Open Space Institute
With more than 50 years of experience in conservation, restoration, advocacy, and community engagement, the Open Space Institute (OSI) stands as a national leader in the environmental sector. Their impactful conservation efforts have protected 2.5 million acres across the Eastern US and Canada, while also enhancing outdoor access through park improvement initiatives and collaboration with grassroots organizations. As OSI underwent a period of transition and growth, they turned to Campbell & Company for expertise in structuring and expanding their development team.
What We Heard
At a time when OSI’s mission was more critical than ever, having a skilled and experienced development team was essential for its success. OSI’s Senior Vice President of Philanthropy, Jennie Greer, was responsible for aligning the team’s capabilities with the organization’s growth. OSI engaged Campbell & Company as a search partner to conduct simultaneous searches for Vice President of Institutional Giving and Senior Director of Individual Giving roles, as well as to provide research and outreach support for recruiting an Individual Giving Officer.
Our Impact
Campbell & Company began the search process with a deep dive to not only understand the specific requirements for the roles we were trying to fill, but to gain an understanding of OSI’s unique needs, challenges, and opportunities. We set out to find seasoned professionals with the skills and experience to successfully create and maintain relationships with donors and supporters to grow OSI’s development strategies. Given the constantly evolving dynamics in conservation, we sought candidates who were adaptable, flexible, and able to understand and communicate OSI’s unique position within the sector. While Campbell & Company has extensive networks and experience in the environmental sector, our search approach includes identifying diverse individuals with transferable skills and experiences across sectors, often times discovering talent in unexpected places. We brought forward strong pools of candidates, successfully placing a Senior Director of Individual Giving.
We know from our 20+ years of experience that development teams are not one-size-fits-all, and that the structure and responsibilities that are critical for the operation of one organization may be inefficient or irrelevant for another. This understanding allowed us to serve as a strategic advisor as the team was struggling to find the ideal fit for the Vice President role. Strategic discussions allowed us the creative opportunity to meet OSI’s need at that moment, guiding them to elevate an existing staff member who had demonstrated growth and leadership potential during the search process. Our partnership allowed us to provide key insights and recommendations to support OSI’s growth trajectory.
“Campbell & Company was an excellent partner. They blend top-notch expertise with a bespoke approach— I found them to be highly responsive, proactive in moving the process forward, and great advisors on questions that arose along the way. And most importantly, we ended up filling the roles with the right matches for our needs.”-Jennie Greer, Senior Vice President, Philanthropy
Results
The successful partnership between Campbell & Company and the Open Space Institute resulted in OSI’s Development Team gaining a Senior Director of Individual Giving, a strategic restructuring that created an opportunity for an internal promotion, and clear alignment on OSI’s unique needs. With the right people in the roles and the advantage of strategic insight, OSI’s Development Team strengthened their ability to continue supporting the organization’s leadership in conservation.
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