Chief Development Officer – Levine Museum

Position Summary

The Chief Development Officer (CDO) is responsible for planning,
implementing, overseeing, and assessing the LMNS’s fundraising
plans in support of the organization’s strategic vision and growth.
The CDO will effectively represent the organization’s philanthropy
interests to all constituencies to establish and advance ambitious
goals in support of LMNS’s operations and endowment. Reporting to
the CEO and serving as a strategic thought partner and member of
the senior leadership team, the CDO will lead LMNS’s annual fund,
major gift, membership, planned, corporate, and foundation giving,
events, and government relations, including the development of a
capital campaign.

 

Collaborating with the CEO, Board of Directors, and leadership
team, the CDO will contribute to LMNS’ strategic planning process,
deliver innovative strategies, and lead by example in a
mission-driven work environment balancing the need and relevance of
programs with fiscal accountability and organizational impact in
keeping with LMNS’s values, mission, and vision.

 

Roles and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead, oversee, and integrate a fundraising plan, with goals,
  objectives, timelines, and assignment of responsibilities to
  achieve and support initiatives within the museum’s strategic
  plan.
• Serve as a strategic and innovative thought partner and member
  of the leadership team to secure necessary funding for exhibitions,
  programs, and experiences, that are vital to community engagement
  and the national and international reputation of the museum.
• Cultivate and maintain strong partnerships with the board,
  major donors, foundations, public agencies, and corporate funders
  to grow substantial contributed revenue opportunities.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a personal portfolio
  of current and new funding sources, and explore innovative
  opportunities for expanding individual, foundation, and corporate
  philanthropy.
• Guide, enhance, and increase the membership base, creating
  compelling programs and opportunities for members while developing
  a pipeline for community engagement and support.
• Increase working capital reserves and endowment to support
  long-term financial stability for the organization as part of the
  comprehensive campaign for a new facility.
• Maintain best practices and knowledge of significant trends in
  philanthropy and adapt fundraising strategies as necessary.
• Embrace other strategic leadership responsibilities as
  needed.

 

Board and Donor Engagement

• Identify and recruit new board members, educate members about
  their role in advancing a culture of philanthropy, cultivate and
  solicit their financial support, maximize their engagement with the
  museum, and leverage their respective networks to expand the donor
  base and support for the museum, in partnership with the CEO.
• Devise strategies with the Development Committee that allow the
  museum’s community to engage with the museum as donors, sponsors,
  partners, advisors, and community ambassadors.
• Ensure high-quality, individualized, and meaningful stewardship
  of donors, coordinating with colleagues throughout the museum and
  personally stewarding donors as needed.
• Speak skillfully and persuasively about the museum’s vision for
  the future with current and prospective board members and
  donors.
• Lead and mentor the development team, creating and promoting
  effective cultivation and solicitation opportunities that involve
  the director, board, and staff team members as needed.
• Advise board members individually and collectively, on best
  practices in community ambassadorship and donor cultivation.
• Embrace other board engagement and recruitment, and donor
  engagement responsibilities as needed.

 

Team and Organizational Oversight

• Recruit, diversify, coach, inspire, and motivate a strong
  fundraising team that represents LMNS’s communities.
• Ensure sound fiscal operation of the fundraising function,
  including timely, accurate, and comprehensive budgeting,
  monitoring, forecasting, and reporting of charitable contributions
  and department expenses in partnership with the Director of
  Finance.
• Maintain consistent messaging and outreach strategies with
  Marketing and Communications as they relate to all fundraising
  efforts.
• Create a supportive, collaborative, productive, and healthy
  work environment based on respect, teamwork, and the equity,
  diversity, and inclusion values of the LMNS.
• Set performance standards and provide timely, constructive
  feedback while supporting opportunities for professional
  development.
• Support team ingenuity and innovation with appropriate human
  resources, structures, systems, and technological platforms that
  align with current and future trends in fundraising.
• Enhance and ensure the strategic use of the database and other
  development communication tools, coordinating communications with
  existing and potential donors to ensure the highest level of donor
  engagement, satisfaction, expressions of appreciation, and active
  stewardship.
• Embrace other team and organizational oversight
  responsibilities as needed.

 

Traits and Characteristics

The CDO will be an experienced fundraising professional with a
demonstrated capacity to achieve contributed revenue goals, an
affinity for the LMNS’s mission, collection, and programs, and a
passion to positively impact the organization’s long-term success.
The successful candidate will be goal-oriented and highly
self-motivated, balancing both individual and team autonomy and
collaboration with finesse. The CDO will be highly accountable with
strong attention to detail and exceptional follow-through in
partnership with the CEO, board, and senior leadership team. An
effective communicator and authentic relationship builder, they
will show sensitivity and a strong commitment to diversity, equity,
and inclusion in all its forms.

