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Pro Bono Posting for the Motown Museum’s Director of Fund Development

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Organization Profile
Located in the resurging metropolis of Detroit, Michigan, the Motown Museum is one of the nation’s most popular tourist destinations. Despite the passage of time since Motown Record’s establishment in 1959 by Berry Gordy, tens of thousands of visitors pass through Hitsville U.S.A., home of the Motown Museum each year. The continued popularity is evidence of Motown’s legacy and the charisma, talent and staying power of the music and those who made it. The Motown Museum was founded in 1985 by the late Ester Gordy Edwards, Berry Gordy’s sister.

Visitors come from around the world to stand in Studio A, where their favorite artist and groups recorded much-loved music, and to view the restored upper flat where Berry Gordy lived with his young family during the company’s earliest days. Home to an extensive array of Motown artifacts, photography and other memorabilia, Motown Museum’s calling is to preserve, protect and present the Motown Story through authentic, inspirational and educational experiences.

A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the Motown Museum tells the story of how a man’s vision turned into one of the largest, most successful record companies of all time and how the music – the Motown Sound – captivated the hearts of young people, not only in America but across the globe.

Position Summary
Under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Director of Fund Development will cultivate and solicit private contributions and investment to the Motown Museum from annual fund giving, major and principal gifts, either outright or through deferred giving, effective donor stewardship, membership and event management.

The ideal candidate will have at least five years successful fundraising experience and an aptitude to lead a development team through strategic, visionary leadership. The successful professional will be a creative, enthusiastic team member with the ability to clearly communicate the mission and values of the Motown Museum. Professionals who would be fulfilled by working for a dynamic organization that is passionate about preserving and growing the iconic Motown brand should consider a career at The Motown Museum.

As Director of Fund Development, you will be at the heart of the development program and a vital member of the senior leadership team. In this role, you will have an opportunity to make an impressive impact helping to inspire people to understand not only the power of the Motown Sound but challenge them to dream.

Ideal Qualities
The successful candidate will demonstrate the following characteristics and ideals:
• Emotional intelligence
• Enthusiasm for the Motown legacy
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• A track record of engaging and influencing volunteers, prospects and donors
• An entrepreneurial spirit and ability to work independently
• Attention to detail and strong time-management and organizational skills
• Skill in successfully managing multiple projects on tight deadlines and under pressure in a dynamic and open environment
• Unquestionable integrity
• An ability to travel and undertake occasional evening and weekend work
• A commitment to assessment and data-driven fundraising
• A person who makes everyone proud that they are a member of the team

Qualifications
• Qualities and experiences that ideal candidates should display include:
• An earned baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university
• A minimum of five (5) or more years of successful experience working with donor prospects and having a significant history of closing gifts.
• A working knowledge of the principles and practices of metrics-driven major gift fundraising
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work harmoniously with Board members, senior administration, volunteers, and staff
• Demonstrated ability to communicate persuasively, orally and in writing, the organization’s case for support to individuals, groups, corporate leaders, and foundations
• A high level of initiative, strong personal work ethic, and energy
• Ability to think critically and articulate opinions
• Ability to become acquainted with key donors in a short timeframe
• Unquestionable integrity and a strong sense of professional ethics

Preferred
Preference will be given to candidates that also display one or more of the following:
• Experience with fundraising in arts and culture organizations
• Fundraising or association accreditation (CFRE, FAHP, CAE or equivalent)
• Experience working in a capital campaign environment
• Experience with membership programs

Disclosure
• The salary offering is competitive and commensurate with experience, qualifications, and verifiable salary history
• This position will require occasional business travel
• This position statement is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and requirements. This position statement is presented as a fair reflection of the principal job elements

Please send résumé and cover letter electronically to:motow

Sharri Watkins
Human Resources Manager
Motown Museum
swatkins@motownmuseum.org

 

Motown Museum is an Equal Opportunity Employer

 

About Pillar Search 

With personalized service and proven results, Pillar is your partner in executive search and human resources consulting. With over 20 years of experience, Pillar provides retained search services for exceptional non-profits and foundations and early-stage or rapid growth for-profit firms. A woman-owned business, Pillar is based in Boston, MA, and works on both a local and national level.

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Pro Bono Posting: Director of Institutional Partnerships Job with Ms. Women’s Foundation

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About Ms. Foundation for Women:

The Ms. Foundation for Women fights to keep women’s rights intact, to keep lawmakers in check, to protect and fortify our fragile successes, and to secure the same rights and opportunities for all women in the US — especially those whose voices are muted because of their economic realities and everyday challenges.

