Development Specialist, Individual & Planned Giving

The Ministry of Awe is not exactly a museum. It is not exactly theater, technology, a gallery, a funhouse or a very unusual bank. It is an ever-evolving, six-floor immersive art experience created inside a historic Old City landmark and an invitation for visitors to reconsider what they value. 

Now that our doors are open, we are looking for a Development Specialist who can support the organization’s goals of expanding our individual giving and planned philanthropic gift opportunities.

This person will lead the strategy and implementation efforts required to fundraise for ongoing organizational needs as well as special projects, initiatives and events that can be sponsored by outside donors for the Ministry of Awe. You will collaborate with executive leadership and marketing to lead pitches and proposals about an experience that is often difficult to explain into a story people and companies cannot resist discovering for themselves and will want to contribute to. 

The Role 

Reporting to the Interim Managing Director and working with other members of leadership, we are looking for a contracting consultant who specializes in this type of donor cultivation work and other planned philanthropy. 

You will work closely with Meg Saligman, Founder and Visionary Director, whose imagination, artistic leadership and original vision are inseparable from MoA. Meg will continue to play an essential role in shaping the strategic direction, creative expression and storytelling of the brand.  

The right person will know how to translate that vision into clear, compelling proposals to pitch what makes MoA extraordinary while helping it reach a much larger audience to cultivate sustainable funding and long-term individual donors and small gifting campaigns.

What You’ll Be Responsible For 

Turn wonder into sponsorships and ongoing financial support. 

Develop and manage an integrated annual giving plan that builds a network of individuals, family foundations, and planned gifting opportunities to make annual donations or ongoing contributions for various initiatives, projects. 

Pitch an enticing opportunity donors want to support. 

Collaborate with Marketing to infuse MoA’s distinctive voice and visual identity across every public touchpoint into fundraising campaigns. Reconnect with previous individual donors and visitors to cultivate ongoing contributions from that network. Engage past visitors into annual or more frequent visitors and offer membership opportunities to build that network. 

Create proposals worthy of the experience. 

Lead an editorial and proposal strategy that captures the energy of MoA without explaining away its mystery. Oversee individual campaign development and funder meet-and-greets with the Founder and Visionary Director, as needed. Convert their MoA experiences into partnership and donation opportunities by maintaining ways for them to stay connected and become more invested.

Connect the inside to the outside. 

Work on-site with Marketing, Visitor Experience, Programming, Retail and Operations so that campaigns reflect what is actually happening in the building.

Capture the audience already at the door. 

Translate the audience we’ve gotten from the thousands of people we’ve hosted into ongoing contributions and recurring visits. 

Who You Are 

You have approximately 5-7 years experience in cultivating individual donors, ideally within arts and culture, entertainment, attractions, hospitality, tourism, live experiences or other similar audience-driven organizations. 

This is a contracted (1099) opportunity with a fee range of $15,000-17,000. Contracting rate is commensurate with experience. Hours per week and duration of contract will be determined based on contractor’s availability and scope of work, but would range from 8-12 hours per week.  

You likely bring:

5-7 years experience, non-profit development, individual and planned gift giving.

Donor Cultivation & Stewardship: Identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors across various giving tiers.

Moves Management: Create and track strategic pathways that move donors from lower-level annual gifts up to mid-level and major philanthropic commitments.

Campaign & Appeal Management: Plan and execute multi-channel annual fund campaigns, including direct mail, email appeals, year-end giving, and online/digital fundraising.

A Note About Fit 

The Ministry of Awe was not created through conventional thinking, and it will not be successfully supported through conventional thinking alone. 

We need someone who respects artists but is not intimidated by them. Someone who understands that “more creative” and “more effective” are not opposing instructions. Someone willing to get to know the experience so it makes for better pitches to prospective funders and partners.