The Head of Major Gifts is part of a six-member Development team (Major Gifts, Institutional Philanthropy, and Annual Fund & Development Operations) and will lead the Museum’s frontline fundraising efforts to deepen, broaden, and increase support from major donors ($5,000 and above).
This senior position serves as second in command for the Development department. This position offers a strong path for growth and leadership continuity. The incumbent partners closely with the Director of Development as a strategic partner and frontline fundraiser to develop, lead, and execute a major donor strategy, and manage the portfolio of major donors, major donor prospects, and family foundations.
Major gift fundraising is a crucial pillar of support for the Rubin Museum’s multiyear initiatives, capacity building strategies, traveling exhibitions and collaborations, educational programs, digital content expansion, collection sharing, and additional funding priorities.
As the Rubin has transformed into a new global museum model with projects in New York City, nationally, and internationally, this position will build upon the successful and growing major donor program and drive the Museum’s efforts to deepen, broaden, and increase support. The Head of Major Gifts supervises the Assistant Manager, Major Gifts & Institutional Philanthropy.
The Head of Major Gifts interfaces with all levels of the organization, including the Executive Director (ED) and leadership team, works closely with the Development team and across organizational departments, and also with members of the Board of Trustees to lead in identifying cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding current and prospective major donors.
This is a full-time, hybrid eligible and exempt position with a workweek schedule of Mondays through Fridays, with core work hours from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and some flexibility required as needed.
The incumbent reports to the Director of Development (DOD).
Interns receive a $600 monthly stipend from the museum. Academic requirements will be fulfilled by arrangement with the individual college or university.
The Rubin’s internship partners include:
*Studio Institute ARTS Interns are paid through the Studio Institute, and are not eligible for the Rubin stipend.
Rubin interns receive the following benefits:
The Apprentice Museum Educator (AME) program at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art provides practical skills to university students or recent graduates interested in future careers in the arts, specifically programming and museum education for school and family audiences. The AME will learn to work with a large age-range of visitors during their internship, and will develop the skills to manage an educational space with creativity. We foster critical thinking, leadership skills, curriculum planning, and public speaking.
The Collections Management Intern works closely with the Collections Manager, Registrar, and Department Administrator on several projects including object record updates within the collections database. The Collections Department is currently working on a large-scale file organization and digitization project. This position will be directly involved in this project, digitizing collections documents from historical exhibitions and assisting with ongoing data cleanup projects in the collections database (TMS). Interns will also have the opportunity to manage aspects of the library database (LibraryWorld) and learn about art storage and art handling procedures.
The Collections Management (Library Science) Intern will work closely with the Collections Manager, Registrar, and Coordinator on projects related to the organization, storage, cataloging, and maintenance of the Collections Management and Curatorial Libraries. Working hands-on with library materials, the intern will gain practical knowledge of institutional library operations and how these resources support collections documentation and curatorial research. The intern will also support a thorough review of citations within object records, working across the internal museum database as well as web-accessible object information.
The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art seeks a mature undergraduate, recent graduate, or graduate student to work under the guidance of Rubin curators. The Curatorial Intern will perform research and provide support for curatorial work and upcoming exhibitions that focus predominantly on Himalayan art and material culture.
The Editorial and Digital Content Intern will work with the Head of Digital Content and Strategy and the rest of the Editorial and Digital Content (EDC) team on projects across the Rubin’s various digital platforms. Major platforms include
The Marketing & Communications Intern will work closely with the Marketing & Communications team to support the promotion of the Rubin and its projects and exhibitions. The intern will assist with press and media tracking, social media content development, and digital engagement efforts, and research strategies to increase the Museum’s effectiveness in the digital arena. Through this work, the intern will learn about institutional voice, communications strategies, media relations best practices, and the broader role of a marketing and communications department within an arts nonprofit.
Due to the high volume of applications for internships, only those selected for interviews will be contacted.
In the event you are not accepted for an internship, we encourage you to resend your application materials for the following term.
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