Clarissa McCoid (MFIA)
Senior Consultant
Global Philanthropic

Clarissa has over 20 years’ experience in securing private and public funding within the Australian not for profit, government and private sectors. She is well known for her innovative thinking and systematic approach to philanthropy and fundraising.

Having gained recognition as a young entrepreneur in the public art and theatre design industries in the build-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Clarissa has enjoyed a successful career in the Australian arts industry as practitioner and senior bureaucrat. She worked as Resident Designer for the Darwin Theatre Company and as Founding Director of the Blacktown Arts Centre, fostering contemporary arts development with NSW’s largest population of Aboriginal people and multicultural communities. She subsequently held the roles of Arts and Cultural Development Broker for Arts NSW in partnership with the NSW Premiers Department, and Strategic Programs Manager at the Bundanon Trust.

Clarissa moved to Hobart in 2012 to serve as Fundraising and Engagement Manager for the dynamic not-for-profit, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC). During her time with the TLC, Clarissa significantly increased fundraising through annual land acquisition campaigns and the growth of the TLC Foundation endowment fund. Clarissa directed a dynamic team across all aspects of fundraising, including philanthropic strategy, regular giving, major gifts, donor relations and bequests. Under her stewardship, the organisation’s average fundraising cost ratio remained stable at 6%.

Her expertise in philanthropy, the arts and the natural environment saw her manage The Skullbone Experiment, a targeted linkage partnership that gained national and international media coverage and cultivated a new donor base for the TLC.

She has consulted to the Australian Department of the Environment and Energy developing a Philanthropy Strategy for the Australian Antarctic Division and as a donor relations expert to the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. Clarissa has recently helped to deliver a significant campaign study for National Gallery Singapore, including contributing to the campaign strategy for this global campaign effort. Clarissa’s further consulting clients include St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School (Perth) and Loreto Kirribilli (Sydney).