Development Manager

Description

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond (VisArts) believes in celebrating and supporting the creative life of all people through art-making, exhibitions and community programs. They have been living out their vision – “Art for everybody! Creativity for life!” – for 60 years and have helped more than 40,000 individuals each year find and unlock their creative self. VisArts offers more than 1,000 visual and creative arts classes annually in clay, wood, fiber, painting, photography, printmaking, glass, metal, drawing, writing, decorative arts, and other visual media. They are currently looking for their next Development Manager to support their fundraising and community engagement efforts.

This position is a critical member of the development team working closely with the Director of Development to meet the goals of the department through individual and institutional fundraising, researching, and writing compelling proposals, executing external communication strategies, supporting special events, and managing data and knowledge management systems. This position will lead VisArts’ membership program, co-lead grant writing processes and play an important role in reaching annual fund goals and securing and stewarding special events sponsors.

Job Duties

Essential Functions:
1. Updates donor records and enters gifts in DonorPerfect, our donor management system.
2. Processes gift acknowledgements.
3. Co-leads grant writing for the organization, ensuring deadlines are met and applications and reports are completed accurately and in collaboration with other staff.
4. Manages VisArts’ membership program, ensuring the program meets budget goals and ensuring a consistent communication strategy is implemented.
5. Manages VisArts’ volunteer program, recruiting and organizing volunteers for special events.
6. Plays a lead role in stewarding potential sponsors and communicating with confirmed sponsors for special events and other fundraising projects.
7. Assists with individual fundraising, including preparing written communication and attending in-person presentations and meetings.
8. Manages selected print and electronic fundraising appeals, including the summer appeal and end-of-year appeal.
9. Works closely with the Special Events Manager to support Collectors’ Night and Craft + Design, attending committee meetings, communicating with stakeholders, and assisting with event preparation as needed.
10. Supports other smaller events throughout the year, including Chili Throwdown and exhibition openings and preview parties.
11. Maintains accurate and complete records in DonorPerfect. Runs reports as needed.
12. Contributes to the budgeting process annually and supports the team on tracking and meeting budget goals.
13. Special projects, as needed.

Competencies:
• Professionalism
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Job mastery and continuous improvement
• Leadership

Supervisory Responsibility: Interns and volunteers.

Work Environment: This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands: This is largely a sedentary role; however, some movement is required. The ability to walk, drive, lift boxes and stand for long periods of time is required.

Skills Required

Required Education and Experience:
1. 3-5 years’ work experience, including some fundraising experience.
2. Some background and/or interest in the arts.

Preferred Education and Experience:
1. Experience working for an arts organization.
2. Experience within a nonprofit work environment.
3. Experience soliciting individual gifts.

Work Schedule

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work:
This is a full-time position. Core days and hours of work are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The development manager is expected to attend multiple evening and weekend events per month, including gallery talks, exhibition openings, preview parties, art auctions and other arts-related events. Other evening and weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

Average Hours of Work per week:
It is expected that the position will work 40-45 hours per week.

Travel:
Occasional.

Additional Info

EEO / AA Statement

Visual Arts of Richmond provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Visual Arts of Richmond complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.