Vice President, Philanthropy

POSITION TITLE

REPORTS TO

Chief Executive Officer

DEPARTMENT

Philanthropy

SUPERVISES

5 to 7 team members

UPDATED

April 2023

SALARY

$150,000.24 annually

Why MoPOP

We’re really glad you’re thinking about joining the team at MoPOP! We believe pop culture is a universal language capable of building connections across a range of people, no matter our differences in race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, education, socio-economic status, ethnicity, country of origin, or any other characteristic that makes us who we are. For more than twenty years, we have been showcasing how music, film, fashion, video games, sports, and more spark those connections and create a lasting cultural impact.

MoPOP provides both a physical space and an emotional and intellectual opportunity for people from any background to explore, find and build community, and recognize their own creative potential. This applies not only to our guests, but also to our staff — be it in designing an educational program to engage the next generation of creators, trying to reach a new audience with a marketing initiative, preserving an artifact in our collection, or providing excellent customer service to a visitor. If this sounds like something you’d be into, we’d love to hear from you!

MoPOP’s Mission and Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility 

Our mission is to make creative expression a life-changing force by offering experiences that inspire and connect our communities. A nonprofit grounded in five core values — open arms, creative exchanges, light bulb moments, pursuing excellence, and excitement — MoPOP is actively committed to ongoing learning in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). In partnership with our community, we hope to also develop safe spaces for their application. This includes taking steps to continue increasing our awareness of institutional “-isms,” as well as uncovering and undoing the ways they show up in museum culture. We recognize this is a process that requires intentionality, energy, and resources, and we are developing a DEIA framework that can cultivate a work environment and museum experience that is truly welcoming for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We believe that having staff, interns, and volunteers with diverse backgrounds enables us to better meet our mission and encourage BIPOC, women, and LGBTQIA+ individuals to apply. We acknowledge that our work to build safe spaces and better systems for traditionally marginalized groups is ongoing and will require constant vigilance and expect all MoPOP employees to be part of our DEIA journey.

Position Summary

MoPOP is seeking an experienced fundraiser to join the Museum at a critical and exciting time in the institution's fundraising journey. The VP, Philanthropy will steward the organization and its funders towards community-centric fundraising principles while maintaining and driving a portfolio of major donors. The VP will create an ambitious growth strategy to lead MoPOP towards increasing its gross contributed revenue. They will further develop and implement a strategic multi‐year fundraising plan that will create innovative, diverse, and sustainable avenues of increased contributed revenue for this growing department. In deep partnership with CEO, Michele Y. Smith, and MoPOP’s Board of Directors, the VP, Philanthropy will identify and drive initiatives related to the museum’s portfolio of fundraising activities by managing and developing a team of fundraising professionals while serving as a member of the senior leadership team.

Essential Job Duties (other duties as assigned)

Deepen the organization’s culture of philanthropy and build meaningful relationships between MoPOP and its community of supporters to advance the organization’s position with constituents to drive broader awareness and donor support.
Develop the organization’s overall fundraising strategy that leverages MoPOP leadership, Board of Directors, connections to elevate contributions and support from individuals, corporations, foundations, government funding, events, and board members.
Understand and share the story of MoPOP’s history and its future trajectory as an organization dedicated to making creative expression a life‐changing force by offering experiences that inspire and connect our communities.
Lead Philanthropy team in developing community-centric fundraising strategies that innovate from fundraising foundations. This should include exploring non-traditional donor prospects and audiences to combat the hidden biases that can often be at play when it comes to fundraising efforts.
Collaborate with the Marketing team to develop and implement the fundraising and moves management strategy within MoPOP’s constituent lifecycle.
Leverage data to build a robust donor pipeline and special multi-year strategic fundraising priorities by utilizing A/B testing, a consistent iterative process, and audience testing and engagement in collaboration with MoPOP’s Marketing and Sales team.
Own and drive the creation of donor personas, segmentations, and CRM optimization to direct fundraising and stewardships strategies.
Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major gifts/givers $25,000+, including all aspects of moves management and database tracking by developing appropriate cultivation strategies, moving potential donors toward solicitation and closure, making solicitations, and maintaining stewardship contacts with donors.
Partner with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team (ELT) on high level cultivations.
Lead and manage the Philanthropy team with functions in memberships, annual giving, events and galas, major gifts, planned giving, donor prospecting and research, and special multi‐year fundraising campaigns, including providing mentorship, coaching, and skills development to a layered team.
Commit to be a collaborative senior leadership team member supporting organizational change as it relates to fundraising and other initiatives, leading other senior leaders with their own portfolio.
Steward responsive and transformational workplace relationships. Demonstrate the highest levels of ethics and customer service internally and externally with all collaborators and supporters.
Establish credibility throughout the organization as an effective listener and problem-solver for diverse people.
Support our internal culture which inspires and empowers our staff to live our mission to its highest standards.
Contribute to a consistent customer service standard across all departments.
Commitment to participating in anti-racism work, learning about the ways institutional racism impacts the workplace, and supporting teammates in operationalizing DEIA strategies in the department and throughout the organization to center and support community-centric fundraising activities.

Desired Qualifications

A minimum of 12 years of progressively responsible senior management experience in fundraising, with demonstrated ability cultivate, steward, and successfully make 6-figure asks.
At least 5 years of experience as a people manager of a layered team.

Commitment to anti-racism work and learning about race and class dynamics in non-profit fundraising.
Preferred knowledge of Seattle, the West Coast, national and international philanthropic communities that support the arts, cultural organizations, popular music, or the study of popular culture.
A collaborative and relationship-oriented leadership style with the ability to mobilize and empower team members, while implementing innovative strategic plans with and providing tactical support for a diverse team.
Demonstrated ability to evaluate effectiveness and measure performance of fundraising strategies, policies, and plans.
Ability to creatively and strategically share MoPOP's mission, core values, and programming to garner support. Appreciation for and understanding MoPOP's role in the greater arts and culture community in Seattle.
Experience working effectively with boards and committee members to increase capacity for fundraising and communication of the organization’s mission.
Ability to navigate diverse communication styles and engage diverse audiences.
Experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Comfort with public speaking and serving as a representative of MoPOP at events through our community - internal to the organization, across Seattle and beyond.
Experience with moves management theory and practice of donor-centered relationship building.
Demonstrated success utilizing data, technology, and electronic communication in fundraising. Experience with Tessitura or other donor database software and web applications, OR willingness to learn relevant software.
Ability to work effectively with staff and promote a positive working environment, spirit of collaboration, and positive reactions to change and conflict resolution.

Benefits

This regular full-time position includes Medical/Vision insurance, Dental insurance, Life/AD&D/LTD insurance, 4.62 hours of accrued Vacation per bi-weekly pay period, Seattle Sick/Safe, 2-7 Floating Holidays dependent on hire date, 8 Company Holidays paid throughout the year, EAP, 401k plan with vested match schedule once eligible, and subsidized transportation benefits for Orca Pass or parking.

Please email jobs@MoPOP.org if you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or hiring process.

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