As the first art museum in St. Petersburg, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) serves as the cultural anchor of a vibrant arts city, uniting a diverse community of artists, residents, and international visitors. The museum’s global collection, spanning nearly 5,000 years, acts as a catalyst for connection and conversation. By bridging historical perspectives with contemporary discourse, the museum broadens the artistic canon while elevating the voices and stories of historically marginalized artists. Within the museum’s holdings are exemplary works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Auguste Rodin, Kehinde Wiley, and Élisabeth Vigée-LeBrun. The museum also houses one of the largest and most well-respected photography collections in the Southeast, featuring iconic visionaries such as Ansel Adams, Edward Steichen, Julia Margaret Cameron, Carrie Mae Weems, James Van Der Zee, and Aaron Siskind. Through dynamic exhibitions and inclusive programming, the museum engages with more than 100,000 people annually, including thousands of students through a dedicated partnership with Pinellas County Schools. Committed to fearless creativity, the museum fosters a welcoming environment where all are empowered to explore untold stories and challenge conventions.
POSITION: Development Specialist
REPORTS TO: Development and Membership Manager
DEPARTMENT: Development
JOB CODE: Full-time / On-site
FLSA STATUS: Exempt
POSITION SUMMARY
The Development Specialist is a dynamic, highly forward-facing role within the Development department, providing essential support across all institutional advancement and fundraising functions. Reporting directly to the Development and Membership Manager, the Specialist maintains a balanced portfolio of responsibilities encompassing general membership engagement, annual giving execution, individual donor and corporate partner relations, and general development operations.
As a primary ambassador for the Museum’s broad base of support, this position requires exceptional interpersonal skills to interface daily with general members, donors, and corporate sponsors. This role combines high-touch customer service for general inquiries with critical administrative and database management, ensuring seamless, professional experience for all supporters of the MFA.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Donor Relations, Membership & External Engagement
- Serve as the primary, welcoming point of contact for general members, donors, corporate sponsors, and general development inquiries; manage both inbound and outbound public communications via phone, email, and in-person with an enthusiastic and professional customer service demeanor.
- Take a proactive approach to membership growth, renewals, and retention by addressing and resolving complex member inquiries and issues escalated from the Museum Experience team.
- Handle general inquiries regarding member and donor benefits, giving tiers, and event registration, while seamlessly routing high-level donor and corporate partner opportunities to appropriate Manager and Director-level leadership.
- Act as the primary development resource for the Museum Experience team, collaborating closely with the Museum Experience Director or Museum Experience Leads to ensure a seamless, positive experience for members (from initial point-of-sale through their museum visit) as well as individual and corporate donors and supports who visit the museum.
- Develop and maintain up-to-date training materials and conduct regular training sessions for frontline staff on membership benefits, promotional offers, donor support campaigns, sales strategies, and best practices for converting visitors to members.
- Monitor and report on onsite membership conversion metrics and sponsorship/donor campaigns, providing regular insights and data-driven recommendations to the Development and Membership Manager.
- Serve as the lead development (operational and administrative) support for the MFA Destinations donor travel program, ensuring backend set-up for payments and donor communications are seamless.
- Collaborate closely with the Marketing team to ensure complete brand and messaging consistency across all member and donor touchpoints (digital, print, social media), including both membership materials and fundraising appeals.
- Secure and coordinate the member reciprocal program to enhance member benefits, and process inbound requests for institutional donations from other non-profit entities.
- Cultivate relationships with members (individual and corporate) and annual-level donors with the explicit goal of increasing their baseline support of the museum.
Annual Giving & Fundraising Appeals
- Lead the execution of quarterly appeals, providing hands-on management of the entire process including strategy development, design coordination, copywriting, audience segmentation, and distribution.
- Coordinate directly with the Marketing team on appeal design, creative assets, and collateral.
- Manage relationships with external mail houses for the production and distribution of appeal mailings.
- In coordination with the Marketing team, manage the creation and distribution of timely membership campaigns, email invitations for member and donor events, renewal mailings, and targeted appeals using digital communications including the MFA website, email software, or other platforms.
Prospecting & Stewardship
- Build precise email invitation lists for donor and member events, tracking RSVPs and managing communication updates.
- Coordinate and execute targeted Thankathon calls and personalized outreach to actively acknowledge, steward, and retain annual donors.
- Assist with the comprehensive logistical planning and administrative execution of donor and member cultivation events, including Arts Alive Day and other special advancement initiatives.
- Assist in compiling detailed research materials, donor briefings, and background profiles to support major gift prospect meetings.
Event Support & Activation
- Manage all backend configuration for all development events in Altru, including the complete web setup for development events and online registration pages.
- Manage MFA Gala ticketing, seating records, meal preferences, and other related administrative functions for major museum benefit events.
