Deputy Director, Philanthropy and External Relations- The Newark Museum of Art

Organization

The Newark Museum of Art (NMOA), a cultural anchor institution in Newark for more than a century, welcomes diverse experiences that spark curiosity and foster community. One of the most influential museums in the United States, NMOA’s renowned art collections educate, inspire, and transform individuals of all ages. Founder John Cotton Dana stated, “a good museum attracts, entertains, arouses curiosity, leads to questioning and thus promotes learning.” The largest visual art and art education institution in New Jersey, NMOA’s distinguished 130,000 artworks and some 170,000 science and natural history specimens are international in scope and ranked 12th in size nationally. It comprises significant holdings of science, technology, and natural history: an Asian Art collection with the most important assemblage of Tibetan art in the West; one of the nation’s earliest and most comprehensive collections of African Art; 18th- to 21st-century American painting and sculpture; Decorative Arts; and an Ancient Mediterranean collection featuring unparalleled works of ancient glass.

NMOA is dedicated to artistic excellence, education, and community engagement with an overarching commitment to broadening and diversifying participation in the arts. The Museum hosts ambitious exhibitions and education programs which recently included Saya Woolfak: Field Notes from the Empathic Universe (2022); Carlos Villa; Worlds in Collision (2022); and Wolfgang Gil, Sonic Geometries (2021). The Museum frequently collaborates with the vibrant community of contemporary artists living and working in the Newark region. NMOA also responds to the evolving needs and interests of the diverse audiences it serves by providing virtual, in-person and off-site programs, a research library, partnerships, and resources reflective of contemporary life. In 2022, the Earth Sciences galleries was renovated to present several immersive and participatory experiences focused on the animal kingdom and endangered species. Popular signature programs include Summer Camps, Community Days, Art After Dark, the Summer Series, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration, and the Newark Black Film Festival—the longest-running Black film festival in the United States. Long considered the birthplace of museum-based education, NMOA offers a wealth of on-site and off-site school programs for New Jersey students from Pre-K through 12th grade, as well as professional development training sessions for teachers.

The Museum is currently executing a three-year strategic plan focused on infrastructure, innovation, enhancing the visitor experience, embedding equity in all aspects of its work, and engaging as a social anchor in the community. Museum Parc, a, $85 million mixed-use project designed to create a campus around NMOA, will expand the existing garden and add a new modern gallery space that can provide additional installation space and community engagement opportunities.

NMOA Board Co-Chairs Allen J. Karp and Eric Fitzgerald Reed lead the 24-member Board of Trustees, and Linda Harrison serves as Director and Chief Executive Officer. The annual operating budget for FY21 was $16.2 million. In 2021, 50% of the budgeted operating revenue was from government sources, 23% from contributions, 9% from earned sources and 19% from endowment. The staff of more than one hundred employees includes a Philanthropy and External Relations team with 17 budgeted staff members whose responsibilities include fundraising, membership, marketing and communications, visitor experience, special events, and third-party rentals.

Community

Founded in 1666, Newark, New Jersey enjoys a rich cultural legacy fueled by waves of immigration. As the financial, commercial, and transportation nucleus of the Garden State, as well as its largest city, Newark is a cosmopolitan community boasting a wide selection of exceptional dining, shopping, entertainment, and sports venues. Noted by former Newark Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson, “Wherever the central cities of America are going, Newark is going to get there first.” Newark is a thriving cultural hub filled with events and attractions for visitors from near and far. The state’s premier center for the performing and visual arts, Newark offers a rich variety of theater, dance, and music, as well as an array of museums and galleries that highlight art and history. According to Arts and Economic Prosperity 5, a study conducted by Americans for the Arts, the nonprofit arts and culture sector is a $178 million industry in the City of Newark. The SMU National Center for Arts Research ranked Newark as the seventh most arts-vibrant community in the nation out of the 40 communities surveyed across the country in 2020—reflecting the Newark community’s prominence in presenting the arts and culture, its history as a major hub of the Black Arts Movement, and its ongoing proficiency as a cultivator of artists.

