Chief Impact Officer

Position Title

Chief Impact Officer

Type

Permanent, Full Time

Department

Executive Office

Salary

$150,000-$165,000

Reports to

President and CEO

Updated

February 2026

About Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada

Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is our country’s leading charity dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth involved in the child welfare system. Guided by a bold five-year strategic plan and Impact Framework and working alongside roughly 100 child-and-youth serving organizations across the country, we are focused on driving meaningful, measurable change through outcomes-based partnerships, philanthropy, and system-level influence.

Our work is grounded in four key areas of focus that are critical to long-term stability for children and youth in and from care: Education, Employment, Mental Health and Well-being, and Strong Families and Lifelong Connections. Across these areas, we fund and deliver high-impact programs and collaborate with communities, service agencies, and young people on solutions that address the persistent challenges faced by children and youth engaged with the child welfare system.

As we implement our new 2025-2030 strategic plan, Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is entering a pivotal phase, realigning its efforts and structuring its team to maximize measurable outcomes and national reach. Joining the Foundation means being part of a passionate, future-focused team driven by impact and equity. It’s an opportunity to be part of a national movement committed to creating a better future for those too often left behind. Together, we are building a future where children and youth have the strength and resilience to create a lifetime of their own unstoppable successes.

To learn more about us, please visit our website.

To better understand our impact, please watch our ‘Investing in the Future, Today’ video

This posting is publicly available and open to all qualified applicants.

The Ideal Candidate:

Are you motivated by thoughtful leadership, meaningful collaboration, and long-term impact at a systems level?

The ideal candidate is an experienced executive leader who brings strong strategic vision and business acumen, along with a deep commitment to advancing mission-driven impact in complex, multistakeholder environments. They lead with integrity and sound judgment, communicate with clarity and credibility, and are trusted to navigate ambiguity and influence at both the executive and sector levels.

A collaborative and relationship-centered leader, they foster alignment across teams, partners, and communities, and contribute actively to organization-wide strategy, governance, and long-term outcomes. They bring an instinct for bridging strategy and execution, helping translate ambitious impact goals into achievable action. Grounded, goal-oriented, and forward-looking, they bring initiative and care, balancing measurable results with empathy, accountability, and purpose.

The Opportunity:

The Chief Impact Officer (CIO) is a senior executive position, reporting to the President & CEO with overall strategic and operational responsibility for impact and outcomes across Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada (the Foundation). The CIO leads the development and implementation of strategies to advance the Foundation’s mission and strategic vision driving measurable outcomes and ultimately impact system-change for children and families involved in Canada’s child welfare system(s).

As a member of the senior leadership team, the CIO contributes to shaping and driving the overall strategic plan for the Foundation.

The Chief Impact Officer leads the Impact Team and is accountable for the Foundation ‘s child welfare impact strategies and impact delivery. This includes overseeing the development of annual operational plans that translate the Foundation’s Strategic Plan into clear priorities, initiatives, and measures of success, aligned with the Foundation ‘s areas of focus and investment streams.

Serving as the organization’s primary strategy-to-execution integrator, the CIO ensures cross-functional operational alignment and disciplined execution of strategic priorities. Working in close partnership with functional leaders, the CIO aligns organizational plans, resources, and workflows; oversees operational planning cycles; coordinates cross-functional execution; resolves priority conflicts; and monitors delivery risks. The CIO also provides the operational leadership required to support transformational gifts, enabling the Foundation to effectively scale its funds, programs, and ventures.

This role maintains strong knowledge of child welfare, equity and inclusion and social change issues and cultivates relationships in the nonprofit, public and private sectors to inform, leverage and maximize the use of resources and effective community solutions. This position provides leadership in developing, promoting and maintaining solid partner collaborations with corporations, foundations, donors, agency partners, social scientists/academics, other non-profits, and provincial and federal government partners.

The CIO oversees the Foundation ’s evaluation and outcome measurement approach, defining what is measured to demonstrate impact across internal systems and external relations. This includes working with partners to learn from findings to continuously improve overall impact as well as convening partners, building coalitions, forging common agendas, organizing community awareness, initiating grants, overseeing third-party evaluation and measurement of program investments, and leveraging other external resources.

