Overview

UpStart accelerates growth, nurtures ideas, and advances new experiences for the Jewish community by connecting impact-driven entrepreneurs to expertise, community, and capital. UpStart was founded with a sole focus: to accelerate the success of social entrepreneurs fueling a renaissance in Jewish life. Since then, UpStart has invested in hundreds of ventures and their leaders while cultivating an ecosystem of institutional leaders and funders committed to Jewish community change.

UpStart is seeking a Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) to serve as a key member of the management team reporting to the Deputy CEO. The CAO will build and lead a disciplined, scalable advancement function, setting strategy for fundraising, marketing, and communications while serving as a key external leader with funders, partners, and the Board.

This role will lead the evolution of UpStart's fundraising from a primarily relationship-driven model to a durable, systems-driven advancement function capable of supporting multi-year growth. Strong candidates will bring 10+ years of senior advancement leadership, including C-suite experience, and a proven ability to build development infrastructure in complex organizations. A deep and nuanced understanding of North American Jewish identity, including how conversations about Israel shape funder and stakeholder relationships, is essential. 

UpStart is an equal opportunity employer and encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply

Compensation Range

$200,000 - $225,000

To apply

Please submit a resume and cover letter to Jamie Perry, Evolve Giving Group: jamieperry@evolvegg.com

Key Responsibilities

• Design and lead a multi-year fundraising strategy with a diversified revenue mix across foundations, major donors, mid-level giving, and earned revenue

• Establish annual revenue goals, forecasting, and performance tracking to ensure advancement strategies translate to sustainable financial growth

• Build and lead a disciplined major gifts program with defined cultivation stages, portfolio targets, and performance metrics

• Manage a portfolio of major donors and foundations, building a pipeline of new and expanded funding opportunities

• Set clear board giving expectations and activate board members in donor outreach

• Design the advancement team structure and lead hiring, performance management, and role clarity as the organization scales

• Transition fundraising operations to a true CRM model, ensuring Salesforce effectiveness, data integrity, and staff adoption

• Establish a regular development operating cadence across pipeline, renewals, and planning

• Own development messaging and align marketing and communications to fundraising goals

• Ensure tight coordination across development, programs, finance, and operations so fundraising promises match execution capacity

• Serve as a core management team member, contributing to organizational strategy and representing UpStart externally with funders, partners, and the field

Qualifications & Skills

• 10+ years of senior advancement leadership, including experience at the C-suite or equivalent executive level

• Proven success leading fundraising in complex nonprofit organizations with $5M+ budgets, including institutional and major gift strategies

• Demonstrated success cultivating and stewarding major donors and institutional funders, including securing multi-year gifts

• Track record of building development infrastructure and systems 

• Experience activating boards in fundraising, governance, and donor engagement

• Ability to translate strategy into a clear case for support, revenue plan, and disciplined execution while balancing team leadership and donor relationship building

• Strong Salesforce and CRM fluency, with experience driving organization-wide adoption a plus

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills across proposals, case statements, and funder presentations

• Commitment to UpStart's mission and values