Director of Development

Bath's Holburne Museum is seeking an experienced and energetic Director of Development to work with the Chairman and Director to secure the financial sustainability of the Museum. The post-holder will have a proven track record in endowment, legacy and trust fundraising in the arts.

The Context

This an exciting opportunity to become a key, senior figure in an important cultural organisation at a moment of organisational change alongside a new Director and new Chair.

The Holburne Museum is Bath's oldest art museum, having been founded in the late 19th century. Since 1916, the Museum has resided in a magnificent Grade I Georgian building set in Sydney Gardens and positioned at the top of Great Pulteney Street, making it a key landmark in Bath, one of only two UNESCO World Heritage Cities. In 2011 it re-opened following a period of refurbishment with a new extension designed by the architect Eric Parry. The Museum is centred around the founding gift of Sir William Holburne's collection of Italian and Dutch paintings, world-class collections of silver and Maiolica along with other ceramics. There is also an extensive array of objets d'art including beadwork, miniatures, netsuke, cameos and other jewels. In the lifetime of the Museum, these have been complemented with an important collection of 18th and early 19th century British paintings, with a particular emphasis on the art of Georgian Bath, by such artists as Thomas Gainsborough and Johan Zoffany. Alongside the collection the Holburne has built a reputation for small, scholarly loan exhibitions of national, if not international, standard renowned for the rigour of their conception and presentation.

'The Holburne has established a distinctive voice in both regional and national arenas through a sparkling series of exhibitions.'
Sir Nicholas Serota

The Holburne's mission is encapsulated by the strapline "Changing Lives Through Art" and the new Director, Dr Chris Stephens, has reaffirmed the Museum's commitment to this idea. The long-term vision for the Museum is as a world-class centre for the presentation of art of all ages, set within the revived Sydney Pleasure Gardens, fully integrated with the cultural history and contemporary life of the city of Bath and its surroundings. To reach this goal we need to finish the refurbishment project by returning more of the historic building to public use and, first, by establishing a new robust and balanced business plan, and by building an endowment fund.

The Holburne is an independent charitable trust and receives neither central government nor local authority funding. As a University Museum, however, it does receive support from the University of Bath and from Bath Spa University, its principal cultural partner. Alongside self-generated income - from exhibition ticket sales (the Museum is currently free to enter), retail and catering - an effective fundraising function will be essential to a business plan that sets out to secure the Holburne's continued health, vitality and sustainability.

As well as securing a significant annual sum from public bodies, trusts and foundations, and individual and corporate supporters, the post-holder will lead a campaign which seeks to increase the Museum's endowment by GBP5 million by 2021.

The Role

Working closely with the Director, the Chair and the Board of Trustees, the Director of Development will:

• Develop and implement an effective fundraising strategy perfectly aligned with the Museum's values and goals.

• Revive, initiate and maintain relationships with key stakeholders with a view both to on-going revenue funding and longer-term major gifts and legacies.

• Identify funding opportunities in line with the Museum's strategic aims and specific planned and potential activity from statuary bodies, trusts and foundations and prepare effective applications.

• Research and develop sponsors from the corporate sector, locally and nationally, for both project-specific support and on-going Corporate Membership.

• Lead the management and expansion of the Museum's different membership groups (currently, Friends, Patrons, Contemporaries and Corporate Members).

• Develop and implement an effective Legacies Campaign.

• Contribute to the running of the organisation as a member of the Senior Management Team.

• Represent the Museum to funders and other bodies and individuals with, or in place of, the Director, as required.

• Work with colleagues to identify funding opportunities at the earliest stages of a project, ensuring effective communication internally and embedding a fundraising ethos in all activities of the Museum.

• Line-manage the Development Officer and Trust Fundraiser.

• Oversee the maintenance of the Museum's relationship management database (Donor Strategy) in line with GDPR regulations.

• Set up and manage an ongoing system of prospect research.

• Work with colleagues to ensure the effectiveness and consistency of all fundraising-related communications.

• With colleagues, ensure the safe, efficient and timely processing of all income, and its accurate recording, reporting and acknowledgement.

• Maintain connections with the professional fundraising community ensuring all activity falls within the law and best practice guidelines.

• Instil a culture of fundraising throughout the organisation.

The Person

The new Director of Development will:

• Have extensive practical experience at a senior level of fundraising from all principal areas of private sector support and knowledge of public sector funding.

• Be knowledgeable about technical aspects, including taxation, and familiar with fundraising techniques and approaches in comparable sectors.

• Be an experienced manager with a history of strategic planning and delivery.

• Have demonstrable experience of securing major gifts and of dealing with sophisticated, high-net individuals and their trusts and foundations.

• Have a good understanding of, and contacts within the corporate sector.

• Have a strong personal presence and credibility with an ability to engage in a variety of situations with a broad range of internal and external contacts.

• Will be resilient and energetic with an ability to enthuse and influence a variety of individuals and groups.

• Will be inventive and intellectually agile with a strong capacity for lateral thinking, an adaptable and entrepreneurial outlook, and sound analytical and decision-making skills.

• Be able to demonstrate high levels of literacy and the ability to communicate confidently, eloquently and effectively at a senior level in person and in writing.

• Will be highly numerate with good financial management skills and close attention to detail in all aspects.

• Will be an enthusiastic individual with strong negotiating and influencing skills, and a proven ability to work in isolation and collaboratively as part of a close-knit team.

• Have experience of the cultural sector with an understanding of and a strong commitment to art and the work of museums and galleries.

How to apply

Applicants should send their C.V. and a covering letter (including two referees) by email via the button below.

If you would like to send a hardcopy, please mark as confidential and send by post.

Applications should be submitted by 5pm on Tuesday 14 November.
First interviews will take place in Bath on Wednesday 29 November with the second round on Monday 4 December.