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GETTYSBURG FOUNDATION
PRESIDENT

Gettysburg Foundation, located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, seeks to recruit a President. Gettysburg Foundation is a private, nonprofit educational organization working in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg. The history of the birth and establishment of Gettysburg Foundation is important to understanding the natural transition of leadership faced by the organization today.

President

The President of the Foundation will report to the board chair and a national board of directors, which is comprised of leaders from business, nonprofit, public policy, academia, and the philanthropic sectors.

The President will be called upon to lead a strategic vision and plan to finish raising $150+ million to support the work of developing the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center and the restoration of the battlefield. This includes the Defense of Cemetery Hill Project and the restoration of the Spangler Farm Project. The overall campaign has raised $110 million of the total project costs. The Foundation has moved through a natural transition for an organization from an intense capital campaign phase of the work, into a long-term operational and programming focus. As a result, the overall financial development program is currently neither out of the capital campaign mode nor totally into the business of supporting operations and programming as well as membership and development. It is critical that this transition continues to be managed well.

In confronting this challenge, the Board has defined a set of broad areas of engagement:

• Cultivate and identify major donors and meet with them to articulate the vision of the Gettysburg Foundation and be able to engage them to provide resources. It is estimated this development component will amount to 50% or more of the focus of the President and involve significant travel.

• Provide needed assistance to Gettysburg National Military Park in helping to preserve and rehabilitate the battlefield and other historic resources.

• Continue to work to sustain, expand and enhance the Foundation’s working relationship with the National Park Service.

• Continue the development and recruitment of a diverse national board that is involved and helps to fulfill the Foundation’s mission.

• A strong management style that will allow the President to supervise, lead, work with, and depend on a management team of professionals, who are charged with the challenge to:

  • Increase productivity by continually seeking ways to reduce costs and streamline organizational efficiencies - monitoring and controlling staff costs;

  • Provide the highest visitor service experience for all visitors in a welcoming, friendly and informative manner;

  • Develop programs that increase the appreciation for Gettysburg and its lasting significance and support the operation goals of the Museum and Visitor Center;

  • Develop and implement a comprehensive integrated marketing plan that increases the recognition of, and support for, the goals of Gettysburg Foundation and the organization’s funding needs through increased ticket sales and enhanced funding; and

  • Provide for a stable and growing donor base that supports the ongoing needs of the Foundation and the Gettysburg National Military Park.

The President must possess a vision and an ability to support the Foundation’s goals. Because so much of what this person will do involves building and maintaining trust with individual donors, public policy and community leaders, and federal and state agency leaders, the President must have the presence, judgment, and personal capabilities to operate as a peer with political, corporate, nonprofit, philanthropic, and other voluntary leadership in the country.

The critical challenge for the President is to ensure that the future is secure. It is a challenge that calls for leadership in the continuing articulation of the mission with particular creativity, energy, and experience in raising the necessary resources required to launch and sustain the overall project. The President should be a person who possesses strong organizational development skills capable of taking the Foundation from an entrepreneurial style of operation to a more advanced fundraising and program style with an exciting and important future.

Beyond these goals, the President should ideally possess the following professional qualifications and personal attributes:

• A passion for the history of the Civil War era and a passionate commitment to the mission of the Foundation and a commitment to the ideals and role of the Gettysburg National Military Park as an important legacy in America.

• Demonstrated experience in developing and administering a comprehensive fundraising program including individual donor, corporate and foundation solicitation, capital campaign activities, direct mail, and other revenue generating programs.

• A capacity to involve and mobilize people, particularly leaders, volunteers and peers in joint and shared enterprises.

• A commitment to develop world-class education and leadership programs.

• Successful experience in developing and managing a complex budget.

• Communication skills to nourish our partnership with the Gettysburg National Military Park and National Park Service.

• A management style that is goal oriented, but flexible; that respects the capabilities and independence of volunteers and staff alike, but provides them with a clear sense of direction.

• Ability to think strategically, tactically and creatively.

• Articulate, with a proven ability, listen, write and speak well.

• Visionary, diplomatic, and innovative.

• Trustworthy and possessing the highest level of personal and professional integrity and quality standards.

• High energy level and possessing a keen sense of humor.

• Bachelor’s degree required and a graduate degree in business, public policy, law or other allied field is preferred.

Compensation

Compensation established for this position includes a base salary, performance-based incentives and an excellent package of employee and health benefits.

Organizational Overview

On November 23, 1999, the National Park Service signed the Final General Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement (GMP), which provides management guidance for the Park for the next 25 years. The National Park Service selected a proposal submitted by Kinsley Equities, a Kinsley family partnership, to form a non-profit foundation that would develop a new visitor and museum facility. It would incorporate new collections storage, museum and visitor center space with interpretative exhibits and venues, restoration of the Cyclorama painting, “The Battle of Gettysburg”, and rehabilitation the historic appearance of the Ziegler’s Grove.

In launching the project, Mr. Kinsley formed the Gettysburg Foundation, and the Kinsley Family Foundation made donations to the Gettysburg Foundation. The donations were made in order to complete the purchase of the site for the museum and visitor center, two additional nearby related parcels and to fund all the studies that have been required, including wetlands, endangered species, archeological and traffic studies. The partnership also calls for the Foundation to operate the Museum and Visitor Center on behalf of the NPS for twenty years – until September 2028 – at no cost to the NPS. In accordance with the agreement between NPS and the Foundation, the Foundation has the authority to collect all revenues generated by operations of the new facility. In July 2000, Dr. Robert Wilburn, former President, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and former Secretary of Education for Pennsylvania and President of Indiana University of Pennsylvania agreed to serve as the founding President and CEO of the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation. Mr. Wilburn has retired as President but retains a role on the Board of Directors.

Today, Gettysburg Foundation actually represents the alignment of two very active and very dedicated groups: The Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation and the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg. The two organizations merged – becoming Gettysburg Foundation – in mid-2006. In April 2008, Gettysburg Foundation, working in partnership with the National Park Service, opened the new $103 million Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park.

Gettysburg Foundation’s annual budget contains three distinct program areas: Museum and Visitor Center and Tour operations, Support for the National Park Service, and Membership Programs and Development. The Membership Programs and Development budget are self-sufficient; i.e., neither of these activities draws upon the revenues from the Museum and Visitor Center’s operating budget. The Museum and Visitor Center depends upon three primary sources of revenue: Ticket sales to the Cyclorama, Film and Museum and tour operations, museum book store commissions, and food service commissions. Gettysburg Battlefield received approximately 1.1 million visitors in 2009. Museum and Visitor Center attendance was approximately 725,000 and 575,000 visitors purchased tickets to the Cyclorama, Film and Museum. The FY 2010 operating budget is about $9 million and the Foundation’s current professional staff is 80 full, part-time and seasonal Foundation staff during peak season. A 25-member Board of Directors meets three times a year at Gettysburg.

The enduring legacy of Gettysburg and its place in the nation’s history provide a rare opportunity to discuss and understand the roots of democratic society. As it was thoughtfully stated in the Final GMP:

“The Civil War was a dramatic national struggle that touched the lives of every American alive then. The war, this battle, and the Gettysburg Address helped define the ideals of freedom that we, as a nation, still strive to achieve today.”

To Apply

Interested candidates should send their resume via e-mail to:
Daniel Sherman
President
Explore Company
resumes@explorecompany.com  attn: Gettysburg Foundation

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