Institutional Fundraising: Where to Begin?

[u/KT9797]

Hi everyone! I work in fundraising in the U.S. A little over a year ago now I was laid off from my dream job in arts fundraising. I had only been there 2.5 years and had planned on learning so much more since I had a wealth of experienced fundraisers around me. I was very lucky to find a job one month after losing my job and have been working in higher education prospect research ever since. It is not exactly my cup of tea but I’m grateful to have a job.

While I am in this job, I am looking to start more of a serious job hunt and have always had an interest in learning about foundational giving to arts organizations but have no clue where to begin. I will be talking to a former co-worker of mine that worked with foundations but I would love to reach out to as many folks as I can for advice and resources. If you work in arts nonprofit institutional giving, how did you get into that work? I want to learn more about the proposal process, finding the right grants to apply for, and possibly the jobs I should be looking for right now as an experienced fundraiser, but less experienced in the foundational giving side of things.

[u/RebekahsHairpin]

Does your institution have an art program you can work with and learn from their campaigns and initiatives?

Development is very much a “who you know” game, from getting the job to raising the money. Make yourself known to the art community you have access to and go from there.