Hiring Strategy

We have an extraordinary opportunity to shape the future of our grassroots nonprofit artist residency (annual budget ~$140k). A generous donor has offered to underwrite the cost of a Director of Development but is also willing to redirect the equivalent dollar amount to address our greatest organizational need. At the same time, we are laying the groundwork for a capital campaign to acquire and renovate the beautiful, historic property where our residency operates, hosting approximately 50 artists each year.

We’re grappling with how best to allocate this pledge, considering two potential paths:

Hire a Director of Development (DoD) to build our donor base and major gifts program, then engage a Capital Campaign Consultant (CCC) at a later stage to design and structure the campaign.

Hire a Capital Campaign Consultant (CCC) first for a 6–12 month engagement to establish the campaign framework—such as a case for support and gift range chart—and then bring on a Development Director to execute the campaign and grow our donor relationships.

We are seeking an outside perspective to help resolve this dilemma while accounting for the unique complexities of our situation. While we are a small organization with a modest donor base, our historic facility is located in a highly affluent area and is a cherished local landmark. Your insight would be invaluable in helping us determine the most strategic path forward. In many ways, we are seeking an internal readiness assessment, which would then inform this decision about the most effective sequence in which to make these staff development decisions.

Through working with us on this project, volunteers will help support the mission by determining what is the most fruitful pathway forward to build capacity that will facilitate success with a capital campaign designed to perpetuate our organization and develop it into a bona fide institution supporting underserved artists.

My team and I have prepared for this project by partnering with renowned architects and generating a highly detailed, image-rich Master Plan for the future development of the property. We have also generated donor reports going back years, financial statements, and spoken to several consultants and experienced individuals about this question, allowing us to share a synthesis of our findings so far (which, frankly, amount to lots of contradictory opinions). We also have a CCAT analysis that essentially serves as an in-depth systems scan of our entire organization and its capacity to fulfill its mission, with areas of deficiency and strength highlighted. We also have worked in the past with an HR expert through Taproot, who had a very positive experience and has now become our paid fractional HR consultant. We are highly responsive and this is our biggest priority at the moment.