Cool Culture - Director of Development

[Marhian Escuro]

ABOUT COOL CULTURE

Cool Culture helps under served families access and enjoy New York City’s cultural life in order to provide educational experiences for children and to strengthen families and communities.

Each year, Cool Culture partners with over 400 of the City’s Child Care, Head Start, Pre-Kindergarten and Title I Schools to give 50,000 underserved families free, unlimited admission to 90 participating museums, botanical gardens and zoos. We help early education programs to meet their goal of supporting families; cultural institutions to engage with diverse communities and build new audiences – and most importantly, we address the opportunity gap by enabling families to harness culture to prepare their children for success in school and in life. Last year, Cool Culture parents and children walked through the doors of our partner museums more than 185,000 times.

 

ABOUT THE ROLE: DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT                

We are a fast-growing organization, with a highly collaborative culture, seeking a Director of Development to work in partnership with our Executive Director, Board of Directors and the Cool Culture team to create and implement a fundraising plan to support organizational growth.

You will execute a plan to build Cool Culture’s individual donor base, and expand corporate partnerships; in addition to creatively engaging with the team to create opportunities to grow earned income and increase the visibility of Cool Culture’s programs, mission and vision. You will also manage foundation and government partnerships, including oversight of the grants process.

You will be supported by a Grants Manager and an Institutional Giving Manager, with additional support planned as we continue to grow.

 
HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS OPPORTUNITY AT COOL CULTURE...
Members of our team can work at a variety of organizations. They choose to work here because:

LEGACY – Your work at Cool Culture will directly impact the success of our mission.  Be a part of an organization committed to social justice, and help us build a movement of families, educators, museums, and artists working to make the world’s most renowned arts & culture accessible to underserved communities in NY.

MASTERY – Joining our dynamic and collaborative team will challenge and empower you to grow as a leader and development professional. You will have the support and resources, necessary to capitalize on your skills and ability to help us build our capacity and vision for the future. Over the next few years, you will help develop a fundraising methodology that is aligned with our mission and philosophy, allowing us to bring our vision and signature programs to the next stage of development, increasing our impact in the community

FREEDOM – We are committed to building a culture that enables team members at all levels of the organization to bring their creativity to bear.  We enjoy working together as a highly committed, reflective team, focused on developing and refining community-engaged strategies to get to target results.

 
WHAT WILL MAKE YOU SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE…

• You have 8-10 years of professional experience with nonprofit resource development; including: foundation, corporate, and individual fundraising.
  
• You have 4 - 5 years supervisory experience, including management of both entry level and management level professionals, and demonstrated knowledge inspiring and leading a team.
  
• You are both a doer and a strategic thinker. You see both the long-term vision, and understand the importance of diligent project management and execution to achieving long-term goals.
  
• You are energized by our vision and commitment to making cultural institutions accessible and available to all New York Families.
  
• You are excited to help grow our organization and impact by being the key member of the leadership team, and builder of the development department’s foundation.
  
• You have significant leadership experience and enjoy the opportunity to develop people on your team.
  
• You have a proven, quantifiable track record in donor cultivation and solicitation.
  
• You thrive when collaborating with an exceptional team, and also enjoy working independently to problem solve and develop creative solutions.
  
• You view your work as an opportunity to learn, grow, explore, and have fun! Curiosity and a sense of humor are a must.
  

                 

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE…

• Working with the Executive Director, Board of Directors and Cool Culture team to lead assessment of agency assets, identify fundraising needs; and to develop strategies to support long-term growth as outlined in the strategic plan.
  
• Executing fundraising strategy with the goal of raising our $2M budget. This will be accomplished by:
  
• Build upon existing structures to create an exemplary and effective fundraising infrastructure.
  
• Researching potential donors, corporate foundations, and government funding sources
  
• Harnessing Cool Culture’s unique, interdisciplinary programs to increase earned income opportunities
  
• Growing corporate support and individual funding base via customized cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of individual donors and by demonstrating ROI to corporate partners
  
• Working with the Development team and consultants to create special events aligned with Cool Culture’s emerging brand
  
• Partnering with the Communications Manager to build visibility via the organization’s social media, PR/marketing campaigns and artists’ partnerships
  
• Working with the Executive Director and leadership team to engage Cool Culture’s high energy team to strengthen the organization’s fundraising culture -- creating a culture of fundraising across departments.
  
• Overseeing management of corporate, foundation and government grant processes including working with Grants Manager, program team, and consultants to develop proposals, write grant reports, manage deadlines for submissions, and track full correspondence with donors.
  
• Managing outreach and cultivation of City and State Legislators to establish and maintain relationships with key agency officials.
  

 

If you are chosen as a potential candidate, you will first be interviewed by ReWork and then by the Cool Culture team. The final step in the hiring process will be to arrange personal reference calls to confirm details of your work history and performance.

We'll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis with priority given to early applicants. The application deadline is Monday, February 29th.

 

If you have any questions about the role, please feel free to email us at tal...@rework.jobs. We look forward to reading your application!