Chief of Advancement

Vermont Studio Center (VSC) seeks a visionary and strategic leader to join our senior leadership team as the Chief of Advancement. This role encompasses oversight and strategic direction for all

development, communications, alumni relations, and admissions activities. The Chief of Advancement will spearhead efforts to diversify funding resources and enhance institutional engagement, ensuring alignment with VSC’s mission and strategic objectives.

The Vermont Studio Center, an international creative community for artists and writers, exists to support intensive, disciplined studio work. VSC provides an optimal creative atmosphere for two-week to three-month residencies.

This position is located at our Johnson, Vermont campus with frequent (up to 50% of time) travel as needed.

To Apply: Please submit your resume, cover letter, and references to Melanie Clark at jobs@vermontstudiocenter.org

Status: Full-time, salaried

Salary: $115,000 Annually

Reports To: Executive Director

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Fund Development:

• Goal Setting and Planning: Develop and implement short and long-term goals for diversifying funding resources in collaboration with the Executive Director, Board of Directors, and the senior leadership team.
• Fundraising Leadership: Direct initiatives to raise $3-4.5 million annually for general operating with an ambitious growth target to $6 million within three years. This includes overseeing corporate, individual, foundation, and government funding.
• Development Strategies: Manage solicitation efforts, including annual appeals, grant opportunities, donor targeting, event planning, and major/planned/endowed giving to increase sustainable unrestricted revenue.
• Major Gifts: Responsible for building and executing VSC’s Major Gifts program. This includes developing new strategies to identify and cultivate prospects in collaboration with the Executive Director and the development department as well as managing and cultivating relationships with existing Major Gift donors and prospects.
• Grant Management: Oversee, in collaboration with the Grant Manager, the proposal development and grant tracking process. Ensuring compliance and reporting requirements are timely along with tracking progress using relevant systems.
• Donor Relations: Lead strategies for cultivating and retaining individual donors of all levels, from annual to major donors, ensuring a robust donor pipeline.
• Reporting and Analytics: Prepare monthly progress reports for the Executive Director and Board, maintaining up-to-date knowledge of sector practices and trends.

2. Board and Senior Leadership Collaboration:

• Board Engagement: Collaborate with the Board of Directors and Development Committee to create and execute development strategies. Facilitate board meetings, provide development activity reports, and offer training on donor cultivation.
• Ambassadorship: Act as a spokesperson for VSC, articulating the mission to external constituents and ensuring board members are engaged and energized.
• Leadership: Partner with the Executive Director, Board Chair, and Development Committee Chair on solicitation efforts and personally conduct major gift solicitations when appropriate.

3. Operational Excellence:

• Infrastructure: Collaborate with the Chief of Stability to ensure effective management of finances and human resources to ensure that organizational goals are being met. Provide guidance on IT and data management to support advancement needs.
• Event Planning: Supervise special events and evaluate return on investment.
• Communication: Ensure consistent messaging and branding across all constituent communications. Manage development, communications, alumni relations, and admissions. Oversee the development of annual external communications calendar to ensure continuous engagement while raising the visibility of the organization.
• Admissions: Oversee the admissions function to ensure resident session goals are met annually. Collaborate with departments to meet resident composition goals. Oversee a robust reporting system, creating a consistent data flow that supports information needed for funding avenues, board reporting, and other requests. Responsible for an efficient admission workflow process and timely reporting.

4. Leadership, Team, and Department Development:

• Team Supervision: Provide visionary leadership to the Advancement Team and its respective departments, fostering professional growth and alignment with VSC’s core values and mission.
• Organizational Strategy: Contribute to strategic planning and decision-making processes, ensuring effective implementation and measurement of organizational goals.

Qualifications:

• Proven experience in a senior advancement role with a track record of successful fundraising and donor relations.
• Strong leadership and management skills with experience in supervising and motivating teams.
• Success in the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of high-net-worth donors and implementation of donor engagement strategies.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities with a keen understanding of development and marketing best practices.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to engage and inspire a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Experience with grant writing, alumni relations, brand and event marketing, and management and familiarity with relevant systems and databases.