Director of Major and Individual Gifts

Director, Major and Individual Gifts

The Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world’s most influential metropolis. It engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city’s past, present, and future.

The Director of Major and Individual Gifts is an essential member of the Development team that will be responsible for managing the Museum’s individual funder portfolio. This role focuses on raising funds from individuals through membership, annual gifts, planned gifts, and major gifts overseeing all individual giving activities. The Director also leads a team of three staff members dedicated for major gift cultivation and stewardship, patron communications, household and library member renewals and reporting, membership retention and acquisition, and organizing events in conjunction with other Development team staff. Additionally, the Director secures restricted gifts for Museum exhibitions, public programs, and education programs. This is a full-time, regular position that reports directly to the Executive Vice President.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Manage and expand the Museum’s individual giving portfolio, with a focus on major and planned giving programs.

• Oversee a portfolio of major donors, ensuring their engagement and continued support.

• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors and members for the Museum’s membership offerings, patron programs, appeals, and future campaigns.

• Serve as a representative of the Museum to key stakeholders, including the Board of Trustees, major donors, members, and prospective supporters.

• Oversee the execution of the annual fundraising calendar, developing strategies to upgrade and acquire annual donors and household members.

• Support the development and execution of a strong individual giving pipeline through ongoing prospect research, cultivation, and solicitation efforts.

• Track success metrics for annual fund and membership appeals, suggesting new strategies as needed.

• Manage individual funder data in the Museum’s donor management system.

• Assist in organizing and executing Development and Museum events as needed.

• Perform other duties as needed

A successful candidate will have:

• Five to seven years of prior experience working in development (preferably in individual giving or membership), marketing, client services/success, or sales development, preferably for a museum or cultural institution.

• Demonstrated ability to meet revenue goals, steward an existing donor base, and effectively increase major donors.

• Proven ability to prioritize against competing deadlines both individually and as part of a team.

• Experience working within and managing a budget.

• Proficiency with donor management systems and the types of data necessary to support constituent/client relations.

• Knowledge of current trends, patterns, and relationships in philanthropy and the arts and culture sector preferred.

• A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and a passion for advancing equity and addressing structural racism within nonprofit organizations

• The desire to work in a collaborative, supportive environment

• Strong interpersonal skills, with a courteous and professional demeanor.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Attention to detail, with strong analytical and critical thinking skills.

• Experience with Microsoft Office and Altru CRM system preferred 

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS & WORK ENVIRONMENT

Must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time and able to traverse through office and museum gallery environment. Requires the ability to operate standard office equipment including computers and keyboards for extended periods of time. Exerting up to 25 pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Repetitive motion. Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers. The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color and peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. On occasion, the employee may be required to work outside events with weather conditions including heat and cold. May require travel to offsite locations throughout the five boroughs.

BENEFITS

The annual salary for this position is $135,000. Excellent benefits package, including a defined benefit pension plan as well as a 401K savings plan. The position offers a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, FSA, HSA, life insurance, 401K and pension plan, short and long-term disability, critical illness, accident insurance, legal services and pet insurance, and Employee Assistance Program. The Museum has a generous paid time off policy including 12 sick days per year, vacation and 13 holidays. Your employment relationship with the Museum qualifies you for free or discounted admissions to other participating cultural institutions.

HOW TO APPLY

Please email your resume and cover letter to the Museum of the City of New York Attention: Human Resources Department to jobs@mcny.org. To be considered, please include Director, Major and Individual Gifts within the subject line of your email. 

The Museum of the City of New York is committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with a staff as diverse as New York City and the audiences who are curious about learning more about its history and engaging in contemporary urban issues. Our staff members are dedicated to working towards a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring city museum in the world.

The Museum of the City of New York is an equal opportunity employer. As such, the museum provides equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants without unlawful discrimination with respect to age, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, ethnicity, gender identification or expression, marital status, military status or veteran, national origin, political association, political/personal convictions, predisposing genetic characteristics, race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and style), religion (including attire, clothing or facial hair worn in accordance with religious requirements), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions and transgender status), sexual orientation, socio-economic status, geographic location, philosophies, or any other classification protected by federal, state or local laws, in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-off, and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment. The Museum complies with applicable state and local law governing nondiscrimination in employment which prohibits discrimination and harassment against any employees, applicants for employment or interns, as well as contractors, subcontractors, vendors, consultants, other individuals providing services in the workplace or their employees in every location in which the Museum has facilities.