 

Other key competencies include:

• Leadership and Diplomacy – The dexterity to
  anticipate, meet, and exceed a variety of stakeholder needs and
  expectations, inspiring others in effectively handling difficult or
  sensitive issues.
• Teamwork – The agility to cooperate with
  others to meet objectives; and to organize and motivate others
  while creating of sense of trust, order, direction, and active
  participation among the board, staff, and other stakeholders to
  achieve collective goals.
• Flexibility and Creativity – The capacity to
  respond quickly and adapt to change with minimal resistance,
  adapting to change and creating new approaches to achieve desired
  results.
• Stakeholder Focus – The sensitivity to
  anticipate, meet, and frequently exceed patron and stakeholder
  needs, wants, and expectations.
• Planning, Organizing and Project Management –
  The capability to build trust and cooperate with others to meet
  objectives, establishing courses of action to ensure that work is
  completed effectively.

 

Qualifications

A minimum of eight years of senior management experience that
includes developing new revenue sources, building and strengthening
relationships, and a track record of success in major gift
fundraising is required. Successful experience planning and
implementing annual operating, endowment, planned giving,
membership programs, external communications, and capital campaigns
is preferred. Demonstrated acumen and commitment to the
intersection of art history and social justice is essential.
Genuine enthusiasm for art and its transformative power,
exceptional written and interpersonal skills, and a high degree of
professionalism and integrity are needed. A record of recruiting
and developing exceptional people and fostering a transparent and
collaborative work environment is a key to success. Educational
credentials and demonstrated professional experience supporting
leadership intelligence, organizational growth, arts and culture
experiences, and community engagement, are highly desired.

 

Compensation and Benefits

Levine Museum of the New South offers a competitive and
equitable compensation package, with an anticipated annual salary
range between $100,000 to $120,000. Employee benefits include paid
vacation, sick leave, personal days, and holidays; health,
long-term disability, and life insurance; and a voluntary 401(k)
retirement plan.

 

Applications and Inquiries

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

 

Renée Danger-James, Vice President

1040 First Avenue, Suite 352

New York, New York 10022-2991

Tel       (888) 234.4236 Ext.
212

Email    LevineMuseum@ArtsConsulting.com

 

Levine Museum of the New South is committed to sharing
the stories of historically underrepresented people and cultures
and acknowledging and addressing systemic inequities and
wrongdoings both internally and externally.

 

Levine Museum is in a unique position to expose
injustices in our community, past and present, and to raise
awareness of DEAI issues. We value differences and work to remove
and reduce emotional, cognitive, physical, and financial barriers
to Levine Museum’s offerings.

 

We will commit to fearlessly facing and addressing
historical inequities, and we will continue to foster conversation,
inspire empathy, and celebrate communities in everything we
do.

 

 

Organization

The Levine Museum
of the New South (LMNS) connects the past to the future to
realize the promises of a new south. Created with, for, and about
Charlotte’s diverse communities long before that approach was
commonplace. LMNS was founded in 1991 as a “museum without walls”
mounting exhibitions in public places, engaging the community
through outreach programs, and developing a committed local
audience. LMNS opened its first permanent home in 1996, gaining
recognition as an innovative leader in the national museum
community with award-winning work such as Cotton Fields to
Skyscrapers, Courage, and NUEVOlution: Latinos in the New
South. LMNS’ groundbreaking work explored often difficult
subjects like school segregation, undocumented immigrant youth, and
the 2016 police-involved shooting and death of Keith Lamont Scott,
providing a hub and meeting ground to share ideas and have
meaningful conversations.

 

Moving from its aging, beloved facility in 2022, LMNS embraced
the opportunity to connect with its community in innovative ways
and diverse places, from libraries and churches to breweries,
universities, and its temporary home in Uptown Charlotte. These
efforts broadened LMNS’ reach by nearly 43% serving 70,000 through
on-site visits, community programs, and online initiatives.
Nominated once again for the National Medal from the Institute of
Museum and Library Sciences, since its first in 2005, LMNS
continues to explore new and more dynamic ways to engage
communities by bringing programming, digitally ambitious
exhibitions, and immersive experiences.

