Chief Engagement Officer
Turnstone Center · Fort Wayne, IN · 3 days ago
Business DevelopmentFull-time
About the role
The Chief Engagement Officer (CEnO) leads engagement initiatives, fosters transformational partnerships, and amplifies Turnstone's mission, reach, and impact for individuals with disabilities and their families.
Responsibilities
- Serve as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributing to enterprise-wide leadership, decision-making, and shared accountability for organizational success.
- Collaborate closely with fellow executive leaders to ensure alignment, integration, and coordinated execution across all areas of the organization.
- Contribute to organizational strategy, long-range planning, and the achievement of strategic priorities.
- Advise the Chief Executive Officer and provide leadership support to the Board of Directors and assigned committees.
- Champion cross-functional collaboration and remove barriers that impede organizational effectiveness.
- Champion Turnstone's mission, vision, values, and culture throughout the organization.
- Lead organizational change initiatives and foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
- Maintain a significant external presence in the community and dedicate substantial time to cultivating relationships with donors, partners, volunteers, advocates, and prospective supporters.
- Utilize data, organizational performance measures, and emerging trends to inform decision-making and strategic planning.
- Identify, assess, and mitigate organizational risks within areas of responsibility while considering enterprise-wide impacts.
- Promote a culture of inclusion, accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.
- Develop future leaders through coaching, succession planning, and talent development.
- Provide leadership, coaching, mentorship, and accountability for assigned team members.
- Build and sustain a high-performing team culture grounded in collaboration, trust, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Recruit, develop, engage, and retain talented team members through effective hiring, onboarding, coaching, performance management, and succession planning.
- Establish department priorities, allocate resources, and manage workflows to support organizational goals and departmental objectives.
- Promote collaboration and strong working relationships across departments to advance enterprise-wide initiatives and organizational success.
- Model Turnstone's mission, values, and culture while fostering an environment of inclusion, learning, and professional growth.
- Develop a comprehensive Engagement Strategy that integrates community outreach, program marketing, communications, philanthropy, and strategic partnerships to expand Turnstone's mission impact and long-term sustainability.
- Align Engagement initiatives with organizational strategic priorities, ensuring efforts strengthen participant engagement, community awareness, donor relationships, and organizational reputation.
- Establish measurable goals and performance indicators that evaluate mission growth, community engagement, philanthropic performance, brand awareness, and relationship development.
- Utilize data, community insights, and market trends to identify opportunities that increase both community participation and organizational sustainability.
- Lead integrated marketing and communications strategies that increase awareness of Turnstone's services, educate the community, strengthen organizational reputation, and inspire philanthropic investment.
- Ensure marketing efforts effectively connect individuals and families to Turnstone's programs while also communicating the organization's broader mission and community impact.
- Oversee organizational storytelling, media relations, digital engagement, content strategy, public awareness initiatives, and integrated marketing campaigns that support participant recruitment, community engagement, and philanthropic objectives.
- Steward Turnstone's brand and public voice to ensure consistent, mission-centered messaging across all audiences.
- Identify opportunities to elevate Turnstone's visibility and influence locally, statewide, and nationally.
- Lead a comprehensive philanthropic strategy that strengthens Turnstone's long-term financial sustainability through diversified revenue development.
- Cultivate and steward relationships with major donors, foundations, corporations, community leaders, and strategic partners.
- Partner with the CEO, Board of Directors, and executive leadership to develop and execute donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
- Provide strategic oversight of major gifts, annual giving, planned giving, campaigns, grants, corporate philanthropy, and other philanthropic initiatives.
- Foster a culture of philanthropy by helping staff, volunteers, and Board members understand their role in building meaningful relationships that advance Turnstone's mission.
- Promote stewardship practices that strengthen donor trust, engagement, and long-term investment in Turnstone.
- Serve as a visible and active representative of Turnstone throughout the community.
- Identify, cultivate, and secure partnerships that increase mission impact, program access, philanthropic support, and organizational visibility.
- Represent Turnstone at community, business, philanthropic, and industry events.
- Build a network of advocates, champions, and influencers who actively support Turnstone's mission and strategic priorities.
- Strengthen engagement opportunities for volunteers, donors, families, program participants, and community stakeholders.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in business, communications, marketing, nonprofit management, public relations, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 10 or more years of progressive leadership experience in philanthropy, marketing, communications, community engagement, business development, or related fields.
- Demonstrated success building and stewarding relationships with donors, community leaders, strategic partners, volunteers, boards, and other key stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary teams and fostering a high-performance, collaborative culture.
- Experience developing and executing strategic plans, fundraising initiatives, growth strategies, organizational change efforts, and revenue diversification strategies.
Skills & Competencies
- Relationship Building & Stakeholder Engagement
- Strategic Partnership Development
- Fundraising & Philanthropic Strategy
- Mission-Centered Organizational Leadership
- Executive Presence & Communication
- Team Development & Coaching
- Strategic Thinking
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in business, communications, marketing, nonprofit management, public relations, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 10 or more years of progressive leadership experience in philanthropy, marketing, communications, community engagement, business development, or related fields.
- Demonstrated success building and stewarding relationships with donors, community leaders, strategic partners, volunteers, boards, and other key stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary teams and fostering a high-performance, collaborative culture.
- Experience developing and executing strategic plans, fundraising initiatives, growth strategies, organizational change efforts, and revenue diversification strategies.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree in business administration, nonprofit management, communications, public administration, leadership, or a related field.
- CFRE (Certified Fund-Raising Executive) or comparable professional credential.
- Experience serving in a senior leadership or executive role within a nonprofit, healthcare, education, community-based, or mission-driven organization.
- Experience leading comprehensive engagement programs that integrate philanthropy, marketing, communications, and community engagement.
- Experience working with governing boards, fundraising volunteers, and volunteer leadership groups.
- Knowledge of disability services, healthcare, rehabilitation, adaptive sports, or other mission-aligned service sectors.