Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture is looking for a Senior Development Officer to join our Full-Time Staff in NYC. As Skowhegan marks its 80th year and embarks on ambitious projects at our School in Maine and beyond, we seek a dynamic and strategic fundraiser who can forge meaningful connections with supporters, cultivate new funding opportunities, and articulate Skowhegan’s mission and values to a broad range of stakeholders. The ideal candidate has a passion for art, a commitment to building educational structures, strong interpersonal skills, an intrepid and curious spirit, and a desire to work within a small, ambitious team. The position will report to the Deputy Director, with a dotted line to the Co-Director. The department is supported by a Development Assistant and the Office Manager, and works with the Board’s Development Committee.RESPONSIBILITIESSkowhegan is supported by artists, individuals, foundations, and corporations. The Senior Development Officer will operate as a generalist, touching all areas of our philanthropy, but their particular focus will be on four to six-figure gifts from foundations and individuals. They will nurture a culture of generosity within the Skowhegan community, and communicate with care that fundraising is integral to the School’s sustainability and resilience. Responsibilities include: Institutional Funders:Serve as the primary liaison for Skowhegan’s foundation partners, stewarding the relationship, managing the reporting process for current grants including tracking deadlines, writing narrative reports and working with members of the program and artistic staff to develop compelling fundraising narratives around new and upcoming initiativesDevelop a pipeline of prospective funders and grant opportunities that contribute to the strategic development of Skowhegan’s multi-year funding plan and grow support for special initiatives (e.g. Endowment, Capital, Archive, etc.)Major Gifts and Individual Outreach:Identify, cultivate, and steward donors for the Council program and major gifts; develop strategies to expand prospecting campaigns and retain and enhance donor engagementCreate consistent, effective, and cohesive messaging for annual appeals and other fundraising engagements and events throughout the yearCollaborate on Awards Dinner and Council event concept and programming Organization, Travel, and Team Management:Attend and support Skowhegan public programs as needed Collaborate with Communications Coordinator on the look and feel of fundraising communications, including website and printed materialsVisit Maine in July for Trustees’ & Governors’ weekend, and be open to occasional domestic travel for stewardship and prospecting Manage Development Assistant and supervise database entry and gift processing Requirements:6-8 years of frontline fundraising, preferably at a cultural institution, with demonstrated success with donor cultivation and stewardship, and a track record of closing individual giftsFamiliarity with arts sector funding opportunities; experience securing and reporting on major grants Passion for contemporary art and education, and an interest in being an active part of the cultural community; experience working with artists a plusHigh level of personal motivation, agency, and strategic vision to implement and grow individual and foundation supportSuperior communication skills (written and verbal), and ability to manage sensitive and confidential matters with diplomacy, tact, and discretionExperience in grant writing, as well as sensitivity to and an overall understanding of art-critical texts, are a plusSuperior organizational skills and attention to detailHigh EQ and interpersonal skills; comfort working with people of all ages and backgroundsComputer literacy and knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams), fundraising CRMs and platforms, and proficiency with design software, including Adobe Creative Suites a plusValid drivers license a plusWe are an equal opportunity employer. Skowhegan’s community is diverse, and we wish to foster that diversity in this workplace. Toward that end, we do not discriminate against individuals in hiring, employment or promotion on the basis of race, religion, color, sex/gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship, disability status, veteran or military status, political belief, pregnancy, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law.Position Type: Full-time, Non-Exempt. Work Schedule: 40 Hours per Week. 4 days on site and 1 day remote. Evening work ~2x monthly; occasional weekend work and travel required. Salary: The salary range for this position is $75,000 - $90,000, with competitive benefits including Healthcare, PTO and 401k with match. HOW TO APPLY Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume in a single PDF with the subject ‘Senior Development Officer’ to jobs@skowheganart.org.SKOWHEGAN’S MISSIONSkowhegan is a summer art school in a 350 acres campus in Maine, that for eight decades, has offered artists the opportunity to engage within an experimental framework based on the idea of sharing knowledge and skills within and among artists. The School takes the form of a nine-week summer program in which emerging artists working in all forms and from diverse backgrounds live and work together on our campus as a community of peers in dialogue with resident and visiting artists (faculty), as well as staff (primarily practicing artists). The campus is a place where we coexist in generosity, self-discovery, curiosity, and discrepancy in order to create, experience, and understand art.The School has its headquarters in New York City. During the off-session, we continue our mission through a variety of programs for wider audiences that use the School as a source of inspiration and provocation. From our space in New York (Skowhegan NYC) and beyond, we collaborate with artists and other practitioners on programs focusing on alternative ways of critical thinking and education; we foster community and facilitate engagement with alumni, faculty and collaborators; we transform and tend to our archive connecting intergenerational voices; we publish research in various formats; and most importantly, we share stories. We are committed to establishing a robust philanthropic network that can ensure that the School and its various programs remain accessible to all in order to promote education and exchange.
