DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT: FOUNDATION GIVING
Harlem Stage
Reports to: CEO & Artistic Director
Harlem is our home. The world is our stage.
There are institutions that preserve culture. And then there are institutions that set it free.
Founded in 1983, Harlem Stage stands as a living, breathing platform for artistic freedom; where the voices, visions, and virtuosity of the Global Majority are not only centered, but unleashed. We exist for the artists who dare. The stories that resist erasure. The ideas that shape what comes next.
We are not bound by tradition; we are propelled by possibility.
A stage to create fearlessly.
To present boldly.
To educate endlessly.
To question relentlessly.
To engineer equity where it has long been denied.
This is Harlem Stage.
The stage that sets untold stories free.
The Opportunity
We are seeking a Director of Development: Foundation Giving; a strategist, a storyteller, a builder of belief.
This is not a conventional development role. This is an invitation to help shape the future of a cultural institution at a moment of transformation.
Reporting to the CEO & Artistic Director, you will lead Harlem Stage’s foundation partnerships as intellectual, creative, and philanthropic alliances; relationships rooted not in transaction, but in shared vision.
We are entering a new chapter; one not anchored by legacy, but buoyed by possibility. A chapter that asks:
What is the role of art in a divided democracy?
What does it mean to invest in imagination as infrastructure?
How do we build institutions that are as bold as the artists they serve?
Your work will help answer these questions with clarity, courage, and conviction.
What You Will Build
A Portfolio of Possibility
You will design and drive a foundation strategy that secures transformational, multi-year investments, building on 43 years of longstanding partnerships, fueling Harlem Stage’s artistic, educational, and global ambitions.
You will not simply grow revenue.
You will build a constellation of partners who see themselves in this work and know it cannot move forward without them.
Relationships that Matter
You will cultivate foundation leaders as thought partners; engaging them in dialogue, in vision, in the shaping of what this institution can become.
You will position Harlem Stage not as a recipient of funding, but as a generator of ideas, influence, and impact.
A Case for Belief
You will craft proposals, concept papers, and reports that do more than inform; they move people.
You will translate artistic excellence, educational depth, and institutional ambition into narratives that are precise, powerful, and impossible to ignore.
You will help foundations understand that investing in Harlem Stage is not charity.
It is participation in building a more expansive and just world.
Stewardship as Practice
You will ensure that every foundation partner feels the depth of their impact; through thoughtful engagement, rigorous reporting, and meaningful connection to the work.
You will hold both the data and the poetry of impact. Both the metrics and the meaning.
Alignment Across Vision
You will work across teams: programming, education, marketing, finance to ensure that funding strategies are not siloed, but integrated into the full life of the institution.
Because at Harlem Stage, everything is in service of the story.
Who You Are
You are a builder of strategy, of relationships, of trust.
You are a writer of clear, compelling, and visionary stories.
You are a listener; attuned to what foundations seek, and what this moment demands.
You understand that:
- Foundation giving is about alignment, not access
- Philanthropy, at its best, is an act of imagination and responsibility
- The arts are not peripheral; they are central to how we understand ourselves and each other
You have a track record of securing significant foundation support.
But more importantly, you have a track record of building belief.
Why This Role Matters
We are living in a time of fracture and of profound possibility.
At Harlem Stage, we believe artists are essential workers in the shaping of a more just, truthful, and expansive society and they deserve the resources to do this critical work.
We believe cultural institutions must be more than presenters.
They must be first responders to the human condition.
This role exists because the future we are building requires partners who are willing to invest not only in programs, but in possibility itself.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive salary, commensurate with experience: $120,000 to $150,000, based on experience.
- Four-day work week (M-TH)
- Medical, Dental, Vision, and Wellness Benefits
Join Us
This is not a job for someone seeking maintenance. This is for someone called to movement.
For someone who understands that the right partnership can shift not just an organization, but a field.
For someone who wants to stand at the intersection of art, equity, and imagination and say:
Let’s build what does not yet exist.
Let’s set it free.