Working in an art gallery: Development Manager

Category: Working in an art gallery — Published: 5 May

Hear from our Development Manager: Grants & Foundations, Jacqueline, about her day-to-day and advice for those interested in fundraising in the arts. 

Part of our Working in an art gallery series of interviews with Whitechapel Gallery staff members — offering insight into the kind of roles available in gallery settings.

Somali Museum: Any-Space-Whatever, 2023.

How would you describe your job?

As the Development Manager, Grants & Foundations, I work with the rest of the Development (fundraising) team to raise funds to deliver all of Whitechapel Gallery’s programmes. There are a few different types of fundraising you can do, including working with corporate partners, wealthy individuals or community fundraising, but my role is focused on writing applications to trusts, foundations or public funders who are looking to give grants to arts organisations. Its not a job that is specific to arts organisations – you can do it for pretty much any charity.

Day-to-day, I spend a lot of time researching and writing applications. These can be for anything from an exhibition to workshops with schools to renovating the building. I work with people from across the Gallery to do this and have to work out how to translate their creative ideas into something that makes sense to a funder. Funders also all have their own specific interests, so I have to make sure that what I write is tailored to that – no two applications are ever the same.

I also have to look after our relationships with a lot of the funders, keeping people who have given us money updated or sending them reports on projects, as well as talking to people who might give us money in the future. This can include bringing funders to events organised by the rest of the team, including dinners and drinks receptions, or bringing them in for meetings and tours of our exhibitions.

What are some of the skills or interests which might be important to someone doing your job?

One of the most useful things for a fundraiser is a genuine passion for the working you are fundraising for. Fundraising is essentially sales, and it is always easiest to sell things you really like. It also makes the job a lot more fun and rewarding, since you get to see the impact of your work on amazing projects.

Some skills depend on the kind of fundraising you do. For my job, one of the main skills you need is being able to write persuasively. You don’t need any specific qualifications, but since I spend a lot of time writing enjoying that aspect is a plus! People skills are important too. Although I don’t have to go to as many events with external funders as someone working in individual or corporate fundraising would, I work really closely with other teams at the Gallery and building good relationships helps that.

Year 7 – Almost Ikebana with Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck, 2023. Photo by the artist.

What do you most enjoy about your role or working in the arts more generally?

The great thing about fundraising is that you get to work across so many areas of the what the Gallery does. I’ve worked on applications for exhibitions, new art commissions, Participation projects, public programmes, publications, staff roles and building works. Often, I am involved in projects at quite an early stage, and sometimes I get to work directly with artists. It’s really fun to research and write about projects, art and artists that I care about, and work with other staff to try and make their plans a reality.

What’s the biggest challenge of your job?

There is competition for funding — funders often get a lot more applications than they have the money to support, and there are so many great projects that people are delivering. This means the average success rate of applications is about 25%, and its important to build up resilience so that you’re not disappointed when something you have worked hard on doesn’t come through. It gets easier the longer you do the job, and it helps to remember that there are many factors involved — just because an application was unsuccessful, doesn’t mean it was bad.

Any advice you’d give to someone looking to work in a similar role to yours.

There are so many different ways you can build the skills to work in fundraising. Talking about how I had worked in retail when I was a teenager, and what I had learnt about sales and customer service, was what got me my first job. If you can come to the role with the drive to think strategically and solve problems head on, everything else can be learnt on the job and I’ve always worked as a part of great teams that have really supported me.

I would also say that whilst it’s helpful to be confident talking to people and communicating your point of view, it’s okay if you don’t feel that way when you start out. My first job in fundraising helped me build my self-esteem in and outside of work, and I’m a lot more confident now than I was six years ago!

Want to find out more? Read the rest of our Working in an art gallery series.