We fight to eliminate barriers for all women. Because to secure a better future for ourselves, our families, our communities, this is a fight we can’t afford to lose.

Position Summary

The Director, Institutional Partnerships strengthens and expands institutional fundraising efforts to increase revenue. This position works with outside foundations, corporations, the CEO, the VP of Development and program staff internally to manage and implement a strategy for development of new and sustained revenue in all program and operational areas.  This position reports to the Vice President of Development.

Key Areas of Responsibility

  • Maintain and expand support for the Ms. Foundation’s programs and initiatives, including prospecting, proposal and report writing, relationship management, and tracking
  • Conduct strategic planning, in partnership with senior leadership, in order to grow new foundation and corporate funding sources as well as sustaining existing ones
  • Work closely with program, communications and advocacy staff to strategize on, develop content for, and execute development strategies and proposals for foundations
  • Manage the prospect portfolio and ensure that cultivation and solicitation strategies are carried through by relevant staff and board
  • Track proposal and reporting deadlines and departmental performance against goals
  • Identify, research and pursue new funding sources and supervise research staff towards this goal
  • Develop annual foundation fundraising strategies and forecasting in assigned program areas, including the development of new initiatives as needed
  • Supervise and/or execute relevant grants administration, including participation in tracking grant financials, narrative and financial report preparation, as well as developing budgets, timelines and project deliverables
  • Participate in the maintenance of strong donor database records
  • Work with department Directors on individual prospects for foundation or corporate gifts
  • Work with program and executive staff to communicate Development needs for proposals and work with the other departments to develop effective programs that will be attractive to funders
  • Develop a deep understanding of program content and organizational priorities to ensure integrity and quality of proposal writing
  • Manage an institutional funding calendar that includes an expanded slate of institutional funder opportunities
  • Supervise staff to meet department goals
  • Develop briefings on the progress of the Ms. Foundation’s programmatic initiatives for institutional funder updates and ongoing communications
  • Develop prospect lists and briefings for senior staff trips to new cities
  • Manage and strategize on institutional communications and mailings
  • Travel for program and development-related activities as needed

Qualifications and Requirements

The ideal candidate will be a feminist with a passion and commitment to the Foundation’s mission. While no one person will embody all the qualities enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional abilities, attributes and experiences:

  • Minimum of 5-8 years of experience in foundations/institutional grant writing and development for a non-profit organization or charitable foundation
  • Proven systematic experience in prospecting and growing new sources of revenue from foundations
  • College degree required, advanced degree preferred
  • Ability to forecast revenue accurately and maintain an expense budget
  • Excellent interpersonal and communications skills
  • Ability to educate other staff on what specific elements are needed to deliver programmatic outcomes
  • Extensive experience working with or for a grant-making foundation, and existing relationships in the New York foundation funding community
  • Demonstrated superior writing and organizational skills
  • A keen ability to synthesize large amounts of information from leadership team members and program staff into a cohesive, compelling and executable funding proposal
  • Experience in managing, developing and revising budgets for grant proposals
  • Superior Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills
  • Intellectual curiosity and the ability to learn quickly, ask probing questions and synthesize information from an array of sources in order to determine next steps
  • Ability to successfully execute multiple, simultaneous projects on time and with quality results
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and to work collaboratively
  • A commitment to the mission and values of the Ms. Foundation for Women
  • People of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

To learn more about the Ms. Foundation for Women, and to apply for this position, please submit a detailed cover letter and resume: www.forwomen.org

The Ms. Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, socio-economic status, marital or veteran status, or sexual orientation.

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Onboard or Onward: Ensuring the Success of Your New Executive Hire

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“About 40% of executives who change jobs or get promoted fail in the first 18 months.”

Fortune Magazine

Where does it all go wrong? Too often, the onboarding process is where things fall apart. I am not talking about “orientation”, which often is done day one and generally involves the basics of assigning a building pass, conducting a benefits overviews, meeting the team and reading a few policies. Onboarding is a longer process, and if done well (typically in partnership with Human Resources and managed by the new executive’s manager, or the Board Chair if they report to the Board of Directors) can almost guarantee fit. It is holistic and gradual. It is also very deliberate, and will require constant check-ins and open communication.  Here are five key activities that will help to ensure that your new executive will be successful in their new role:

Start to Onboard Before They are Actually ON BOARD!

