Executive Director

Springboard for the Arts • St. Paul, MN

21h • Onsite

About The Position

Springboard for the Arts (Springboard) seeks an experienced leader to serve as its next Executive Director. The Executive Director provides overall leadership and strategy for Springboard by articulating a shared vision and purpose for the organization, working with organizational leadership to create a collaborative and effective organizational culture, and leading the teams responsible for fundraising, external relations, programming, staffing, and operations. The Executive Director is a visible advocate for artists, and participates in local and national thought leadership through writing, speaking, and representing Springboard in local, state-wide, regional, and national conversations and working groups. The Executive Director reports to a 9-12 member Board of Directors, leads a 21-member hybrid staff based in offices in Saint Paul and Fergus Falls, MN, and manages the operating budget of over $5 million and more than $14 million in net assets. Equity is foundational to Springboard’s work, whose priority communities include Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA+ artists, artists with disabilities, and artists living in rural places and underinvested urban neighborhoods.

About the opportunity Springboard is undertaking a planned leadership transition to strengthen its long-term sustainability and position the organization for its next stage of impact. Over the past five years, Springboard’s operating budget has grown by almost 50% driven by major initiatives including piloting one of the longest-running Guaranteed Income programs in the U.S., scaling its Emergency Relief Fund through a statewide partnership with MN’s regional arts councils, transforming a used car dealership into its new Saint Paul offices and public space, and establishing the national Creative Change Coalition. After operating at this increased scale, the board and staff recognized the need to focus the organization and right-size operations for long-term health. As part of this shift, Springboard’s Creative Change Coalition (CCC) is moving into a related but independent structure that the current Executive Director, Laura Zabel, will lead. This evolution enables both organizations’ work to thrive with greater focus, dedicated leadership, and operational flexibility, while keeping artists at the center of all decisions. With the current Executive Director transitioning to leadership of the CCC, Springboard seeks a new Executive Director to fully lead its strategy, culture, operations, fundraising, and local partnerships and programming. This new position will report to the Springboard Board of Directors and be responsible for leading Springboard in the future.

About Springboard Founded in 1991 as Resources and Counseling for the Arts, Springboard for the Arts is a nationally recognized artist-led community and economic development organization: by artists, for artists. Its mission is to support artists with the tools to make a living and a life, and to build just and equitable communities full of meaning, joy, and connection. From its dual offices in Saint Paul and Fergus Falls, Springboard delivers resources locally and nationally tailored to creative workers, and pilots bold ideas rooted in local contexts, assets, and needs. Springboard’s guiding principles center on the belief that how the work is done is as important as what is done. Springboard collaborates with and within existing resources and systems, especially outside of the traditional arts sector, both because there is abundant potential in these relationships, and because systems will be improved by engaging artists. Springboard builds bridges and mechanisms to connect artists as partners in system change. The goal of Springboard’s work is not a product, but rather the relationships that are sparked and will grow through working together. Beyond Springboard’s own work, the organization helps artists and organizations collaborate with each other and others in their communities. Springboard incorporates the expertise and experience of artists to create effective, responsive, and relevant programs and tools to support the interests and needs of artists and communities. Springboard uses the broadest definition of who an artist is, and builds its work through an intentional and creative process using collaboration, communication, iteration, and play. Springboard’s focus is on local artists in their own communities—an intentional strategy rooted in equity, anti-displacement, and repair of historic economic and cultural extraction. Springboard’s programs are deeply practical, providing direct resources and supports for artists and creative workers’ lives and livelihoods, while also focusing on longer term system change to build power and improve conditions for our communities. Springboard works nationally, regionally, and locally. In its two homes, Fergus Falls and Saint Paul, Springboard is a "doer." In other places, Springboard focuses on strengthening and supporting local ecosystems by connecting people, convening networks, fostering collaboration, sharing tools and resources, and advocating for community-driven work. The Springboard staff currently works on a hybrid schedule in an open office format with the requirement of three days in the office for most staff. The requirements of the position mean that the Executive Director is mainly an in-person position in the Saint Paul office location.

