, thoughtful and practical—able to translate donor insights, organizational priorities and community needs into clear actions that improve focus, effectiveness and connection between philanthropy, scholarships and impact.

The successful candidate will have a collaborative and authentic leadership style, strong emotional intelligence and a demonstrated ability to balance relationship-building with accountability. They will be values-aligned with the Foundation’s culture and will serve as a visible and credible ambassador in the community.

Requirements

Organizational Leadership

• Serve as a key partner to the CEO and an active member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributing to organizational strategy, culture and cross-departmental alignment. 
• Collaborate with ELT peers to strengthen organizational effectiveness, improve cross-department coordination and ensure a cohesive donor and community experience. 
• Lead efforts to align day-to-day work with strategic priorities, bringing greater clarity, focus and discipline to planning, execution and performance management. 
• Build upon existing KPIs, dashboards and strategic plans by driving disciplined execution, refining metrics over time and ensuring consistent use of data to track progress, inform decisions and improve performance.
• Partner across the Organization to strengthen storytelling, connect donors to impact and elevate the Foundation’s visibility and positioning in the community. 
• Actively participate in Collaborative Business Planning (CBP) by working across departments, maintaining accurate project information in Monday.com and supporting organization-wide priorities through timely collaboration and shared accountability.
• Champion continuous improvement by supporting enhancements to processes, systems and technology that improve efficiency and reporting and organizational effectiveness. 
• Adapt to evolving technologies and organizational systems, including modeling a commitment to continuous learning and applying new tools, platforms and processes to support the Foundation’s mission.

Philanthropic Services Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight of all Philanthropic Services functions, ensuring alignment with enterprise goals, donor needs and community impact priorities.
• Build and actively manage a defined portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects, ensuring disciplined cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies that drive meaningful philanthropic investment.
• Strategically manage the CEO’s donor portfolio, ensuring clear prioritization of high-impact relationships and strong preparation, coordination and follow-through to maximize philanthropic outcomes.
• Drive strategies that strengthen the donor pipeline, increase legacy and planned giving commitments and expand long-term philanthropic assets for the Foundation. 
• Ensure exceptional stewardship and donor engagement through inclusive, trusted and mission-driven experiences.
• Drive greater operational discipline and consistency across development activities, strengthening processes, workflows and data practices to improve efficiency, effectiveness and scalability of donor engagement.

Scholarships Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and partnership to the Scholarships team, ensuring alignment with enterprise goals while supporting and mentoring subject matter experts to strengthen program quality, consistency and long-term impact.
• Ensure exceptional stewardship and donor engagement through inclusive, trusted and mission-driven experiences.
• Lead strategic oversight of scholarship initiatives, ensuring equitable access, operational excellence and alignment with community needs.
• Strengthen integration between Scholarships and Community Impact to better connect donor engagement with measurable community outcomes. 
• Advance the development of impact measurement approaches to better track outcomes and communicate results.
• Drive operational discipline, process standardization and workflow optimization across scholarships administration, enabling greater efficiency and scalability.

Team Leadership

• Lead, manage and develop a high-performing Scholarships and Philanthropic Services team, fostering a collaborative, inclusive and accountable culture. 
• Establish clear expectations, priorities and performance standards, bringing consistency and structure to team management and execution. 
• Provide ongoing coaching, feedback and professional development to team members, ensuring strong engagement, retention and growth. 
• Strengthen internal alignment by clarifying roles, responsibilities and workflows, reducing inefficiencies and enabling more effective collaboration. 
• Promote a culture of transparency, open communication and shared accountability, aligned with the Foundation’s values and leadership expectations. 
• Ensure regular performance management, goal setting and progress tracking to support individual and team success.

Board & External Engagement

• Serve as a primary staff partner to the Board of Directors by providing strategic guidance, preparing materials and recommendations, and supporting one or more Board committees to ensure effective governance and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Build strong relationships with board members to increase engagement, alignment and clarity around philanthropic strategy and performance. 
• Partner with the board to enhance its role in donor engagement, leveraging networks and influence to support fundraising and community impact goals. 
• Represent the Foundation externally with donors, advisors, community leaders and partners, serving as a visible and credible ambassador for the Organization. 
• Strengthen relationships with professional advisors and key stakeholders to expand the Foundation’s reach, reputation and philanthropic impact.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES

The Chief Philanthropy Officer at San Antonio Area Foundation is expected to demonstrate the following leadership competencies:

• Enterprise Leadership & Strategic Stewardship: Leads the organization with an enterprise-wide perspective, shaping long-term strategy and making high-impact decisions that advance mission, values and community impact.
• Cross-Functional Alignment & Organizational Influence: Aligns people, functions and resources toward shared priorities. Promotes collaboration, communicates effectively across teams and ensures cohesive execution of organizational goals.
• Culture, Talent & Equity Leadership: Models and cultivates a culture of excellence, inclusion, equity and accountability. Develops leaders, strengthens organizational capacity and embeds equity principles in strategy and operations. 
• External Leadership & Community Partnership: Represents the Area Foundation with integrity and executive presence. Builds strong relationships with community partners, donors and stakeholders to enhance the organization’s visibility, credibility and impact. 
• Commitment Mission & Values: Demonstrates alignment with the Area Foundation’s mission and core values; leads with integrity, transparency and equity. 

In addition to demonstration of the Leadership Competencies above, key skills and experiences desired include:

• 10+ years of progressively responsible philanthropic leadership experience, preferably within a community foundation or philanthropic organization
• Commitment to equity, inclusion and community-centered philanthropy
• Deep knowledge of fundraising best practices, planned giving, donor cultivation and stewardship
• Demonstrated success in securing major and transformational gifts, planned giving and legacy commitments
• 8+ years of proven ability leading, inspiring and developing high-performing teams 
• Experience overseeing cross-functional teams and leading at the executive level, preferred
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, including the ability to work confidentially with high-net-worth individuals and community leaders
• Strong strategic planning, analytical and decision-making skills
• Experience with donor database systems and donor lifecycle management
• Knowledge of or connection to the San Antonio market, preferred

LEADERSHIP STYLES

• Highly relational and operationally disciplined, able to balance warmth with accountability
• Authentic and transparent communicator
• Builds trust at all levels of an organization
• Collaborative and inclusive, able to foster alignment across teams
• Comfortable setting expectations, addressing performance issues and holding others accountable
• Adaptable, resilient, able to navigate change in a dynamic environment
• Visible and credible presence in the community, able to represent the Foundation with confidence and authenticity