The time between an offer being accepted and the executive starting is sensitive. They may be dealing with a counteroffer, having to say goodbye to much-loved colleagues, and are nervous about this new venture. Keep in touch. Reiterate your excitement to have them joining the team, and have a few people in the organization reach out. If there are organizational overviews, annual reports, strategic plans or other things that that they can read up on ahead of time, get those to them during this time so that they start to feel like part of the team.

Send an announcement out to the staff and the board a few days before their start date explaining their background and the job they are filling. This will help make them seem more familiar to the team when they come through the door, and as an added benefit they will not have to review their resume and background with absolutely everyone in their first week or so.

Relationship Before Task 

Ideally, new executives will meet with their team and people across the organization. One-on-one meetings are great, but remind those who will be meeting with the executive to get to know them before delving into the inner workings of their role or the issues they face. Building rapport with new colleagues and direct reports is critical in the early days.

Learn By Doing 

Too often, in an effort to get all the information to a new hire as soon as possible, they are introduced to processes way too soon. Guess what? They will not remember how to do an expense report or change their password or complete a sales report 30 to 60 days in when they actually need to do it if they are taught how to do it their first week. Have the right people meet with them at the start to review the process at a high level, and then have them set up a time to do it later when they can sit down with real data and learn from it real-time.

The Buddy System 

What we learned in grade school still applies: the buddy system works when the new kid starts. This should not be the executive’s manager, but a peer or high-performing direct report who has longevity and the personality to be an effective buddy. The buddy can manage the nicety of taking them to lunch on day one and being available to explain the intricacies of culture, relationship dynamics, and certain pitfalls to avoid, which are things that the executive may not be comfortable asking of higher-ups.

Check In Early & Often

I too often hear that executives join, get a ton of attention the first day or two, and then are largely left on their own. It does not feel welcoming, and it runs the risk of them going in a direction that is difficult to course-correct later on. Meet with them daily, even for 10-15 minutes, in the first few weeks. Move on to twice weekly, weekly….you get the point. Let them know where they are doing a great job. Let them know where they need to take a different approach. But LET THEM KNOW. Being clear on what is a success will lead to more success.

While by no means a complete onboarding process, following the steps above will help to ensure that your new executive hire is one of the 60% who will be a success in the first 18 months.

Cindy Joyce is an Executive Recruiter and the Founder of Pillar Search, an Executive Search and HR Consulting firm located in Boston that works with clients nationwide. She can be reached here.

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Executive Search Success! Announcing the New President of Yestermorrow Design/Build School

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Pillar's Search Success

Pillar Search is proud to have successfully partnered with Yestermorrow Design/Build School on the search for their new President.

Yestermorrow Design/Build School welcomes Mike Crowley as its new President. Yestermorrow Design/Build School is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization located in the Mad River Valley of Vermont offering workshops, certificate programs and semester programs for adult students from around the country. Yestermorrow’s mission is to inspire people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process.  The intensive and experiential curriculum includes a wide variety of topics related to sustainable design, green building, architectural craft, and furniture making.

As President, Mike will be responsible for the fiscal, programmatic and functional health of the Yestermorrow, in addition to serving as the primary advocate for its mission and steward of its reputation.  As a school known for innovation, Mike will foster a culture of thinking outside the box and creative experimentation to help Yestermorrow continue to be a place of cutting-edge design education.

Mike joins Yestermorrow from the Institute for Sustainable Communities, where he held the role of Program Director, Resilient Regions Initiative. Prior roles included Climate and Sustainability Manager with Environmental Health & Engineering and Assistant Director of Harvard University’s Office for Sustainability. In addition, Mike was a professor of Planning for Carbon Neutrality at Harvard University Extension School. Mike holds a graduate degree in Environmental Science from Schumacher College/University of Plymouthand an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from University of Vermont.

With personalized service and proven results, Pillar is your partner in executive search and human resources consulting. With over 20 years of experience, Pillar provides national retained search services for exceptional non-profits and foundations and early-stage or rapid growth for-profit firms. All share the characteristic of desiring top talent who want an occupassion, not just an occupation.     In addition, Pillar offers human resources consulting services, which was born of clients requesting help on projects beyond executive search, and includes human resources audits, creating a handbook, assessing organizational design, training, team building, and employee communications.    A woman-owned business, Pillar is based in Boston, MA, and works on retained searches both a local and national level. To learn more about how Pillar can assist with your search needs, email cindy@pillarsearch.com.