Requirements

• Demonstrated vision and strategic leadership experience and abilities.
• Systems thinking and ecosystem-building work.
• Innovative and entrepreneurial thinking in pursuit of an organization's strategic vision.
• Operational and financial management.
• Fundraising and resource generation.
• Relationship- and network-building.
• Equity-centered culture-building.
• Fostering an organization with a creative, collaborative, and strategic orientation.
• Knowledge and appreciation for the capabilities, potential contributions, and mindsets of artists and those with creative practices.
• Working for and with a board of directors.
• Nimbleness and flexibility, particularly in service to response to community needs.
• Strong relationships in Springboard’s immediate neighborhoods and communities and across Minnesota.
• Awareness of the issues and opportunities in these places; commitment to long-term relationship building with formal and informal leaders.
• Understanding the dynamics and importance of urban-rural solidarity in Minnesota and elsewhere.
• Actively involved in fundraising, prospecting, and relationship-building across many sectors and types of donors.
• Evidence of commitment to equity, inclusion, and access.
• Experience and comfort in the fields of community development, economic security, local economies, and social justice.
• Deep appreciation for and belief in artists is key to successful leadership of Springboard’s mission achievement and work.
• Cares deeply about system design and implementation and values-aligned organizational structures.
• Committed to mentorship and support of its leaders.

Nice To Haves

• A practicing artist, broadly defined as anyone who has an intentional creative practice, is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Leads the vision, strategic, programmatic, financial, and management operations of the organization, including regularly updating Springboard’s strategic framework and its broadly-owned guiding principles.
• Works with the Operations and Finance Director to ensure that the operations of the organization meet the programmatic needs of the mission.
• Identifies opportunities and needs for new programming, evaluates the relevance and impact of existing programs, and ensures that Springboard’s programs are aligned with its strategic framework, guiding principles, and the mission of the organization.
• Prioritizes listening to local and community voices, responsiveness to current events affecting our communities, and building durable collaborations with other organizations and leaders, both in and outside of the arts community.
• Ensures that financial strategy and resource allocation support programmatic goals, organizational values, and mission impact, working in close collaboration with the Operations & Finance Director on financial management and operational execution.
• Oversees the organization’s financial health, including the operating budget, balance sheet, capital assets, and contractual commitments, ensuring the ethical, effective use of resources and the responsible attraction and stewardship of financial support.
• Serves as the primary interface between the Board and the organization, ensuring that directors receive accurate and timely information and tools to support informed decision-making, strategic planning, and organizational growth.
• Collaborates in recommending, achieving, and maintaining the ideal composition of the Board and its committees, and fosters a culture of engagement that encourages active participation from each board member.
• Builds on a track record of resource-building with creativity, equity, and an abundance mindset.
• Plays a key role in sustaining and expanding funding partnerships, engaging directly with funders, and helping to shape strategy for growing individual giving.
• Plays a primary role in representing Springboard to stakeholders including artists, community leaders, donors, foundations, the press, and others who support and engage with the organization.
• Engages with local and national critiques of philanthropy and nonprofit structures, challenges these structures to be more human-centered, and is open and willing to implement new practices.
• Provides intellectual leadership and insight in developing future direction and programs for the organization.
• Is responsible for the clear and innovative framing and articulation of Springboard’s mission that influences program design, implementation, and overall communications strategy.
• Creates an organizational culture of equity, abundance, health, joy, and accountability, and actively fosters a collegial and collaborative environment internally.
• Builds and sustains an effective partnership with board members in service to Springboard’s mission.
• Ensures that Springboard attracts, supports, and retains a talented and diverse staff; that roles are clearly defined and appropriately resourced; and that teams are supported to work effectively and collaboratively in service of the organization’s programs and long-term growth and durability.
• Serves as a thought partner and collaborator to the three Program Directors.
• Serves as Springboard’s key advisor to the leadership of affiliated projects (fiscal sponsorship, re-granting initiatives, Creative Change Coalition), and coordinates national positioning, funder-facing communications, and public narrative to ensure their alignment and clarity with Springboard’s core work and mission.

Benefits

• 100% health insurance coverage for employee and 50% employer-paid for family members
• 100% dental insurance for employee
• 403(b) plan with 5% employer contribution match
• Generous paid time off, sick leave, vacation, sabbatical, semi-annual office closures, and holidays
• Flexible work schedule
• Creative, artist-led work environment

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees