ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
The Minnesota Humanities Center is a statewide nonprofit and full-service event center. MHC was founded in 1971, when the National Endowment for the Humanities began providing funding for state-based humanities programs. MHC has evolved over the decades beginning with educational programming exploring Minnesota’s people, sociology, and history. Public programming expanded in the 1990s with traveling exhibits, international speakers, published books and public events that examined the nation and the state’s diverse, difficult histories and potential future.

The Humanities Center continues to engage the state’s communities by exploring “absent narratives” —voices often left out or marginalized.

MISSION
Building a thoughtful, literate, and engaged society.

VALUES

• Build and strengthen relationships.
• Recognize the power of story and the danger of absence.
• Learn from and with multiple voices.
• Amplify community solutions for change.

PROGRAMS
Minnesota Humanities Center collaborates with organizations and people through education, partnerships, and public programs to inspire community conversations, forge deep connections, and illuminate authentic, diverse voices across the state — especially those left out, marginalized, or otherwise absent from education and public awareness.

Veterans’ Voices
Veterans’ Voices honors veterans’ contributions and empowers them to relay their experiences through plays, discussions, literature and the Veterans’ Voices Award.

The Warrior Writer Workshop provides a safe space for Veterans to tell their own stories, using prompts and discussion covering a variety of military issues and experiences.

We Are Water MN
Minnesota is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and headwaters to the Mississippi River. We are Water MN examines the practical, spiritual, and environmental roles of water in our lives. By creating relationships around water, networks are created that can promote positive social norms, and share a vision for and participate in water stewardship.

Native Nations of Minnesota examines our deep and meaningful relationships with Minnesota’s native nations. We learn from Dakota and Ojibwe people through stories of this land and its first people.

“Why Treaties Matter: Self-Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations” is a nationally recognized, award-winning, traveling exhibit made in partnership with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The exhibit explores relationships between Dakota and Ojibwe Indian Nations and the U.S. government in the Minnesota territory.

A companion site to the “Why Treaties Matter” exhibit, TreatiesMatter.org presents relationships as a context for examining Dakota and Ojibwe–U.S. treaties. Through videos, text, and teacher resources, hear authentic Dakota and Ojibwe stories of sovereignty, adaptability, and sustainability in this place now called Minnesota.

Community Conversations are public events for all Minnesotans who are interested learning from and with diverse communities and in exploring how the humanities can be a bridge between what divides and unites us.

K-12 Education continues the education legacy through workshops, online learning, and field trips that examine the manifold cultures alive across Minnesota. K-12 education work helps educators, students, and parents create success by closing the relationship gap that underlies and undercuts efforts to close the achievement gap. Experiences include:

Professional Development
Through workshops, retreats, and immersive trips, participants experience our approach and core values firsthand. Rigorous humanities content is complemented by activities that develop into practical strategies.

Educator Resources
The Minnesota Humanities Center is excited to offer resources that have been developed and created in partnership with community organizations from across the state. These resources have been carefully curated to help educators increase classroom engagement through the amplification of absent narratives.

Educator Institute
The annual Educator Institute immerses participants in the Humanities Center’s proven approach to increase student engagement through absent narratives — those voices often left out or marginalized. This experience, led by community scholars, prepares Minnesota educators to develop meaningful connections with their students and implement practical classroom strategies.

Omaha Public Schools
Since 2008, the Minnesota Humanities Center has partnered with Omaha Public Schools to provide professional development opportunities and educational resources to educators in the district. All work with Omaha Public Schools is funded by a generous grant from a private foundation.

THE POSITION
The position is open due to the retirement of David O’Fallon, who was president/CEO for eight years and secured strong relationships and a solid foundation for the organization during his tenure.

Working with the Board of Directors, the new CEO is charged with ensuring the Center’s vibrancy, growth, and innovative achievement within a constantly changing environment.  The CEO will exemplify strong vision and leadership, will embody creativity and curiosity as a leader, and will exhibit positive energy and personal and professional authenticity.

