Lisa Brown

Lisa Brown is a Consultant in GG+A’s Arts & Culture practice, bringing two decades of experience in development and strategic management to the firm. Having served in key advancement roles at prestigious cultural institutions, such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lisa drives positive institutional transformation by building meaningful relationships with donors, volunteers, and other high-level stakeholders. Her expertise includes annual giving, Board relations, corporate sponsorship, stewardship, strategic planning, and more.  

Prior to joining GG+A, Lisa served as the Senior Director of Development for the Music Institute of Chicago. As a member of the senior leadership team, she grew annual contributions by 21% in one year by strengthening donor acquisition, stewardship, and prospect management. Lisa also worked closely with the Board to elevate engagement with philanthropy, enhance Board management systems and policies, and develop a trustee recruitment strategy to support the organization’s revenue growth and DEI goals. 

Earlier in her career, Lisa was the Manager of Corporate Sponsorship for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. There, she stewarded global partnerships, cultivated new relationships with Fortune 500 companies, and negotiated sponsorships yielding more than $1 million. She then served as the Director of Development at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, a mid-level regional arts center, before transitioning to her role as the Director of Leadership Annual Giving at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA).  

At the PMA, Lisa managed all phases of the fundraising cycle and collaborated with colleagues, institutional leadership, and the Board to secure more than $5 million in leadership support annually. During the quiet phase of the Museum’s $425-million comprehensive campaign, Lisa worked closely with the Associates Advisory Committee to align program messaging and engagement touchpoints with campaign objectives. She also acted as a liaison to the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a separate fundraising arm that raised more than $1 million annually in support of Museum initiatives. 

Lisa later became the President and CEO of The Center for Emerging Visual Arts in Philadelphia. In addition to serving as the primary liaison with constituents, donors, and the Board of Directors, she crafted strategies to enhance contributed and earned revenue streams and led the organization through a multiyear strategic planning process.  

Additionally, Lisa has worked overseas managing sponsorships and major partnerships for the Hallé Concerts Society in the United Kingdom. She built and activated mutually beneficial collaborations with the business sector that yielded £500,000 annually for the organization and created tailored platforms for businesses to work alongside Hallé to engage employees and serve the community. Moreover, Lisa served as a liaison with prospects and donors in the United States to enhance the Hallé’s American Friends program. 

Lisa earned her Bachelor of Fine Art and Master of Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University and received a Designing Leadership Certificate from the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia. She has served as a presenter and panelist representing arts and culture for convenings hosted by Drexel University, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and others. She has also authored articles for the NCECA Journal (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) and Generations magazine. An active volunteer, Lisa served on the Christian St. YMCA Annual Fund Committee and the St. Ann’s Hospice Capital Campaign Committee (Manchester, UK), as well as on the Boards for the Center for Emerging Visual Artists and Collab at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  

Clients:

• Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake 
• Canada’s National Ballet School 
• Drexel University 
• Filoli Historic House and Garden 
• Folger Shakespeare Library 
• Museum of Glass 
• Occidental College 
• PBS North Carolina 
• Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 
• Perot Museum of Nature and Science 
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music 
• Sarasota Orchestra 
• Southern Environmental Leadership Council 
• Texas Children’s Hospital 
• University of Tennessee Medical Center