Boston, MA

Chief Advancement Officer, GBH (formally WGBH Educational Foundation)

The Organization

GBH is the leading multi-platform creator for public media in America, a diversified company committed to generating content and resources for all audiences and across platforms to advance knowledge, education, culture, and professional journalistic explorations of news. As a leader in public media, GBH is widening the lens and living its mission to expand civic engagement, thoughtful discourse, and the knowledge we all need to embrace and shape the future. At this time in our democracy, when media continues to evolve rapidly in a multiplicity of ways, GBH plays a crucial role as the principal content producer for public media, a major voice in education and culture resources, an advocate for accessibility, and a primary, trusted news source for Greater Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

By partnering with local and national organizations, GBH provides audiences with direct access to stories that enrich their world. Serving the U.S. and Commonwealth of Massachusetts for more than 65 years, GBH has been telling untold stories and serving the underserved in ways unmatched by any media organization. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are. GBH produces digital and broadcast programming that engages, illuminates and inspires, through drama and science, history, arts, culture and journalism. GBH is the creator of such national signature programs as Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, NOVA, American Experience, Arthur, Molly of Denali, the daily international news program The World, and a catalog of streaming series, podcasts, apps, games and on-demand video. GBH Music includes classical, jazz, and Celtic productions, events, and streams.

GBH has a weekly aggregate audience of 30 million and has been recognized with hundreds of the nation’s premier broadcast, digital and journalism awards, including Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards, and Oscars. Supporting the work are four strategic pillars: growing audiences who consume and are inspired by GBH content; cultivating informed, engaged, and vibrant local communities; building a high performing, diverse, and effective organization and generating revenues to sustainably support these efforts. Everything GBH does is bolstered by commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; innovation; growth and sustainability; and a collaborative and accountable culture.

At the end of 2022, GBH welcomed Susan Goldberg as President and CEO, succeeding Jon Abbott’s 15-year tenure that fueled expansion beyond broadcast to become a digital-first, multiplatform media service. GBH has established itself as a leading large-scale production house for public media amid a decreasing set of such producers, the go-to resource for our nation’s educators, the architect and a principal steward of collaborative fundraising among public media entities nationwide, and completed a record-breaking $215 million capital campaign, among other accomplishments.

Susan Goldberg, one of just a few public media chief executives with a background in journalism, is rededicating GBH to providing programs and services that inform, illuminate, and inspire. GBH continues to create ground-breaking children’s media and education, engaging cultural programming, and award-winning journalism that ranges from breaking news and investigations to science, history, and arts. Reaching millions of people every week across multiple platforms, GBH will build bridges that connect people with ideas, reveal fresh perspectives, provide greater insight, and endeavor to secure closer bonds among all of us.

Position Overview

Amid this environment of preeminence, brimming with new energy and vision, GBH seeks candidates for the role of Chief Advancement Officer (CAO). Reporting directly to the President and CEO and serving on the GBH Executive Leadership Team, the CAO is responsible for creating and implementing GBH’s fundraising strategy and leading a modern, major-gifts-focused, comprehensive development program that secures philanthropic support from individuals, families, and institutional sources. (Corporate partnerships and membership are separately led by the Vice President of Sponsorship and Membership, a key partner to the CAO in securing financial support to GBH.) Overall, the CAO will undertake fundraising and related activities that promote and support an effective, stable, growing, and vibrant GBH. The CAO must effectively leverage the diverse talents of the GBH Executive Leadership Team, Development staff, the Board of Trustees and its extensive philanthropic contacts, the Board of Advisors, and other key volunteers to achieve fundraising goals. GBH is primed to play an even greater national role in public media, and the CAO will be a key visioning and thought partner to the President and CEO in making the case for GBH and the broader public media’s leadership in the 21st century. The CAO will play a national leadership role in building bridges and strong collaborative relationships across the public media landscape. This dimension of the role will be critical as GBH navigates a highly complex, competitive environment for public media philanthropy and capitalizes on increasing opportunities for collaborative fundraising partnerships.

The CAO will oversee a high-functioning Development Division comprising approximately 34 staff. The culture of the Development Division has been carefully managed and nurtured in an open, transparent atmosphere. Nonetheless, the CAO will be empowered to examine and evolve all dimensions of the team and fundraising program in consultation with the President and CEO.

While GBH will consider a broad range of backgrounds, the ideal candidate will have the following qualifications/experience:

  • Commitment to GBH’s mission, the broader public media landscape, and high-quality journalism.
  • 15+ years of progressive experience in fundraising with increasingly responsible experience in the creation and execution of strategy and programs, with an established track record of growing a donor base and increasing philanthropic revenue. Broad knowledge of all functional areas comprising a multi-faceted, comprehensive development program (e.g., individual, foundation, corporate, major, planned, digital, and annual giving; special events; donor communications; fundraising operations; stewardship). Previous experience or familiarity with establishing and building online fundraising capability is preferred.
  • Keen understanding of the evolving nature and dimensions of modern philanthropy and fundamental adherence to the principles, ethics, and best practices therein, including the integration of various giving programs to diversify the funding base and cultivate greater donor commitments.
  • 10+ years of progressively responsible management experience in leading a professional fundraising team, including staff oversight and the design and implementation of world-class fundraising programs. Ability to recruit, lead, evaluate, and develop staff and contribute to the ongoing fostering of a results-oriented, multiracial/multicultural workforce. Experience managing budgets and revenue forecasts.
  • Demonstrated commitment to and understanding of how to build diversity, equity, and inclusion among fundraising staff, programs, and initiatives; culturally competent with respect to issues such as racial, cultural, religious, sexual, and gender identity.
  • Demonstrated success in developing the case for support and strategic, innovative fundraising plans, and executing those plans to grow fundraising and exceed goals. Significant experience identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major or principal gifts from individual and major national foundations at the level of seven-figures or greater.
  • Highly developed skills in organizational efficiency and project leadership, including demonstrated accomplishments while working with cross-functional teams.
  • A forward thinker with a track record of fostering innovative new approaches, ideas, and solutions, including utilizing new methods of constituent engagement and connectivity.
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate data into decision-making and strategy development.
  • Working knowledge of modern data management practices and innovations.

How To Apply

Download the full position description via the following link: https://diversifiedsearchgroup.com/search/19538-gbh-cao

GBH is an equal opportunity employer. The community and audience we serve are diverse, and we wish to foster that diversity in our workplace. Toward that end, GBH does not discriminate against individuals in hiring, employment, or promotion based on race, religion, color, sex/gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship, disability, veteran or military status, political belief, pregnancy, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Application Process Assistance: GBH will reasonably accommodate applicants with disabilities who need adjustments to participate in the application or interview process. To initiate an accommodation request, contact the Human Resource department by sending an email to human_resources@wgbh.org or by calling 617.300.2000.

GBH has retained the DSG Fundraising & Advancement Practice of the Diversified Search Group to assist in this confidential search process. Inquiries, nominations, and applications (current resumes and cover letters) may be submitted via the following link – https://talent-profile.diversifiedsearchgroup.com/search/v2/19538 or directed to:

Gerard F. Cattie, Jr.
Managing Director and DSG Fundraising & Advancement Practice Leader
Diversified Search Group
The Chrysler Building, 405 Lexington Avenue, 49th Floor, New York, New York 10174
gerard.cattie@divsearch.com | 212.542.2587

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