Essential Responsibilities:

BOARD RELATIONS:

• Engage the Board of Directors in shaping the vision for the Center’s future, actively soliciting their input on key priority issues in a timely, effective manner, and formulating recommendations for consideration by the Board and/or its respective committees based on that input and other considerations.
• Communicate, inform, discuss and guide the Board in affairs of the Center and in issues that require policy decisions, evaluations and direction for new policies, procedures or programs to improve the overall operation and effectiveness of the Center.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS:

• Develop and maintain constructive relationships with governmental offices including the Minnesota State Legislature, the national congressional offices, the Governor’s office, and local government.
• Engage effectively with the National Endowment for the Humanities and private sector funders.
• Build collaborative strategic alliances at the local, state, and national level to further advancement of the Center’s mission.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY:

• Develop appropriate annual and long-term financial objectives; lead the Center in consistently achieving these objectives, including a positive operating budget that allows for growth and builds reserves.
• Develop, manage, and diversify income streams to strategically grow earned and contributed revenue for the organization.

FUNDRAISING:

• Be responsible for setting and reaching fundraising goals per an annual fundraising plan with monthly assessments.
• Personally nurture and sustain close, productive relationships and collaborations with key donors, colleagues and friends of the Center who are in a position to advance the mission of the Center.
• Raise contributed income and grant dollars from individuals, community foundations, corporate foundations, government and other business partnerships.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

• Provide leadership and set a standard of excellence for all of the Center’s programs and activities.
• Responsible for creating an environment that attracts and retains diverse, high-quality staff.
• Recruit, motivate, retain and lead the development of a high-performance leadership team which provides leadership for staff in a manner that promotes initiative and creates individual growth opportunities.

STRATEGIC PLANNING:

• Create and communicate a clear strategy for achieving/expanding mission to staff, board and stakeholders.
• Develop and implement long- and short-term strategies and goals to assure that the Center fulfills its mission, is true to its core beliefs and uses its resources effectively.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The CEO reports to the Board of Directors and directly supervises a management team including the following roles:

• Chief Operating Officer
• Vice President
• Director of Communications
• Director of Development
• Executive Assistant

QUALIFICATIONS

• A clear vision of, and passion for, the importance of the humanities in education and public life.
• Significant experience in governmental relations and the ability to enhance relationships with the Minnesota State Legislature, members of Congress, private sector funders, and K-12 and post-secondary education leadership.
• Solid experience in planning, budgeting, board relations, and staff management.
• Vision, leadership skills, integrity, and an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Demonstrated cultural competency and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Excellent skills in verbal and written communication, synthesis, analysis, listening, and collaboration. Superb public speaking skills and experience.
• Substantial experience and a successful track record in fundraising and development.
• Passion for the mission and values of the Minnesota Humanities Center.
• A minimum of 7 years experience in a top-level organizational leadership position, preferably within a humanities-related organization.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
The compensation package for this position includes participation in the organization’s generous benefits plan.  The starting salary will be $175,000.

For more information or to apply, contact:

Lars Leafblad, MBA
Co-Founder/Principal
lars@ballingerleafblad.com

or

Marcia Ballinger, PhD
Co-Founder/Principal
marcia@ballingerleafblad.com

The Executive Director’s overarching responsibility will be to build the Save the Boundary Waters Campaign into a national movement to protect the clean water, clean air, and forested landscape of the Boundary Waters and its watershed, protecting the BWCA from toxic pollution and destruction caused by mining copper, nickel, and other metals.

This position will work collaboratively with the Board of Directors and the Volunteer National Campaign Chair and will have overall responsibility for vision, leadership and management of NMW.  The Executive Director will ensure NMW’s fiscal activities, operations, fundraising, marketing, human resources, technology, and campaign programming are effectively implemented across the organization and campaign.

Reporting Relationships

The Executive Director reports to the NMW Board of Directors. While the Campaign anticipates continued staff growth, the Executive Director currently leads a team of 13 full-time employees and numerous part-time staff and consultants, including the following leadership roles:

• Deputy Campaign Manager
• State Director
• Sporting Director
• Public Affairs Director
• Director of Communications
• Policy Director
• Director of Finance and Administration