Newark is ideally located with easy access to Manhattan and Philadelphia. The city is home to almost 300,000 residents and is at the crossroads of New Jersey’s Gateway Region of four million residents. It has long been an important center of higher education, with more than 50,000 students, faculty, and staff filling the six colleges and universities located in its downtown business district. This historic city is experiencing rapid growth. A multitude of new restaurants and services have opened to support the thousands of residential units recently completed, under construction, or being planned. Numerous corporations have moved significant operations to Newark, including the United States headquarters for Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Panasonic, Audible, and Broadridge Financial Solutions. Other corporations have been major anchor institutions for more than 50 years, such as Prudential Financial, Public Service Enterprise Group, and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Newark also offers plentiful access to many regional attractions including 61 state parks and forests, 130 miles of beaches, and four professional sports teams.

Sources: 2021 Newark Museum of Art annual report, bcdcnewark.org; ci.newark.nj.us; newarkarts.org

Position Summary

The Deputy Director, Philanthropy and External Relations (DDPER) will lead overall contributed and earned income strategies for NMOA that maximize philanthropic and earned revenues, leverage institutional marketing and communication opportunities, and ensure a welcoming and engaging visitor experience. Reporting to and partnering with the Director and CEO as a member of the senior leadership team, the DDPER will be deeply involved in the engagement, identification, cultivation, and solicitation of major and transformational donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations including sponsorship and gala activities. The DDPER will conceptualize and implement a plan to grow NMOA’s revenue while leading and motivating a diverse team of professionals to devise successful capital, annual fundraising, marketing, communications, and visitor engagement programs.

A highly skilled and effective manager and fundraiser who has a proven track-record securing six to eight-figure gifts, this individual will be responsible for growing and managing a top-tier fundraising and external relations operations and building relationships with the community. The candidate will be responsible for leading initiatives to secure funding for capital and annual campaigns, including earned revenue, while managing the activities of Membership, Special Events, Visitor Experience, and Marketing and Communications teams. This position will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies to support NMOA’s annual budget.

Role and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Revenue Enhancement

• Create, implement, and manage strategic fundraising and communications plans designed to significantly increase revenues and public visibility.

• Understand and clearly articulate NMOA’s mission, history, programs, values, and policies to key stakeholders.

• Mobilize the Board of Trustees, Director and CEO, corporate partners, and community leaders to drive fundraising activity and personal engagement with top prospects, sponsorships, and special events.

• Cultivate and enhance authentic relationships in the local, national, and international communities that NMOA serves.

• Initiate contact with past major donors and legacy families to apprise them of important strategic issues at the museum and in the community to encourage them to continue their support of NMOA.
• Provide expertise, leadership, and direction in all aspects of fundraising to the Board, Philanthropy, Marketing and Communications, Membership, Special Events, and Visitor Experience teams.

• Remain current on and adapt to the cultural, economic, political, and social developments that affect revenue goals and external messaging.

• Maintain a personal portfolio of major and principal gift donors, cultivating and soliciting major gifts and developing productive corporate and foundation relationships.

• Embrace other strategic leadership and revenue enhancement responsibilities as needed.

Brand and Community Engagement

• Oversee a comprehensive, integrated, and strategic brand engagement story and plan that welcomes a wide range of audience, donors, students, partners, employees, influencers, and other stakeholders and shares the museum’s values regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Create and implement audience development plans based in quantitative and qualitative research on attending and non-attending audiences, evolving market trends, and contemporary outreach strategies.

• Collaborate with Curatorial, Collections, Exhibitions, and Learning and Engagement teams to develop thoughtful and illuminative programs that are vital to community participation and the national and international reputation of the Museum.

• Fully utilize the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to ensure that fundraising, membership, and marketing efforts are aligned and optimized.

