STOCKBRIDGE, MA.- Norman Rockwell Museum announced today the hiring of Charles Urquhart, an experienced fundraiser with strong family ties to the Berkshires, as Associate Director for Museum Advancement, the Museum's top development position. Urquhart began work at the Museum on September 9.
"I am delighted to welcome Charlie to our Museum leadership at this exciting time," says Laurie Norton Moffatt, Director/CEO of Norman Rockwell Museum. "We are heading into the fall of our 40th anniversary, following a successful and rewarding year of celebration and new initiatives."
Last February, Norman Rockwell Museum announced the launch of the public phase of its comprehensive campaign, "Sharing Rockwell's Legacy," with $18 million raised, including $10 million in gifts and pledges of artwork, toward a goal of $25 million. The campaign provides essential funding for cutting-edge programs, exhibitions, and special initiatives vital to the Museum's future, as well as endowment support and contributions to the Museum's Norman Rockwell holdings and growing collection of illustration art. Also in February, the Museum launched its Berkshire Campaign, chaired by Trustees Perri Petricca and Mark Selkowitz.
"Charlie brings to Norman Rockwell Museum an impressively broad range of development experience, especially in the areas of major gifts and capital campaigns," says Shirley Ferguson Jenks, an independent development professional currently serving as fundraising counsel to the Museum.
"His experience and talents are extremely well suited to our array of fundraising needs and opportunities," notes Norton Moffatt. "The Museum looks forward to Charlie's leadership and national perspectives." Urquhart has been in the development field for 12 years. He began his fundraising career in 1997 as a foundation grants officer with the Environmental Defense Fund, followed by work in foundations/grants with Human Rights Watch, the international advocacy and research organization. In 2001, Charles joined CCS Fund Raising, a leading fundraising and management consulting firm, where he served as resident counsel for organizations including the Archdiocese of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Women in Need ($7 million campaign goal), and the United States Fund for UNICEF ($100 million campaign goal). While at CCS, he also wrote feasibility/planning studies for the United Nations Association-USA Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign, Global Reporting Initiative, and Trustees of Reservations, among others.
In 2005, Urquhart joined the staff of Women in Need, an organization dedicated to providing shelter and counseling for women and children, as Director of Individual and Planned Giving. In 2007, he affiliated with the Interim Solutions practice at Jeanne Sigler & Associates in New York, serving in a senior development capacity at two non-profit organizations in transition: Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University's Miller Theatre.
Urquhart is the son of Sir Brian Urquhart of Tyringham, Mass., a writer and former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations. A graduate of Hobart College, he holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He and his wife and son recently relocated to the Berkshires.
