Description

About the National Museum of Women in the Arts

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.

With its collections, exhibitions, programs, and online content, the museum seeks to inspire dynamic exchanges about art and ideas. NMWA advocates for better representation of women artists and serves as a vital center for thought leadership, community engagement, and social change. The museum addresses the gender imbalance in the presentation of art by bringing to light important women artists of the past while promoting great women artists working today.

 About the Development Department

This growing team is responsible for raising donations from individuals and organizations (memberships, donations, grants, sponsorships). The Development team manages the museum’s various giving and affinity groups, the membership program, and events including exhibition openings, cultivation and sponsorship events. Development is also a hub for the organization, providing database support across the museum, recruiting and managing event volunteers, and working collaboratively on interdepartmental initiatives. 

About NMWA’s National and International Committees

NMWA’s national and international committees advocate for women artists on a worldwide scale. Located in regions across the U.S. and around the globe, NMWA’s advocacy groups help to champion women artists far beyond the museum’s walls in Washington, DC. Committees plan programs that highlight NMWA’s mission, promote artists in their region, and engage new audiences.  They bring wider attention to NMWA’s collection, exhibitions, programs, and activities. They also work with museum staff to increase membership and support the museum.  

Position Summary

The Senior Development Officer, National and International Outreach will play an essential role in evaluating, strengthening, and expanding the national and international community of annual donors who support the mission of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  Reporting to the Development Leader, the fundraiser in this position is primarily responsible for meeting annual engagement, solicitation, and income targets through frontline work with the museum’s unique system of outreach committees (30) as well as select individual donors.  This person closely collaborates with membership and other middle and major giving officers in the NMWA Advancement team and with NMWA’s curatorial and program staff. 

The fundraiser in this position will manage a portfolio of approximately 150-200 current and potential supporters who have the capacity to make annual gifts between $1,000 and $25,000 and higher.  Along with others on the Advancement team, this position plays a key role in building and managing NMWA’s upper-level affiliate groups, including the NMWA Advisory Board ($2,500+), Director’s Circle ($10,000+), and assists with moves management related to the President’s Circle ($25,000+). It further supports NMWA’s Planned Giving program. 

The Senior Development Officer, National and International Outreach works closely with the Executive Director, curators and advancement team to ensure that NMWA’s committees are thoughtfully engaged and stewarded throughout the year.  In partnership with advancement colleagues, this position will identify prospects and solicit restricted gifts for exhibitions, collections, programs, and special initiatives.  Fundraising responsibilities also include working directly with NMWA’s committees to reach fundraising targets for NMWA’s Women to Watch triennial. The professional in this role will be a highly visible representative to and liaison with the museum’s member, donor, and collector community. 

The position supervises one full-time staff member who directly supports daily activities and programs of the museum’s national and international committees.

Requirements

Responsibilities

Functions may include, but are not limited to: 

v  Affiliate groups management: (35%):

• Work with Director, Advancement staff, and volunteer leaders to plan for, establish and maintain robust network of national and international committees. Provide organizational expertise in support of the museum’s mission in their states, regions or countries.  In the first year, evaluate guidelines for establishing and running committees and provide updated best practices.  Work with National and International Outreach Manager to advise committees on new best practices. Encourage and monitor local programming (in person and online), including opportunities for NMWA development and programmatic staff to be featured at committee events. Create opportunities for NMWA members to participate in committee activities in their area. 
• Identify and solicit new supporters from committees for NMWA Advisory Board, Director’s Circle and President’s Circle.  Identify foundation and corporate opportunities for fundraising support of NMWA and its programs. 

Plan and execute a comprehensive annual schedule of in-person and virtual meetings to engage with these groups. Maintain a donor-specific annual calendar of communications and write compellingly for a range of purposes including solicitations, acknowledgments, invitations, group and personal emails, gift proposals, museum updates and other touchpoints. Collaborate with development and communications colleagues to ensure these communications and activities align with NMWA’s overall fundraising efforts and create effective pathways for membership upgrades, major gift cultivation, and recruitment. 

v  Frontline fundraising (50%): Follow best practices in donor development and moves-management. Engage, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of 150-200 donors and prospects. This includes research and identification, visit requests, in-person and virtual meetings, donor correspondence, contact reports, and stewardship activities. Make a minimum of 90-120 visits per year, with a goal financial goal of raising $750,000-$1million in annual unrestricted and project support from 75% of the portfolio.

v  Department initiatives (10%): As part of NMWA’s integrated fundraising operation and overall business plan, this fundraiser participates regularly in strategic and operational business of the development department, including annual planning and goal setting, training and professional development, DEAI initiatives, staffing of and assistance with donor and member cultivation events, and fundraising for the annual gala.  Assist in the organization, patron participation and the execution of annual Director’s Circle trips.

v  Financial planning and reporting (5%): Works with Development Leader on regular revenue projections from the individual giving pipeline, including annual, mid-year, and quarterly projections. Ensures that all solicitation activity is accurately tracked in Tessitura to facilitate timely reports and financial forecasts. 

Qualifications

This position requires a bachelor’s degree in a related area and/or equivalent experience/raining.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a thorough understanding of fundraising and donor engagement concepts, principles, techniques, procedures, practices and the following skills/experience: 

• Proven history of personally soliciting and securing gifts of four and five figures from individuals, preferably within an art museum or university setting.
• Thorough ability to plan, articulate, and execute an annual program of donor engagement and stewardship—including communications, entertainment, and special events.
• Understanding of modes of giving including Donor Advised Funds, retirement distributions, family foundations, etc. to inform conversations.
• Demonstrated success in working with volunteer groups.
• Preferred thorough working knowledge of NMWA—and/or an institution of a comparable profile—including its vision, mission, goals, and objectives.  Preferred passion for the arts.
• Ability to work both independently with purpose and accuracy as well as collaboratively with others across departments. Actively contribute to an organization-wide culture of equity and inclusion based in mutual respect, collegiality, cooperation, and openness to many perspectives.
• Outstanding written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, including personal warmth and political acumen, to build and maintain effective working relationships internally and externally.  Public speaking skills a must.
• Ability to travel regularly, including a minimum of 4 domestic trips and 2 international trips/year, with multiple venues, as well as plan and implement regular Zoom stewardship events.
• Thorough analytical and critical thinking skills, including skill in creative and effective decision-making, problem solving, and conflict resolution.
• Skills to meet or exceed fundraising goals and objectives, both individually and as part of a team.
• Highly developed attention to detail, project management, and organizational skills.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality, discretion, and excellent judgement in handling sensitive information.
• Strong ability to use and adapt to a variety of software and productivity tools, including Google Suite, Microsoft Office, and CRM systems (Tessitura, Salesforce, or similar.)
• Ability to multi-task various projects and to maintain a broad range of personal fundraising and stewardship relationships simultaneously. 

If much of this job description describes you, then you are highly encouraged to apply for this role, even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications. We recognize that it is highly unlikely for an applicant to meet 100% of the qualifications for a given role, and that every candidate brings unique experience and qualifications to a role. We are excited to meet you!