Advancement Officer

Classification: Full-time, exempt
Reports to: Athenaeum Director
Supervises: Advancement and communications staff, contractors, interns, and volunteers, as applicable
Salary range: $60,000 to $70,000 annually

 Position Summary

The Advancement Officer serves as the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum’s leader for fundraising, donor development, institutional advancement, and external communications.

Working closely with the Athenaeum Director, staff, the Board of Trustees, and the Development Committee, the Advancement Officer develops and implements strategies that strengthen contributed revenue, donor relationships, community engagement, public awareness, and the Athenaeum’s long-term financial sustainability.

The Advancement Officer is responsible for fundraising and communications ensuring that annual appeals, donor campaigns, membership initiatives, grants, programs, events, stewardship activities, website content, social media, and public messaging support shared institutional goals.

As a member of the Leadership Team, the Advancement Officer participates in organizational planning, budgeting, strategic initiatives, and institutional decision-making.

Primary Responsibilities

Advancement Strategy and Leadership

• Develop and implement a comprehensive annual advancement plan aligned with the Athenaeum’s mission, strategic plan, budget, and long-term financial goals.

• Establish annual fundraising goals, strategies, timelines, and performance measures.

• Coordinate annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, membership, corporate support, foundation support, special campaigns, and future capital initiatives.

• Create an integrated annual calendar for appeals, donor drives, stewardship, grants, events, membership activities, and related communications.

• Identify opportunities to expand and diversify the Athenaeum’s donor and membership base.

• Evaluate fundraising results, donor retention, campaign performance, and return on investment.

• Provide regular reports and recommendations to the Athenaeum Director, Development Committee, and Board of Trustees.

 Major Gifts and Donor Engagement

• Build and actively manage a portfolio of major-gift prospects and donors.

• Lead all stages of donor development, including identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, acknowledgment, stewardship, and renewal.

• Develop personalized engagement and solicitation strategies for individual donors and prospects.

• Support the Athenaeum Director and Trustees in cultivating and soliciting donors.

• Strengthen donor retention through consistent, meaningful, and timely stewardship.

• Develop opportunities for donors, members, and community partners to deepen their relationship with the Athenaeum.

 Communications and Marketing Strategy

• Lead the Athenaeum’s external communications and marketing strategy.

• Develop an annual communications plan that directly supports advancement goals, annual appeals, donor campaigns, membership initiatives, programs, events, grants, and community engagement.

• Ensure consistent, accurate, accessible, and engaging messaging across all external communications.

• Establish and maintain clear brand, editorial, and communications standards.

• Oversee donor communications, publications, newsletters, annual reports, press releases, public relations, advertising, email marketing, and promotional materials.

• Coordinate communications across departments to ensure the Athenaeum presents a consistent and unified public voice.

• Monitor communications performance and use available data to improve reach, engagement, and effectiveness.

 Foundation, Corporate, and Grant Development

• Develop and manage an annual grant and institutional funding strategy.

• Research foundation, corporate, government, and community funding opportunities.

• Lead or coordinate grant proposals, supporting materials, budgets, submissions, reports, and compliance requirements.

• Maintain a grant calendar and ensure that application and reporting deadlines are met.

• Cultivate relationships with foundations, corporate partners, sponsors, and institutional funders.

• Collaborate with staff to develop fundable projects aligned with organizational priorities.

 Advancement Operations and Analytics

• Ensure the advancement program is accurate, efficient, data-informed, and accountable.

• Oversee the donor database and maintain high standards for data accuracy, privacy, reporting, and institutional knowledge.

• Ensure timely and accurate gift entry, acknowledgment, pledge tracking, fund designation, and donor record management.

• Coordinate with finance staff on gift reconciliation, restricted funds, campaign reporting, and financial controls.

• Develop fundraising reports, dashboards, forecasts, and analyses for organizational leadership and the Board.

• Maintain appropriate advancement policies, procedures, files, campaign records, and donor documentation.

• Develop and administer the advancement and communications budget.

 Leadership and Board Engagement

• Serve as a member of the Athenaeum’s Leadership Team.

• Participate in organizational planning, budgeting, strategic initiatives, and institutional decision-making.

• Serve as the primary staff liaison to the Development Committee.

• Prepare clear and timely reports on advancement goals, activities, results, challenges, and opportunities.

• Help engage Trustees in donor cultivation, stewardship, community outreach, and fundraising.

• Represent the Athenaeum within philanthropic, nonprofit, civic, cultural, and business communities.

• Build relationships that strengthen the Athenaeum’s visibility, reputation, partnerships, and long-term sustainability.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.

• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in nonprofit advancement, fundraising, development, communications, or a closely related field.

• Demonstrated success developing and implementing comprehensive fundraising strategies.

• Experience with annual giving, major gifts, donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.

• Strong understanding of the relationship among fundraising, communications, public engagement, and organizational development.

• Demonstrated experience overseeing or managing nonprofit marketing and communications.

• Strong website content-management skills and experience working with content management systems.

• Experience managing organizational social media accounts and developing digital content.

• Experience with email marketing platforms, audience segmentation, and digital engagement.

• Excellent writing, editing, verbal communication, interpersonal, and public-speaking skills.

• Experience working with donor databases or customer relationship management systems.

• Ability to interpret fundraising metrics, campaign results, budgets, and financial reports.

• Strong project-management skills and the ability to manage multiple deadlines, campaigns, and organizational priorities.

• Demonstrated discretion when handling confidential donor, financial, personnel, and organizational information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working directly with a nonprofit board or development committee.

• Experience with planned giving, capital campaigns, endowment development, or major institutional initiatives.

• Experience leading grant development and institutional funding strategies.

• Experience with graphic-design tools, content-production platforms, photography, or video.

• Experience working within a museum, library, cultural institution, historic organization.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel throughout Vermont and New England as needed.

• Availability for occasional evening and weekend donor meetings, Board meetings, programs, and fundraising events.

• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation.

• Ability to occasionally lift and move materials weighing up to 25 pounds.

To Apply

Email your resume and cover letter to Athenaeum Director Kacy Guill at kquill@stjathenaeum.org. The application deadline is Monday, October 12, 2026.

The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.