Successful candidates bring the professional presence, depth and breadth of experience to credibly represent Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada publicly. Success also requires a commitment to lead high-functioning partnerships within all areas of the Foundation, including fundraising, donor relations, operations, data analytics, marketing and communications, and volunteer engagement. This role requires a strong commitment to data-informed decision making with clear metrics and outcomes, guiding strategy, and execution.

Key Responsibilities:

Visioning/Strategic Planning

• Partners with the President & CEO and senior leadership team to advance the Foundation’s strategic plan, annual goals, and other priority initiatives.
• Leads the Foundation’s impact investing strategy as it relates to its priorities, and according to child welfare partner's needs, and funder’s interests.
• In conjunction with President & CEO and staff, leads in creating, building, and maintaining mutually beneficial collaborative efforts across stakeholder groups, especially the Foundations’ network of child welfare and community partners, and specifically Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, the Foundations' founding partner. Supports the President & CEO with presentations to Board as required.
• Represents the Foundation’s externally by presenting its impact and social change strategies, activities and outcomes, promoting the Foundations at external meetings and thought leadership events.

Community Impact and Team Leadership

• Provides executive oversight, and drives continuous improvements of the policies, procedures, and systems that govern the initiation, evaluation, and monitoring of grants and programs.
• Leads and oversees all grant making and program initiatives, including special projects and collaborative efforts with other agencies, foundations, organizations, and corporations.
• Partners with the finance and administration team to provide responsible reporting on impact efforts and presents strategic outcomes to the Board and other pertinent stakeholders, as appropriate.
• Maintains a strong working knowledge of the child welfare and social change environment to monitor the needs of the Foundation’s priority populations and programmatic work of nonprofits within the communities served by foundations and community funds.
• Reviews, oversees, in alignment, with the Development team, all grant applications to government and other NGO funders to ensure consistency with the strategic plan.
• Leads on the promotion and support of the Board’s Equity and Inclusion Community Council and provides data and KPIs for the Council to present to the Board.

Operational Leadership and Cross-Functional Integration

• Provides executive leadership for organizational execution, ensuring that the Foundation’s strategic priorities are translated into coordinated, effective action across the organization.
• Leads cross-functional planning and operational alignment across Impact, Development, Communications, and Finance to support the delivery of grants, programs, and ventures.
• Oversees organizational planning cycles, workflows, and decision-making processes to strengthen execution discipline, clarify accountabilities, and manage delivery risk.
• Partner closely with the President & CEO to monitor organizational capacity, sequencing of initiatives, and operational performance, and to address cross-functional challenges requiring integrated solutions.
• Work in partnership with the Finance and Administration team to ensure that budgets, staffing plans, systems, and operational processes effectively support impact priorities and organizational goals.
• Acts as a central point of escalation for operational issues affecting the quality, timeliness, or effectiveness of program and impact delivery.
• Participates in internal and external agency activities, network, and collaborate with community professionals on sector-wide related activities, including serving on community committees, task forces and Boards, as appropriate.
• Attends meetings of the senior leadership team at Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, and other interagency meetings relating to the Foundation’s programs, community of practice tables, Board of Director meetings, and committee/council meetings, as appropriate.

Team Management

• Provides leadership to the Impact team, fostering a high-performance team culture reflected in Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada values.
• Ensures a team environment of collaboration, measurement, coaching and goal achievement.
• Ensures that processes, procedures, and assignments of responsibilities are designed to meet team goals in an efficient, optimal, and effective manner.
• Develops and monitors the Impact team budget for approval by the President & CEO and Board.
• In collaboration with the Development team, identifies annual fundraising priorities and support budget development and program design required in major funding proposals and Letters of Agreement.
• Ensures budgets are developed for approved project and program expansion activities, working in partnership with the Finance and Administration and senior leadership teams.
• Works collaboratively with the senior leadership team in creating the organization’s overall budget by providing accurate information, accurate forecasts, assumptions, and impact-driven insights.

