Employment Opportunities
Director of Development
The Moving Picture Institute, an organization dedicated to identifying and nurturing promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting and sustaining a free society, seeks a Director of Development to oversee fundraising efforts.
The Director of Development can be based in New York, NY (where MPI is based) or can work remotely. The Director of Development will report directly to the Executive Director and work with the directors of program and development.
The Director of Development will:
- Develop and implement a cohesive fundraising strategy for the Moving Picture Institute, including strategies for high dollar donors, foundations, and corporate donors
- Work closely with the Executive Director, staff, and board of directors to implement the fundraising strategy, including making recommendations on how time can be most effectively utilized in a fundraising capacity
- Maintain relationships with individuals who currently support MPI and identify and develop relationships with key individual prospects
- Maintain relationships with charitable foundations that currently support MPI and regularly seek funding from new foundations
- Maintain relationships with private corporations that currently support MPI and seek funding from prospect corporations through meetings and written proposals
- Interact with donors through telephone calls, one-on-one visits, and written correspondence to keep them informed of our work
- Manage an aggressive, high dollar direct mail program
- Oversee the planning and implementation of special events
- Work with current staff to prepare grant proposals
- Gather and analyze data related to the effectiveness of various aspects of the fundraising strategy
- Maintain the fundraising database Donor Perfect to ensure current data on donors, gifts, and prospects
- Develop a planned giving program
The ideal candidate will have the following attributes:
- Demonstrated ability to raise funds for organizations
- Entrepreneurial spirit and ability to be a self-starter
- A minimum of two years of experience in fundraising preferred
- Experience with individual donors, foundations, and corporate donors
- Notable relationship building skills, and an outgoing, friendly personality
- Strong organizational and management skills; ability to multi-task, organize numerous moving parts of a project, and meet deadlines
- Understanding of and commitment to the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and personal responsibility
- Experience with fundraising databases and basic Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to travel on a regular basis
- Bachelor’s degree
This position will require some travel around the country. Expected travel 25%.
Interested candidates should submit a résumé and a cover letter detailing salary requirements and his/her interest in the mission of MPI to claire@talentmarket.org.
About MPI
Mission: The Moving Picture Institute identifies and nurtures promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting and sustaining a free society, and supports their work through grants, fiscal sponsorship, promotion, marketing, internships, training workshops, networking opportunities, and production assistance.
Background: Founded in 2005 by human rights advocate Thor Halvorssen, the Moving Picture Institute is unlike any other foundation dedicated to promoting the ideal of liberty. At MPI, we believe that film, more effectively than any other medium, can bring the idea of freedom to life. In keeping with that belief, we are working to ensure that film becomes a center of genuinely democratic art in the coming years. Our goal is to guarantee that film’s unique capacity to give shape to abstract principles—to make them move and breathe—is used to support and promote liberty. Toward that end, we fund films from development through post-production, support up-and-coming filmmakers, and serve as a high-level intern placement service.
Historically, the film industry has been largely unconcerned with developing a distinctive and nuanced portrait of deep-seated American values such as free speech, freedom of association, and the free enterprise system. Such values have been defined and defended almost exclusively in print and through oral argument. But as visual media become increasingly prevalent, we depend more heavily upon movies for our philosophical, moral, and social guidance. If the ideal of freedom is to endure—if it is to maintain its vitality and relevance in our society—it must find its way into film, our most vital, relevant, and far-reaching art form. Freedom must be seen to be believed.
America needs a filmography of freedom. MPI exists to meet that need.
Fellowships and Internships
For MPI Fellowship and Internship information, please visit our Programs page.