• Embrace other brand and community engagement responsibilities as needed.

Operations and Team Leadership

• Recruit, lead, guide, and mentor the Philanthropy and External Relations team’s successful achievement of revenue and visitor experience goals with an emphasis on identifying, cultivating, and securing renewed, increased, and new sources of attendance and support.

• Ensure that NMOA’s internal culture, technological systems, and procedures support the Philanthropy and External Relations team as the foundation of a vibrant organization.

• Oversee and monitor revenue and expense budgets, provide accurate reporting, analysis an integration of data, and work with the team to ensure the maintenance and integrity of reporting and records.

• Create a supportive collaborative, productive, and healthy work environment based on respect, teamwork, and clear expectations and responsibilities.

• Embrace other team mentorship, administration, and oversight responsibilities, as needed.

Traits and Characteristics

Proactive, dynamic, and people-oriented, the DDPER will be an experienced leader with the vision to actively pursue NMOA’s ambitious goals with creativity and determination. The DDPER will have a high degree of personal accountability and resourcefully begin and direct new activities. This individual will balance tasks and projects with a sense of urgency and possess superlative interpersonal and communication skills that result in compelling verbal and written messages for NMOA. A self-sufficient and self-managed professional with a highly organized approach, the DDPER will be able to achieve organizational objectives with staff, board members, volunteers, donors, the media, and external stakeholders. This individual will bring an affinity for NMOA’s mission and a passion to positively impact the organization’s long-term success, complemented by highly developed skills and an efficient best practices approach. They will also model behavior that creates trust, builds confidence, and encourages others to follow suggested paths or approaches to advance the Museum.

Other key competencies of this role include:

• Equity Focus and Team Player – The sensitivity to use an equity-conscious lens, language, and tools to drive the work internally and externally and work closely with colleagues for the benefit of the whole organization.

• Results Driven Personal Accountability – The ability to take responsibility and be answerable for personal actions related to clearly defined goals.

• Resiliency, Adaptability, and Flexibility – The dexterity to quickly recover from adversity approach new ideas, changes in work, and challenges with a sense of possibility, while overcoming setbacks and remaining optimistic, regardless of circumstances.

• Time and Priority Management – The acuity to develop initiatives and demonstrate self-control in managing time and priorities while identifying and overseeing resources, tasks, systems, and people to obtain results.

• Customer Focus – The sensitivity to anticipate, meet and/or exceeding customer needs, wants and expectations.

Qualifications

An educational and professional background with eight or more years of progressive leadership experience in an art, cultural or education institution is preferred. A successful track record leading an integrated multimillion dollar revenue program and knowledge of all areas of fundraising including major gifts, annual giving, membership, corporate and foundation giving, planned giving, campaigns, special events, non-traditional fundraising sources, and marketing and communications. Experience raising funds throughout a large geographic region and/or specific knowledge of Newark and New Jersey is a plus. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are necessary, as are strong computer skills and knowledge of advanced donor research and customer relationship management systems.

Compensation and Benefits

NMOA provides a competitive compensation with an estimated salary range between $195,000 and $225,000 commensurate with experience, coupled with a robust benefit package including health and dental care, generous paid vacation, and an employee contributed pension and 401K.

Applications and Inquiries

To submit a cover letter and resume with a summary of demonstrable accomplishments (electronic submissions preferred), please click here or visit artsconsulting.com/employment. For questions or general inquiries about this job opportunity, please contact:

Nan Keeton, Senior Vice President

503 East Jackson Street, Suite 337

Tampa, FL 33602-4904

Tel       (888) 234.4236 Ext. 203

Email    NMOA@ArtsConsulting.com

The Newark Museum of Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition, we aspire to make the Museum and our environment - staff, audiences, artists, programs, and exhibitions - reflective of the diversity of the city of Newark and to capture the spirit of access, inclusion, and equity in all we do. We strongly encourage and welcome applicants from our BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ communities as they must be centered in the work we do.