About

If you are new to the Chief Development Officer role, or have recently hired a new Chief Development Officer, then Carolyn Whitehead’s work is designed especially for you.  Carolyn provides counsel and training in fundraising leadership.  She has spent her career in roles of increasing responsibility within higher education fundraising and oversight, in both small private and large public settings, and applies her experience and skills to the improvement of chief development officers, their leaders, their organizations and the field of development as a whole.  She is doing this through a combination of hands-on advising (and in some cases interim leadership) with educational and non-profit clients and through active membership and participation in select national and international professional organizations.
It is imperative for Presidents/Chancellors to have chief advancement officers who understand the importance of best practices of successful fundraising and to integrate those practices...

–  Philip P. DiStefano
Chancellor, University of Colorado Boulder

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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS

Carolyn has over 30 years of leadership experience in the field of fundraising, in both private college and public university settings, and major national associations. She has served in roles ranging from Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Vice Chancellor for Advancement, Director of Development, Director of Major Gifts and Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations. Consistently sought as a trusted advisor, she counsels leaders to be effective in their oversight of fundraising, including during critical fundraising transitions. She navigates complexity and asks the right questions to identify opportunities to move ahead.

Understanding that philanthropic individuals and organizations will support the people and places to which they feel connected, and believe are well-led, Carolyn focuses her advising and consultancy on fundraising leadership. As a fundraising leader in a variety of organizations, Carolyn has served on a number of leadership councils. In these roles, she collaborated with C-level leaders and Board volunteers to formulate and execute strategic plans, helped solve the toughest challenges facing these institutions and demonstrated that a sophisticated and well-run advancement program plays a key role in transforming an organization.

Utilizing firsthand knowledge of what behaviors and focus points lead to credibility building and a greater chance of success, Carolyn also assists in developing the necessary competencies and skills of Chief Development Officers and their teams. Her own leadership and fundraising experience includes oversight of major portions of billion dollar and multi-million-dollar comprehensive and capital campaigns. She is skilled in volunteer Board recruitment and development, has managed advancement teams of up to 130 individuals and has first-hand experience in closing seven and eight-figure principal and planned gifts. Carolyn believes that advancement functions at its best when there is a unilateral commitment across all areas of the organization to donor satisfaction and increased fundraising results, and she can provide insight based on proven experience to help Chief Development Officers and institutional leaders achieve this.