Major Gift Officer

Since the South Carolina State Museum opened its doors in 1988, we have welcomed over five million visitors and hosted generations of students from across the state. We have fostered community and innovation, inspired meaningful connections, and embraced challenges as they came. As steward of the state’s collections of over 1.1 million history, art, natural history, and technology objects, we are honored to hold the public’s trust. After decades of generous support and thoughtful leadership, we are now preparing to meet a new era – with renewed expectations from our visitors, staff, volunteers, fellow cultural institutions, and the broader community to be a place of welcome, accessibility, learning, innovation, and inspiration. To be successful in this work, we are “Reimagining the Experience,” continuing the work that began in 2014 with a major renovation project that added 75,000 square feet of public space, including a planetarium, observatory, 4D theater, and educational classrooms. We are now poised to become an even more impactful educational resource for teachers, students, and the public across our State. Our Reimagine the Experience project will redevelop and renew over 150,000 square feet of immersive exhibitions, hands-on education spaces and state-of-the-art collection storage and research facilities. When completed, this $75 million dollar project is projected to increase museum visitation by 35% over pre-Covid annual visitation. While increased visitation from the renovation project will help drive SCSM’s revenue potential, achieving sustainability requires continued support from the state, which includes a significant increase in staffing to fulfill the operational needs of the renovation. To this end, it is imperative that SCSM attract and retain top talent.

Summary
The Major Gifts Officer is a strategic and self-motivated fundraiser with a demonstrated ability to raise major capital campaign funds and work well with a board of directors and staff in a non-profit setting. Candidate will be responsible for cultivating and closing 6-, and 7- figure gifts in support of Reimagine the Experience capital campaign. Flexibility and adaptability, including a willingness to take positive action in a changing environment and to effectively analyze situations and problem solve. Demonstrated ability to work under deadlines and both work with a high degree of autonomy and participate effectively on a team. Excellent time management skills with strong attention to detail and follow-through. Excellent oral and written communication skills, including an ability to develop and make presentations to potential funders, boards of directors, and a variety of stakeholders.
 
Specific Responsibilities

• Under the direction of the Foundation Director and the Foundation Board of Directors, responsible for creating major gift goals, budgets, benchmarks, projections and milestones—contributing to an annual strategic development plan and capital campaign fundraising goals.
• Strategic planning and management of the public phase of a significant comprehensive capital campaign. 
• Cultivating and closing 6- and 7- figure gifts. 
• Utilizes best practices and standard development principles to directly identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual major donors and prospects.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships with existing stakeholders. 
• Identifying and engaging new stakeholders to grow the donor base. 
• Monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on fundraising metrics to inform annual and long-range planning. 
• Engage board, development committee, and other leadership volunteers in various aspects of major gift fundraising.
• Collaborate with the marketing team to develop creative and impactful content for proposals, reports, correspondence, and campaign appeals when necessary.
• Collaborate with Development team members to ensure timely and accurate completion of routine work such as gift acknowledgements, solicitation and cultivation mailings, event invitations, and database coding of gifts.
• Bringing innovation and creativity to the Museum’s fundraising efforts.

https://scmuseum.org/who-we-are/human-resources/job-openings#full-time-positions

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