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Laurel Hill Fundraiser Moves to Art Foundation

Philadelphia Business Journal
Friday, August 22, 2008
 

Ross Mitchell is leaving Laurel Hill Cemetery to become the first full-time executive director of the Violette de Mazia Foundation, an art appreciation foundation in Wayne, effective next month.

His position as executive director of the cemetery’s marketing and fundraising branch, the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery, was one of first salaried positions in the nonprofit’s 30-year history when he joined in 2004.

In that role, he set out to re-brand the cemetery as a tourism destination and raise a $4 million endowment to make the Friends self-sustaining. He said that fundraising efforts are still needed for the cemetery, which loses 300 headstones to weathering each year but can afford to restore only about a third of them. “The next director needs to work on that,” said Mitchell. “They’ll probably bring somebody in with good, strong fundraising experience.”
Mitchell has served on the board of the Violette de Mazia Foundation for a year and a half.

The foundation’s mission is to teach art and aesthetic appreciation. It offers classes at LaSalle and West Chester universities, the Main Line Center for the Arts, and Widener University.

“I come from an arts background,” Mitchell said. “I’ve always hoped that a position would open up there.”
Mitchell hopes to expand the foundation’s educational programming, improve its Web site and increase marketing.
 

Alexandra Scaggs