Director of Institutional Giving

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is among the finest orchestras in the nation. Since its inception in 1959, the MSO has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee.

The MSO’s full-time professional musicians perform more than 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. A pioneer among American orchestras, the MSO has performed world and American premieres of works by John Adams, Roberto Sierra, Phillip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon, Marc Neikrug, and Matthias Pintscher, as well as garnered national recognition as the first American orchestra to offer live recordings on iTunes. Beginning in 1971, the orchestra’s nationally syndicated radio broadcast series, the longest consecutive-running series of any U.S. orchestra, is heard annually by more than two million listeners on 147 subscriber stations in 38 of the top 100 markets.

The MSO's standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 30,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, Family Series, Adult Lecture Series, and Meet the Music pre-concert talks. Celebrating its 30th year, the nationally-recognized ACE program integrates arts education across all subjects and disciplines, providing opportunities for students when budget cuts may eliminate arts programming. The program provides lesson plans and supporting materials, classroom visits from MSO musician ensembles and artists from local organizations, and an MSO concert tailored to each grade level. In the 2019-20 season, more than 5,700 students and 400 teachers and faculty at 16 Southeastern Wisconsin schools will participate in ACE.

https://www.mso.org/


Position Details

Director of Institutional Giving
Job
Full-time
Office/WFH
100% remote
11/29/2022
Southeast Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI

JOB PURPOSE AND REPORTING STRUCTURE:

Under the direction of the Vice President of Advancement, the Director of Institutional Giving serves as a key member of the senior advancement team, improving and executing strategies regarding corporate, foundation, and government funders in support of the MSO Annual Fund. The Director is to meet or exceed institutional giving goals by renewing, identifying, rating, cultivating, soliciting, and securing supporters. The position serves as the leading advocate in the business community, representing the MSO at key events and networking opportunities and supervises the Institutional Giving team.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Create and implement the overall strategic direction to identify and solicit sources of private and public institutional support
  • Broaden prospect pool through relationship management and directing research;
  • Increase the proposal pipeline and size of corporate gifts through critical analysis of research findings leading to the development of strategic cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship approaches
  • Ensure the timely completion of all corporate, foundation, and government grant proposals, applications, required reporting, and stewardship activities, including proper acknowledgement of supporters through deliverables as agreed upon in proposals and grant agreements
  • Manage all deadlines for submission and reporting within portfolio through Tessitura database with plan steps, status updates, contact information updates, prospect research, and reports
  • In collaboration with the Executive Director, VP of Advancement, and the UPAF task force, ensure that strategy and tactics for the annual UPAF campaign are accomplished with the assistance of the Institutional Giving Manager
  • Utilize the Board of Directors, Chairman’s Council, Advancement Committee, and other members of the Advancement Team and senior management in the work of institutional giving
  • Lead the fundraising efforts to secure corporate and foundation support for special projects including, but not limited to special campaigns, and the MSO Gala, MSO’s signature annual fundraising event
  • Lead the strategic oversight of corporate sponsorships and partnerships for additional fundraising events as identifies by senior management Attend events throughout the season encouraging the development of relationships with the MSO’s institutional donors; serve as an Advancement representative at MSO concerts as needed (i.e. Donor Lounge)
  • Meet aggressive institutional giving goals by actively developing new and existing relationships with key stakeholders at corporations, foundations, city officials, and agencies
  • Work in close collaboration with the Institutional Giving Manager and Grant Writer to ensure that grant and sponsorship proposals, corporate solicitations, and ongoing fundraising activities are executed in a timely manner
  • Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:

This position requires a minimum of 5-7 years of direct fundraising experience, preferably with a performing arts organization. Successful candidates will have a Bachelor’s degree; and a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management or Arts Administration is preferred. This person will have a proven track-record for securing and increasing corporate, foundation, and government support, as well as have experience successfully leading and managing a team.

BENEFITS:

The Director of Institutional Giving is entitled to all benefits available to full-time employees including paid time off, paid holidays, health, dental, life and long-term disability insurances and eligibility to participate in vision insurance, flexible spending account plans, and staff retirement savings plans. The above is representative of the position; there may be other activities or responsibilities required which are not listed. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice. This does not constitute a contract with any person in any position.

COMPENSATION: $65-68,000



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