The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center for the Bay Area. The museum’s remarkable collection of over 50,000 works of painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design, and media arts is housed in an LEED Gold-certified building designed by the global architects Snøhetta and Mario Botta.
The Chief Philanthropy Officer (CPO) leads SFMOMA’s robust and innovative Philanthropy division to annually achieve more than $30 million in contributed and earned revenue in support of the mission to connect people to the art of our time. The CPO is an experienced strategist, team leader, relationship builder, storyteller, and fundraiser, responsible for leading a progressive program that attracts, engages, inspires, and yields meaningful long-term relationships with museum supporters. This leader is responsible for the successful achievement of goals for contributed revenue (annual, endowment, capital) and the earned revenue Rental Events program.
Reporting to the Helen and Charles Schwab Director (Museum Director) and a member of the museum’s Executive Team, the CPO guides an enterprising and inclusive fundraising program, leading a staff of more than 40 professionals with ambition and creativity. As an essential member of the Executive Team, the CPO supports museum staff and donors in being people-centered, guided by the Bay Area community and beyond.
The CPO will be empowered to assess and optimize the organizational structure and functional alignment of the Philanthropy division in consultation with the Museum Director. They will champion sound, efficient systems and processes while also fostering an appropriate tolerance for risk among staff and ensuring that strategic, data-informed decision-making guides their work. The CPO will delegate authority as needed and promote active communication and integration across Philanthropy division functions to achieve synergies as well as evolving, expanding donor commitments. Broadening SFMOMA’s major gifts culture is a key priority for the CPO, and they will work in close partnership with the Museum Director and Trustees to expand connections to prospective, high-capacity individual and institutional funders and to inspire their increasing levels of support. This leader will also collaborate with the Museum Director in leading preparation for a future endowment campaign that will help safeguard vis-à-vis the variables of future attendance and ensure a vibrant SFMOMA for decades to come.
The incoming CPO will join a dynamic and talented Philanthropy division that has undertaken a great deal of strategic, intentional work in recent years to position for future success. SFMOMA also enjoys the benefit of a high-impact Board of Trustees well positioned to aid in major and principal-gifts-focused philanthropy and the pending campaign effort. Moreover, SFMOMA will benefit tremendously from its key place amid San Francisco’s current downtown revitalization, resurgent tourism industry, and the palpable energy thereof.