About the Museum

Five Oaks Museum is an independent non-profit located on the Portland Community College – Rock Creek Campus on Tualatin Kalapuya land in Washington County, Oregon. As a local organization engaged in globally-relevant dialogues, we support the thriving cultural ecologies around us through guest curated exhibitions, learning programs, events, research, and the museum’s cultural resources, archives and library. After 65 years of centering Euro-American settler narratives, the institution was fundamentally reshaped in 2019 and now operates as a platform for multi-vocal, culturally embedded stories and as a sandbox for innovative organizational structures, all shaped around the core values of Body, Land, Truth, Justice, and Community.

Position Summary

The Development and Communications Manager (DCM) is a new position and will be a core member of the collaborative Five Oaks Museum team and help shape the museum’s journey. The DCM position bridges and integrates the work of development and donor engagement with written and visual external-facing communications. This will be situated within our ongoing efforts to integrate decolonial frameworks and a justice lens to all areas of our work. The position requires a passion for persuasive storytelling, skill in creating and nurturing relationships, a deep connection to the museum’s five values, and the ability to keep the holistic needs of the organization in mind while also attending to details. While the two main elements of this role will overlap, we envision that the DCM will focus approximately 60% of their attention to development and 40% of their attention to communications. Ultimately, the DCM is responsible for raising funds from a wide range of sources and communicating the unique, powerful work of Five Oaks Museum to our community.

Position in Organization

Reports to: Co-directors

Responsible for: Volunteers and interns as needed

Locations: Mixed remote and on-site work

Development Responsibilities

• Plays an integral role on the existing Development Committee along with Co-directors, board members, and community partners.
• Supports Co-directors in stewarding the museum’s relationships with existing donors, through managing donation anniversary reminders, gratitude efforts, and monthly donation renewal programs.
• Plays a lead role in prospecting and soliciting major gifts from individual and corporate donors with support from the Development Committee.
• Collaborates with Co-directors to determine what grants to pursue, manage grant submission timelines, write grant language, maintain foundation relationships, and ensure quality reporting as needed.
• Develops new grant funding opportunities including researching and building relationships with potential funders.
• Works with the Head of Operations to help maintain and update the donor database.
• Coordinates fundraising appeals, including for the museum’s annual Showcase, end-of-year giving, and others; implements development plan co-created with Development Committee.

Communications Responsibilities

• Co-creates and implements a communications plan with the Communications Committee to shape the museum’s voice, promote transparency, engage with relevant dialogues, and strengthen community connections.
• Leads creation of the museum’s monthly e-newsletter (Constant Contact) and oversees Instagram takeover program.
• Creates and disseminates marketing and outreach materials (e.g., press releases, social media posts, website graphics, promotional emails) with support of Co-directors.
• Communicates and collaborates with regional partner organizations to both share content and raise awareness of the museum’s programs and projects.
• Keeps up with discourse around current events and within the museum field to inform and collaboratively create the museum’s response when appropriate.
• Maintains and updates museum website content (WordPress) as needed.
• Creates communications evaluation process to assess ongoing efforts and alter those efforts as needed to ensure success with support from the Communications Committee.

All-Staff Responsibilities

• Advance the museum’s values in the delivery of your work, interpersonal and professional relationships.
• Support membership and public support through excellent, informed customer service.
• Assist with additional tasks as needed to foster overall health of the organization.

Qualifications

Any combination of education, work experience, and lived experience that demonstrates your ability to thrive in this position is welcomed.

• Strong skills in collaboration, self-reflection, and interpersonal communications.
• Ability to articulate and demonstrate ongoing learning around anti-racism, decolonial practices, and intersectional liberatory ways of working.
• Comfort and rapport with data including collecting, interpreting, and communicating it.
• Demonstrated ability to personally cultivate and solicit major gifts from individuals and businesses.
• Knowledge of local and regional community leaders, philanthropists, and influencers, including grant-making organizations.
• Proficiency with preparation of grant applications and reports, including research and relationship building with foundations and grant-making organizations.
• Experience with, and knowledge of, donor management software.
• Familiarity with fundraising best practices and current and emerging applications of technology for fundraising implementation.
• Sensitivity toward picking up relationships that may have been lost or damaged while at the same time exciting new people to become donors.
• Knowledge of communications, marketing and branding best practices.
• Strong skills in written and oral communication, copyediting, social media management (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), graphic design, organization, and creative problem-solving.
• Familiarity with museums or other non-profit heritage/arts organizations preferred. Love for museums required 🙂
• Our workplace operates in English, using Google Suite for shared documents, virtual meetings, and email.

Access/ Conditions

This is a full-time, salaried, exempt position based on 32 hours of weekly work, with employer-sponsored health benefits for the full family and vacation time with a salary of $55,000. Note: We have taken drastic steps since 2019 to address pay inequities that were inherited from the previous organizational structure and leadership. With the fiscal year that started July 1, 2022 we have established pay parity across staff positions. As such, the salary for this position is fixed at exactly $55,000. Staff receive annual evaluations and raises which contain a shared process of adjusting pay, title, and job scope; new hires have an additional 6 month review to begin this process.

This position is located at Five Oaks Museum on the Portland Community College – Rock Creek Campus, 17677 NW Springville Rd, Portland OR 97229. ADA parking and TriMet bus service are available to the museum. This role will involve limited travel throughout the region which can be shaped around access needs. The museum building is accessible to ADA standards including entry ramp, power doors, and accessible restroom stalls. Physical workstations are designed for each individual’s needs and size-inclusive seating is present in meeting spaces. There are currently no lower-counter sinks; there are no stairs within the building. There are some chemicals present in artifacts and some spaces have harsh lighting. Disability justice is deeply within our values and enacting that beyond basic compliance is currently an area of focused growth for us.

Modest relocation assistance may be available. Visa sponsorship is not available at this time.

Hiring Process

We are committed to doing all that we can to support additional access needs throughout the interview process and within the position. To request accommodations, alternative formats of this application, or to contact us regarding issues with the application process, please call (503) 645-5353 or email info@fiveoaksmuseum.org.

Initial application (Phase I):

Applications must include a minimum of (1) a letter of interest tailored to this position along with (2) a resume and/or CV to be considered. Email your application materials and any other supporting documentation showcasing your fit for this position to: info@fiveoaksmuseum.org no later than 5pm PST on Friday, August 12, 2022.

Follow-up (Phase II):

Supplemental questions will be sent to applicants who meet the position requirements on Friday, September 2nd. Responses will be due back Sunday, September 11th at 10pm PST. Note that we will attempt to contact all applicants. In the event that applicant volume is too high, only those applicants being moved on to Phase II will be contacted.

Once all the supplemental question responses and application materials have been carefully reviewed we will determine a few finalists for interviews. All Phase II applicants will be contacted by Friday, September 30th and informed if they were not selected, or to arrange interview times.

Target start date for the position is the week of October 24th, 2022.