- Maintain the flexibility to work variable hours, including evenings, weekends, and select holidays to provide operational coverage for member events, openings, and donor functions.
Database Management & Operations
- Process all new, renewal, and upgraded memberships and donations in a timely and accurate manner in the Altru database, ensuring immediate benefit access and proper gift recording.
- Manage Altru online orders, process development event payments, and process all memberships within the Altru database system.
- Coordinate with the Finance team on gift processing, weekly reconciliations, and financial reporting.
- Generate and fulfill all membership acknowledgment letters, donor acknowledgment letters, and tax receipts efficiently, while proactively updating acknowledgment letter templates as needed.
- Prepare and distribute annual tax letters for recurring donors at the conclusion of the giving year.
- Proactively ensure the integrity and accuracy of all member and donor records in the Altru database, performing regular database maintenance, data cleanup, and routine audits to ensure high data quality.
- Produce and update Altru database queries, segmentation lists, and reports as requested to support strategic membership appeals, renewals, and performance analysis.
- Run appeal numbers, track campaign performance, and maintain detailed spreadsheets to provide regular reporting on campaign metrics to leadership.
- Generate weekly revenue reports and membership statistics for the Development and Membership Manager and senior leadership to track department progress.
- Fulfill all standard member benefits, including physical membership card production and benefit package fulfillment in a timely manner.
- Update constituent records (notes, contact information, proper donor segmentation, etc.) as required to maintain exact data accuracy.
- Systematically file documents in the server database while attaching relevant files directly in Altru.
- Keep abreast of updates to Altru as well as database best practices; Train development and administrative staff in Altru database best practices, system functionality, and data entry standards.
- Serve as the default operational backup for the Development and Membership Manager when they are out of the office, carrying out assignments to completion with minimal supervision.
- Perform other duties as may be required.
QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED
Education/Experience Required
- Bachelor’s degree preferred.
- 3+ years of relevant experience in membership, annual giving, database management, development, and/or not-for-profit work (2+ years minimum).
- A solid background and interest in the arts and humanities is preferred.
Skills and Abilities Required
- Meticulous attention to detail and exceptional organizational skills with proven ability to manage multiple, deadline-driven projects simultaneously.
- Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, with an aptitude for leading effective training sessions and engaging with the public.
- Exceptional customer service, problem-solving, and relationship management skills, with the ability to professionally and tactfully handle complex or escalated member and donor issues.
- Comfort and confidence interacting with members and donors in a professional, friendly, and enthusiastic manner, both in person and via phone/email, acting as a welcoming ambassador for the Museum.
- High proficiency with MS Office (Word, Outlook); advanced proficiency with MS Excel for data analysis and reporting is required.
- Demonstrated hands-on experience managing complex datasets in a CRM or fundraising database; advanced experience with Blackbaud Altru is highly preferred. Highly efficient professional who works well both independently and as part of a team.
- Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and maintain confidentiality.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, non-profit environment, adhering to deadlines while maintaining a positive attitude.
- Ability to carry out assignments to completion with minimal supervision.
- Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and select holidays for member and donor events and operational coverage.
LOCATION REQUIREMENTS & WORK SCHEDULE
- MFA office hours are Monday through Friday 9:00 am – 5:30 pm.
- Occasional weekend and evening work will be required for events and donor cultivation.
- This position requires all hours to be fulfilled onsite.
- At time of employment, employees are expected to be located within commuting distance of the museum.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
- Must be able to remain in a stationary position at a computer for extended periods.
- Must be able to adapt to a high-paced environment, occasionally moving/lifting equipment and objects up to 25lbs.
- Must be able to safely and successfully perform the essential job functions consistent with ADA, FMLA, and other federal, state, and local standards.
This job description indicates in general terms the type and level of work performed, as well as the typical responsibilities of this position. Management reserves the right to modify, change, add or rescind the work assignments of different positions and to make reasonable accommodations so that qualified employees can perform the essential functions of the job. Nothing in this position description changes the at-will employment relationship between Museum of Fine Arts and its employees.
TO APPLY
The MFA is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified candidates, including those with diverse workplace experiences and backgrounds. Whether you’re new to arts and culture administration, returning to work after a gap in employment, looking to transition or take the next step in your career path, we welcome you to apply. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interest in the arts and culture space and what you hope to bring to this role.
Please submit resume, letter of interest and salary requirements to careers@mfastpete.org with Development Specialist in the subject line or mail to the following address:
Human Resources
Museum of Fine Arts
255 Beach Drive N.E.
St. Petersburg, FL 33701-3498
No phone calls please.
The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, alienage or citizenship status, marital status or domestic partner status, genetic information, genetic predisposition or carrier status, gender identity, HIV status, military status and any other category protected by law in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, training and apprenticeship, promotion, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, lay-off and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment.
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person