Associate Director of Individual & Planned Giving

About Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Recognized as an industry leader in artistic excellence, sustainable innovation, and community impact, Orchestra of St. Luke’s fulfills its mission through programming in three areas: Performance, Education, and The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. OSL performs 60-70 concerts annually with a subscription series in each of Carnegie’s three halls; a partnership with Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center; a composition institute; a summer residency at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts; a free youth orchestra; concerts in all five boroughs, and Free School Concert series that has reached over 1,000,000 NYC Public School students.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s is distinguished by artistic flexibility and financial stability with a budget of $9.7M.  Having recently completed a $25M capital campaign that tripled the endowment and allowed OSL to satisfy the mortgage on The DiMenna Center, the company is now in the position to grow a sustainable annual fund by investing in the Development Department, which includes creating this new role.  The Orchestra celebrates its 50th anniversary in the 2024-25 season.

Job Purpose

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s is seeking an Associate Director of Individual and Planned Giving. This is a new position that will support individual philanthropy as we embark upon an exciting growth initiative and a drive to elevate our individual giving programs. This position will help donors connect the musical experiences they appreciate with the impact of their philanthropy. This Associate Director will serve as a partner in philanthropy to our existing members and donors and will build new philanthropic pathways by marketing our membership program and planned giving society to new audiences.

Responsibilities:

MEMBERSHIP & INDIVIDUAL GIVING 60%

  • Develop and implement strategies for the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of membership donors (individuals giving $100-$9,999). Serve as the primary relationship manager for all membership donors. Identify members who are prospects to increase their giving to major gift levels and cultivate jointly with VP of Development.
  • Develop and implement a multi-year strategic plan for membership expansion and corresponding engagement opportunities for OSL members. Implement strategies that improve outcomes for member retention, membership segment revenue and movement of qualified donors into major gift portfolios.
  • Oversee direct-mail and email fundraising focused on renewal and upgrades, and partner with marketing to develop acquisition communications for OSL ticket buyers. Ensure our philanthropic messaging is translated and applied in our partnerships across internal teams.
  • Curate a vibrant member engagement and donor experience that is consistently focused on growing revenue and affinity for OSL. Design and coordinate stewardship touchpoints and processes that communicate our gratitude and demonstrate impact.
  • Supervise the Manager of Special Events & Membership, providing guidance, accountability, and mentorship in the execution of their duties.

MAJOR GIFT SUPPORT & COORDINATION 20%

  • Guide prospect management strategy, including prospect identification, prioritization, and portfolio maintenance. Collaborate with frontline fundraisers to support cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of prospects and donors to advance fundraising goals.
  • Develop and maintain the operational and administrative support of major gift fundraising. Implement a moves management system, create CRM systems for tracking activity, develop and maintain dashboards and activity reports, and run monthly prospect pipeline meetings.
  • Provide support in the development of major gift cultivation and solicitation collateral, briefings and meeting materials, and conduct prospect research as needed for major gift relationship managers (the President & Executive Director and Vice President for Development.)

PLANNED GIVING 20%

  • Refresh and relaunch the Lockwood Society, OSL’s legacy and planned giving program. Ensure consistent messaging and develop a brand for the program across channels. Apply best practice for collateral and communications to market the program.
  • Identify prospects for planned giving and develop campaigns and initiatives to grow the program across all donor segments.
  • Create documentation procedures for all estate and legacy gifts. Coordinate recognition and stewardship for Society members.

Qualifications:

  • Strong communication skills, written and verbal, with the ability to form clear, structured, articulate, and persuasive proposals, appeals, and stewardship materials.
  • Minimum of 4 years of experience on a development team with active programs around major gift fundraising, membership programs or annual fund, and planned giving.
  • Ability to generate reports and leverage data to drive strategy. Experience with CRMs (Raiser’s Edge preferred) and Excel.
  • A bachelor’s degree is desirable or the equivalent combination of experience sufficient to perform essential functions of the job successfully.

Competencies and Success Factors:

  • Team player, willing to pitch in where needed and build new initiatives from the ground up.
  • Entrepreneurial and creative approach to fundraising.
  • Enjoys interacting with donors, building authentic relationships with supporters, and making solicitations.
  • Eager to dig into data and use metrics to track progress.
  • Knowledge of the New York City philanthropic network is a plus.
  • Background and interest in being an advocate for classical music preferred.

Reports To:

Vice President of Development

Supervises:

Manager of Special Events & Membership

Working Conditions:

Regular business hours are 9:30am – 5:30pm, hybrid work schedule (on-site Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, with option to work remotely Monday and Friday), open office, some evenings and weekend events required, local travel to concerts and events.

Physical Requirements:

Basic office and conversational functions

Compensation and Benefits

Between $85,000 and $100,000 and commensurate with experience. Benefits package is very competitive, including medical, dental, 403(b), employer-paid retirement plan, and vacation, personal, company holiday (11), and sick days.

To apply

Please send cover letter and resume as PDF attachments by email to development@OSLmusic.org, subject line “Individual Giving_[Your Last Name].”