Essential Qualifications and Competencies:

• Relevant experience, typically 7+ years in senior leadership roles, including staff supervision within a non-profit, corporate, or similar organization with a level of complexity and public visibility
• Relevant post-secondary education in business administration, social work, public administration, or related field; a master’s or doctoral degree is preferred
• Demonstrated strategic leadership and business acumen, with experience developing and executing strategic and operational plans aligned with organizational mission and goals
• Experience communicating in a persuasive, credible manner, in person, in digital settings, and in writing and presentations.
• Experience in creating operational plans and budgets and with accountability for results.
• Strong analytical and evaluative skills.
• Knowledge of the nonprofit sector and experience in leading and facilitating teams and cross-sector community coalitions.
• Ability to contribute to the broader leadership of the organization through active participation as a member of the senior leadership team.
• Integrity and ability to represent CAFC credibly, professionally, and with a strategic vision.
• Proven success navigating and leading cross-functional teams and cross-community partnerships to elevate partner and organization efforts.
• Expertise in developing complex logic models and program evaluation frameworks.
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, and familiarity with database management software (GIFTS preferred)
• Flexibility and sound judgment to adapt schedules and travel in response to organizational priorities, time-sensitive initiatives, and stakeholder engagement.
• Deep commitment to youth voice, equity, and systems-change values aligned with the Foundation’s mission
• Committed to upholding the Foundation’s VOICE values: Vital Learning & Innovation, Open Communication, Inclusion & Diversity, Care & Compassion, and Empowering Accountability

Asset (non-essential):

• Lived experience with the child welfare system.
• Experience working in child welfare, social services, or with Indigenous-led organizations.
• Bilingualism in English and French.

CHILDREN’S AID FOUNDATION OF CANADA AS AN EMPLOYER

Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada acknowledges that the Foundation’s main office is in

Toronto, which is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississauga's of the Credit, and the

Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The area now known as Toronto is covered by Treaty 13. Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is committed to supporting meaningful reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and others in these lands and across Canada.

WHY WORK WITH US

Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is proud to be a recipient of the 2025 Non-Profit Employer of Choice (NEOC) Award, recognizing our commitment to a values-driven, inclusive, and supportive workplace.

At the Foundation, we prioritize your well-being and professional fulfillment by offering:

• A 35-hour workweek to support work-life balance
• A hybrid model, with a mixed blend of remote work and 2-3 days in office (Toronto)
• The opportunity to make a meaningful impact on child welfare
• A generous compensation package, including: 4 weeks' vacation package, a comprehensive benefits (including medical, dental, life and disability) package, Employee Assistance Program, a Health Care Spending Account, Defined Pension Plan, and a competitive salary.
• A welcoming, supportive, and collaborative work culture that embraces the Foundation’s VOICE values.

Our VOICE Values:

− Vital Learning & Innovation

− Open Communication

− Inclusion & Diversity

− Care & Compassion

− Empowering Accountability

HOW TO APPLY

To express interest for this exciting opportunity, please submit your resume and a cover letter in one single document, to careers@cafdn.org and include “Chief Impact Officer” in the subject line by Friday, March 13, 2026. Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted. Early submissions are encouraged.

We thank all candidates for their interest in the work of Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted due to high applicant volumes. No telephone inquiries, please.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN OUR INTERVIEW PROCESS

We value transparency and want to ensure you feel prepared and supported throughout our hiring process. Here is what you can expect:

Initial conversation: A 30-minute virtual conversation with one of our team members to discuss your interest in the role and Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada and how you can make an impact.

First interview: A 1-hour meeting (in-person or virtual) with the Hiring Manager and relevant team members. We will discuss your skills and how they align with the team’s needs. We will also answer any questions you have about the role, our culture, and the impact we strive to make.

Second interview: A 1-hour in-person meeting with the Hiring Manager and different team members, depending on the role, it can be our President & CEO! This stage might involve a short, preassigned presentation, a case study, or a discussion of role-specific scenarios. A brief behavioural assessment is completed in advance of this meeting.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The Foundation does not use artificial intelligence (AI) systems to screen, assess, select applications or inform hiring decisions. All applications are reviewed and evaluated by our human HR and hiring team, and no part of the hiring decision-making uses AI tools.

COMMITMENT TO EQUITABLE RECRUITMENT

The Foundation provides equal employment opportunities to employees regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or marital status. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from equity seeking groups, including members of communities that are overrepresented in the child welfare system. We offer a family-friendly environment that allows for flexible work arrangements in order to support staff diversity and ensure a healthy work-life balance.

The Foundation is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment process as accessible as possible and provide accommodation as required for applicants with disabilities. If you require any accommodations at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact careers@cafdn.org

We look forward to getting to know you and sharing what makes the Foundation such a meaningful and inspiring place to work!