Development Manager, Institutional Giving

The Opportunity:

Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) firmly believes in the power of high-quality classical music experiences to change lives. At BYSO, students receive a transformative music education through our nationally-renowned orchestras and outreach programs—an education that is rooted in excellence and develops lifelong skills such as self-confidence, teamwork and leadership. To support these efforts, BYSO is seeking a motivated, experienced fundraiser to manage and grow the organization’s robust institutional giving portfolio of foundations, corporations and government entities.

This position requires a unique combination of high-level donor solicitation skills such as effective grant writing and creation of corporate pitches, with extreme attention to the details of a complex calendar of grants, reports and budgets. The work will include prospecting, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding foundations, corporations and government entities. This individual will be a part of a growing team of fundraisers that supports BYSO’s expanding operations.

A successful candidate will have in-depth knowledge of the non-profit sector and will be comfortable, confident and effective in soliciting gifts from foundations, corporations, and government agencies. This individual will bring a creative energy that manifests in ideas, thoughtful strategy and the skills to implement them completely.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage BYSO’s full institutional portfolio of foundations, corporations and government entities
• Work closely with volunteers, committees and staff members to raise close to $1M annually
• Produce all written proposals and reports as part of a robust grants calendar, including detailed financial reports
• Produce compelling corporate pitches for BYSO’s growing sponsorship programs
• Research new funding opportunities and build relationship maps for potential connections
• Manage relationships with all institutional funders from identification through solicitation and stewardship—both in formal proposals and reports as well as personal meetings, event invitations, and creative engagement opportunities.
• Process, acknowledge, track and budget all gifts within the portfolio

BYSO is a positive, dynamic, inclusive and nurturing environment for both our student population and our staff. With very rigorous fundraising goals, and an open mind about how to reach them, the BYSO offers a tremendous opportunity for a growing fundraiser.

Qualifications:

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. We want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. This said, we are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate the majority of the qualifications and experiences listed below:

• Positive attitude and high motivation to grow BYSO’s funding portfolio
• Minimum of three years professional experience in direct fundraising —institutional giving strongly preferred
• Excellent writing skills, preferable grant writing experience
• Experience and interest in interacting and building relationships with donors, foundation officers or high-level corporate decision-makers
• Proficiency in prioritizing and managing multiple, diverse and on-going projects
• Creativity and open-mindedness to create thoughtful plans and new strategies to engage institutional donors
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to appropriately manage sensitive and confidential information
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Ability and willingness to work occasional evenings or weekends for events, donor meetings, etc.

Other details:

This is a hybrid role that will require 3 in-office days per week in our Boston-based office with occasional additional in-person requirements.

BYSO is a registered 501 (c) 3 organization. BYSO does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and encourages diversity and inclusion in our workplace.