BRISTOL, Va. – Weeks after releasing their executive director because there was no money to pay his salary, leaders of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance want to hire a full-time fundraiser.
The Twin City-based nonprofit is currently accepting applications for the new position of development director.
Last month, BCMA leaders blamed the departure of longtime Executive Director Bill Hartley on insufficient funds in its general operating account to continue paying his $40,000 annual salary plus benefits.
The organization, meanwhile, has amassed about $6.4 million earmarked toward establishing a cultural heritage center in a vacant downtown building.
“We need a fundraiser more than anything else – more than an executive director,” alliance board Chairman Edd Hill said this week. “About a year ago, we looked at doing this, but the way the economy was, it didn’t seem like a good time.”
The alliance has received a number of applications for the position, which has been posted on its website, Hill said. A personnel committee is expected to begin reviewing the applicants next week.
The winning candidate likely will begin work around July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
The development director’s salary will be funded through a combination of grant money from the Tennessee Arts Commission and some savings because Administrative Assistant Suzanne Brewster is taking another job and will only be working part-time for the alliance, Hill said.
The development director’s duties will include being “responsible for a comprehensive development program that includes annual giving, membership, planned gifts, corporate and foundation support for both operations and capital support,” according to the listing.
The position is also responsible for planning, directing and coordinating development strategies for fundraising activities of the organization.
The focus will be on raising money for operations rather than the heritage center, said Kevin Triplett, chairman of the BCMA’s fundraising committee, which works almost exclusively on funding for the heritage center.
“They [director] will be more inclined and focused on operational aspects, identifying grants and identifying funding that is specifically out there to help organizations like the BCMA,” Triplett said.
The job listing spells out 17 other specific responsibilities, including coordinating grant writing, organizing and training volunteers, overseeing recordkeeping of donations, creating budgets, providing fundraising reports to an executive director and promoting the planned museum.
Hartley’s sudden departure prompted potential donors and the community to ask “hard” questions about the organization and its direction, Triplett said, adding that it also raised awareness about what the alliance is trying to accomplish.
“Once we show them we are building a plan and trying to be fiscally responsible, they have a different reaction to what we’re trying to do,” Triplett said. “They [donors] have to have a comfort level we’re building a plan instead of just hoping. Nobody who is going to give to the cultural heritage center, or operationally, is real big on giving to hope.”
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
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