 

Public programs in 2022, informed by a community advisory
committee, included the provocative What Is It Going To
Take? series, focusing on contemporary and deeply rooted
social topics such as homelessness and immigration; Author
Talks which provided opportunities to engage with and learn
about influential authors while discovering contemporary books on
historical topics; and Exhibitions in its uptown location
and community-based venues including the recent Men of
Change, Climates of Inequality, and Grier
Heights: Community is Family. Expanding its catalog of digital
experiences, LMNS’ 2022 season included 50 Places in
Charlotte, NC History Case Studies, Youth Voices with
young people creating history-based content for peers on topics
that matter to them, and LMNS’ KnowCLT, an augmented
reality tour of Brooklyn, a once-thriving African American
community demolished and displaced by racist policies to enable the
city’s ambitious plans for growth.

 

School and youth programming, developed with an Educator
Advisory group, offers inquiry-based curricular resources,
standards-aligned teacher professional development opportunities,
and field trips in the city. Community engagement also featured six
festival-style Family Days across the city, and traveling
exhibitions like Grier Heights: Community is Family, an
oral history project in collaboration with Grier Heights Community
Center and Grier Heights residents highlighting 140+ years of
community history.

 

Entering its third decade, LMNS welcomed President and CEO Dr.
Richard Cooper, EdD who is leading the museum forward in innovative
programming and storytelling that will foster community engagement
and inclusive dialogue, expanding its regional and national reach
both in-person and virtual experiences, and identifying a new
permanent home for the museum.

LMNS is governed by a 24-member Board of Directors led by Chair
Ty Niess and President and CEO Dr. Richard Cooper, EdD leads a
staff of 21. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, LMNS reports
a total revenue of $2.39 million with $2.3 million in contributions
and grants and $68,000 in earned revenue. Total expenses were $3
million with total assets of $18.7 million.

 

Community

Present-day Charlotte sits on the ancestral lands of the
Catawba, Cheraw, Sugeree, Wateree, and Waxhaw Peoples. European
colonists chartered the city in 1768 and named it to honor Queen
Charlotte, wife of British King George III, and is affectionately
known as “The Queen City.” A center of commerce and industry,
Charlotte is the most populous city in the State of North Carolina
with a population exceeding 897,700 and is the center city of a
bi-state metropolitan area of more than 2.5 million people.
According to the 2020 United States Census, Charlotte’s diverse and
vibrant population is 46.7% Caucasian, 35.5% African American, and
14.6% Latinx.  

 

Charlotte is home to the second largest research triangle in the
Southeast with Research Triangle Park encompassing 7,000 acres and
300+ pharmaceutical, agriculture technology, medical device,
networking equipment, and biotechnology companies. Charlotte
Douglas International Airport is ranked 5th worldwide for air
traffic and 6th for passenger traffic, with an annual passenger
total of more than 48 million people. The central business district
is known as “Uptown.” Residential and commercial development abound
most notably in the broad South End, just south of Uptown, and in
Camp North End. The city has 199 distinct neighborhoods that host
multiple cultural and creative events throughout the year as well
as a wide range of shops, restaurants, and nightlife. Professional
sports in Charlotte include the NFL Carolina Panthers, the NBA
Charlotte Hornets, the MLS Charlotte FC, MiLB Charlotte Knights,
the AHL Charlotte Checkers, and NASCAR racing at the Charlotte
Motor Speedway. 

 

With nine Fortune 500 and 17 Fortune 1000 companies
headquartered in its metropolitan area, Charlotte boasts the
second-largest banking center in the United States. It is home to a
wide range of businesses and major financial institutions,
including Bank of America, Truist, and the East Coast operations of
Wells Fargo. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is the
city’s largest public university. The city’s central location is
surrounded by many colleges and universities including Queens
University of Charlotte, historically black college Johnson C.
Smith University, Davidson College, and Johnson and Wales
University. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system is the second
largest in the state; its Performing Arts department is home to
approximately 350 professional, certified music and theater arts
teachers and ranks nationally in the top five arts education
programs.  

 

Charlotte offers local foods through all seasons with local
farmers markets, wine trails, breweries, food halls, and James
Beard-nominated restaurants. A substantial cultural and economic
hub, the area is home to numerous museums, parks, state-of-the-art
performing arts centers, and renowned performing arts
organizations, including Blumenthal Performing Arts Center,
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Ballet, and Opera Carolina.
Charlotte also hosts annual festivals including the Juneteenth
Festival of the Carolinas, Taste of Charlotte, the Charlotte Fair,
the BBQ & Blues Festival, the Carolina Renaissance Festival,
the Matthews Alive Festival, and the South Carolina Strawberry
Festival. In 2021, the city increased its annual investment in the
arts to $6 million for three years, the Foundation for the
Carolinas led a matching fundraising campaign, and the Infusion
Fund raised $23 million from generous private sector donors.
 

 

Sources: charlottenc.gov; census.gov; charlotteiscreative.com;
charlottesgotalot.com; nces.ed.gov; charlotteoberserver.com