Executive Director

Position Summary

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director (ED) will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for Monk Botanical Gardens' staff, programs, expansion, and execution of its mission. This position is based in Wausau, Wisconsin, with the intent to be largely in person and on-site.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Management (45%)

• Ensure ongoing local programmatic excellence, rigorous program evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems; recommend timelines and resources needed to achieve the strategic goals.
• Actively engage and energize Monk Botanical Gardens' volunteers, board members, event committees, partnering organizations, and funders.
• Develop, maintain, and support a strong Board of Directors; serve as ex-officio of selected committees; seek and build board involvement with strategic direction for ongoing operations.
• Hire, lead, coach, develop, evaluate, and retain Monk Botanical Gardens' high-performance staff team.
• Ensure effective systems to track progress and regularly evaluate program components to measure successes that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and other constituents.

Communications & Fund Development (45%)

• Lead efforts for community engagement to establish consistent and clear communication of organizations’ operations, capital projects with volunteers, donors, and the broader community.
• Serve as a chief spokesperson for Monk Botanical Gardens with media and other organizations interested in the current status of operations or events to foster open, transparent dialogue with all community stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain ongoing relationships with major donors and prospects, including individuals, corporations, governments, and foundations.
• Expand local revenue-generating and fundraising activities to support existing program operations and the master plan development.
• Deepen and refine all aspects of communications—from web presence to external relations to create a stronger brand.
• Use external presence and relationships to garner new opportunities.
• Write grants to support projects and operations.   
• Work with the Development Director to set goals and outcomes for the annual fundraising plan.
• Work with the Development Director to identify and arrange logistics for speaking opportunities with high fundraising potential.
• Meet with major donors and other funders.
• Lead capital campaigns as needed.  

General Administration (5%)

• Be the representative for all employee benefits and manage as needed.  
• Work with bookkeeper to maintain finances and file reports on an as-needed basis, including 990 and other related filings.  
• Maintain all licenses as required.

Planning & New Business (5%)

• Work with the BOD to revise and implement the strategic plan.
• Begin to build partnerships statewide, establishing relationships with the funders and political and community leaders.
• Be an external presence that publishes and communicates program results with an emphasis on the local program's successes.

Qualifications

The ED will be thoroughly committed to Monk Botanical Gardens' mission. All candidates should have proven leadership, coaching, and relationship management experience.

Specific requirements include:

• Ability to work on-site in Wausau, Wisconsin.
• Bachelor's degree required, Master's preferred, or equivalent work experience for a non-profit entity.
• A minimum of 5 years of senior management experience; track record of effectively leading an outcomes-based organization and staff; ability to point to specific examples of having developed and operationalized strategies that have taken an organization to the next stage of growth.
• Unwavering commitment to quality programs and data-driven program evaluation.
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage and develop high-performance teams, and set and achieve strategic objectives.
• Ability to develop, prepare, manage, and assume responsibility of all budget accountabilities.
• Past success working with a Board of Directors with the ability to cultivate existing board member relationships.
• Strong marketing, public relations, and fundraising experience with the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders and cultures.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills.
• Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, and innovative approach to business planning.
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people.
• Passion, idealism, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed.

Compensation

This is a full-time salaried position, with salary based on candidate’s experience. PTO, Simple IRA, and other benefits included.