Art Museum Gifts Officer at Princeton University Art Museum
Job Title: Gifts Officer
Job Status: Full-time
Location: Princeton, NJ
About the job
The Princeton University Art Museum seeks an Art Museum Gifts Officer (MGO) who will be a key, frontline fundraiser whose primary purpose is to expand financial support for the Museum by growing, deepening, and diversifying both endowing and expendable gifts and annual donated revenue to help achieve the Museum’s ambitious goals.
Reporting to the Associate Director for Museum Development (ADMD), the MGO is responsible for developing and executing strategies to identify, research, cultivate, and solicit qualified prospects for major and planned gifts in collaboration and cooperation with the Museum’s Director and the ADMD, soliciting their own portfolio of major gift prospects as well as supporting the ADMD and Director in managing their respective major donor portfolios.
The Museum is preparing for dramatic growth, including a new facility being designed by Sir David Adjaye, which will provide dramatically enhanced spaces for the display of the collections, temporary exhibitions, collections study, education, and public amenities. Fundraising and planning are well underway, with construction anticipated to occur over the next three years; beyond the costs of the capital project, an aggressive plan to secure new endowments, multi-year expendable funds, and annual support must now be developed and implemented.
Responsibilities
- Takes the initiative and the lead in developing, implementing, and managing creative, proactive, and effective strategies for broadening and increasing donated revenue for the Museum with gifts of at least $50,000 from individual and corporate donors.
- Develops long-term written solicitation strategies for new and current major gift prospects, preparing a minimum of 20-40 proposals of $50,000 or more, completing a minimum of 120-150 face-to-face visits, and securing a minimum of $1 million to $1.5 million in new commitments annually.
- Coordinates with Manager of Annual and Corporate support to move donors along the pipeline to major gifts and, as appropriate, engages senior managers, curators, and volunteers in the process of cultivating and soliciting potential donors.
- Provides timely, written reports regarding the outcome of cultivation and solicitation activities.
- Serves as primary author of solicitation proposals and other fundraising collateral.
- Directs the planning, coordination, and implementation of high-end cultivation events strategically scheduled to build lasting relationships that will lead to enhanced philanthropic commitments to sustain the Museum’s programs.
Qualifications
Essential Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree and 7 or more years of demonstrated success in individual fundraising and/or client development including at least 4 years in major gifts, with a focus on prospect identification, relationship building, solicitation, and stewardship, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Proven ability to solicit and close philanthropic gifts at five figures and above.
- Specialized knowledge of and experience in fundraising for the arts and/or the humanities and the ability to articulate the special role of the arts and humanities in the context of a leadership research university.
- Superior interpersonal skills with proven ability to successfully interact and collaborate with varied constituencies in a professional manner.
- Detail orientation, with a demonstrated ability to exercise initiative and accept responsibility, to work proactively and with minimum supervision and manage multiple projects and priorities to meet aggressive timelines and challenging deadlines.
- Willingness to travel frequently (35-50%) domestic and international.
- Must be able and willing to work occasional evenings and weekends.
- Excellent computer skills, experience with donor databases, and the analytical acumen necessary to interpret data and financial information.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a museum or cultural organization or in an institution of higher education
- Prior campaign experience
- Experience with Blackbaud’s Altru database and Advance
Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. EEO IS THE LAW .
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