Development Manager, Grants and Major Gifts

About Washington Conservatory of Music

The Washington Conservatory of Music (WCM) is one of the fifteen nonprofit community music schools in the U.S. nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Precollegiate Arts Schools (ACCPAS). Located in historic Glen Echo Park, MD. WCM provides lessons and group classes to students of all ages, year-round, with outstanding performing artist faculty. Founded in 1984, WCM presents a free professional community concert series, a free monthly concert series at a retirement community, and provides free music classes to children of immigrant and low-income families in Washington, DC; Montgomery County, MD; and the broader region through our Tapestry Music Outreach Program. The organization hosts several ensembles including Washington Conservatory of Music Community Orchestra, Accord Symphony Orchestra and Capital Horns among others.

Position Summary: Washington Conservatory of Music is seeking a dynamic, creative fundraising professional to join a team of 2 full-time and 4 part-time staff, filling a newly created position of Development Manager. This position will play a critical role in the implementation of WCM’s fundraising strategy around unrestricted donations and grant funding. The Development Manager will focus their efforts on meeting annual fundraising goals by securing grants from Foundations. They will also build and manage a portfolio of individual major donors, support the Executive Director’s portfolio of major donors, and work on an anniversary campaign. The Manager plays a key role on a small Development team that is tasked with fundraising for a community music school. They will spend significant time on foundations/grant writing and designing major donors/campaigns.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

Major donor and campaign support–

• Support the build-out of 80-100 prospects for WCM’s major gifts program, helping to identify and engage strong prospects.
• Coordinate and facilitate leadership interactions for a small number of major donors.
• Prepare materials that highlight the mission impact for a portfolio of major donors.
• Maintain donor information to a high standard within the organization’s database. Including data pulling and maintaining your own data and prospect lists.
• Generate major gift donor prospects by conducting preliminary donor research.
• Identify opportunities for upgrades from existing donors.
• Liaise with Board members to track stewardship and cultivation of new funder leads.
• Support anniversary campaign administration, including meeting notes and tracking of action items.
• Utilize creative talents and resources to develop and improve existing workflows and protocols as part of the donor process.
• Provide support in the coordination of fundraising events and additional creative donor-centered programming, such as concerts, recitals and workshops.

Foundations and grant writing–

• Serve as relationship holder for a portfolio of foundations
• Lead writing of letters of inquiry and grant proposals that demonstrate a compelling need for financial support in the 5–7 figure range for targeted programs.
• Manage foundation funding prospects:
• Research potential foundation opportunities
• Maintain grants calendar to ensure timely submission of letters of inquiry, proposal deadlines, gift acknowledgments, reports, and other stewardship activities.
• Maintain up-to-date records of grant applications in the organization’s database
• Collaborate effectively with the program department from the proposal stage through to program implementation, reporting, and renewals. Including identifying areas of need, opportunities for program expansion, and gathering data and metrics necessary for written materials development.
• Serve as lead in working with our communications consultant and other relevant staff members to develop regular updates for donors about WCM’s impact and other components of donor collateral that include measures of success.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• 4-6 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, funder relationship management, grant writing, and/or a related field.
• Highly articulate with exceptional interpersonal, writing, and editing skills with an ability to motivate support for WCM’s programs.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the fundraising process: cultivation, stewardship, the ask, and reporting.
• Understanding of complex education and arts issues and the ability to showcase the impact of WCM programs on the issues and the people we serve.
• Proven track record of securing six-figure level grants and gifts.
• Problem-solving mindset with an understanding of how to work with multiple departments across an organization to advance a common goal.
• Requires local travel to meetings, attendance at concerts and fundraising events.
• Ability to be flexible, function smoothly under difficult situations and be a contributing member of the team.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to convey a high degree of commitment and passion for mission of WCM
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate information confidently and clearly both in writing, verbally and to a diverse range of audiences including board members, volunteers, staff, and donors, executives, potential funding partners and all constituencies
• High level of attention to detail
• Imaginative, creative, and responsive attitude with a positive outlook while reaching for success
• Ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality.
• Knowledge of grants management, research, proposal creation and reporting
• Ability to work independently and unsupervised.
• Ability to maintain accurate records and donor information

Compensation package: 

• Salary range $62,000 – $69,000 depending on qualifications and experience.
• Health benefit option: $3,000 in QSEHRA account (Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement)
• Vacations: Federal Holidays and a minimum of 5 weekdays days for winter  break, plus accrued vacation, sick and personal days according to staff  handbook.
• Employee-paid 401K plan matched to a limited set percentage by the Conservatory Board after 12 months of employment.

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