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About ONE Archives Foundation

The ONE Archives Foundation is the oldest active LGBTQ+ organization in the United States. For more than seventy years, the ONE Archives Foundation has been realizing its vision as a foundational LGBTQ+ institution built by, because, and for the community. They tell stories that connect history and contemporary culture to affect social change—while cultivating the personal and communal courage found in LGBTQ+ history to empower the contemporary Queer experience, promote social justice, and equality for all.

The ONE Archives Foundation continues to expand the vision of what Queer history can be. Through dynamic exhibitions that acknowledge under-recognized LGBTQ+ histories, public programs, new and varied perspectives on Queer culture, and K-12 educational initiatives that bring LGBTQ+ history to high school classrooms in California and beyond, the ONE Archives Foundation is at the forefront of promoting and redefining Queer culture locally, nationally, and across the globe.

The ONE Archives Foundation serves as the independent community partner of ONE Archives at USC Libraries, and through an agreement with USC, a key community collaborator. In 2010, the ONE Archives Foundation gifted to the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries its archival collection of more than 3 million pieces of LGBTQ+ history. As such, USC Libraries now house the ONE Archives Collection as a special collection within the USC library system. This historical collection is now the world’s largest archive dedicated to collecting and preserving LGBTQ+ history, art, equality movement, and culture for the benefit of current and future generations.

Additionally, the ONE Archives Foundation manages a gallery/event space in the West Hollywood through an in-kind lease between the City of West Hollywood and USC, and also collaborates with archives collections, historical societies, and document repositories across the country.

The ONE Archives Foundation is an independent nonprofit with its own budget and governance under the leadership of its Board of Directors. It is a small and dynamic organization that requires visionary executive leadership as well as hands on management in partnership with staff. The organization maintains a healthy reserve and an annual budget of $700,000 to $1 million.

For more information on the ONE Archives Foundation, please visit their website.

The Opportunity, Main Focus, and Key Responsibilities

The ONE Archives Foundation seeks a strategic, forward-thinking leader who can bring an entrepreneurial perspective to its work and build on past success. The Executive Director is charged with the strategic leadership, management, and direction of the organization.

A successful Executive Director will:

• Lead with a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion principles across the organization and its programming.
• Partner effectively with the Board to develop a guiding vision of the organization’s future.
• Achieve robust financial growth.
• Conceive and direct the organization’s program agenda according to strategic goals.
• Balance effective leadership of major initiatives with attention to organizational management.
• Increase the organization’s visibility, impact, and leadership within the LGBTQ+ and Ally communities.
• Expand partnerships and collaborative relationships with relevant public and private sector entities.
• Enhance the organization’s public profile as its primary spokesperson and “public face.”

The Executive Director is responsible for long-range planning, fund development, Board relations, marketing and media strategy, external and government relations, employee management, and program planning and oversight. The Executive Director must work effectively with the USC Libraries administrators, staff, archivists, curators, and University Provost’s office leadership. Also important are relationships with external constituents, including individual donors; corporate and foundation funders; elected officials; and nonprofit partners. The Executive Director is the ONE Archives Foundation’s “advocate-in-chief,” articulating the value of keeping LGBTQ+ history visible for generations to come.

Responsibilities also include collaboration with the Board as a whole and with individual members. Executive Director will also provide leadership in the following areas:

Fundraising

• Works with the Board to raise funds by strengthening existing relationships, cultivating new donors, and by expanding opportunities for earned income.
• Works with the Board and Staff to develop and maintain traditional as well as innovative fundraising strategies.
• Develop a multi-year funding plan to meet annual budget goals.
• Maintain and expand relationships to build a reliable revenue stream from individual donors, foundations, corporations, government entities, and other funding sources.
• Personally manage a portfolio of major donors and prospects, and lead Board and committee members on fundraising.
• Manage the planning and implementation of fundraising events.
• Manage the organization’s donor and partner database to include data entry and reporting (Bloomerang and MailChimp).
• Manage marketing efforts to include direct mail, social media, analytics and acquisition strategy, and e-communications.
• Serve as “chief development writer,” managing all letters of inquiry, proposals, and renewals for funding from Institutional and Government Funders. Assure accordance with reporting requirements.

Finance

• Demonstrate competence in the development and understanding of all financial documents including budgets, cash flow, income statements, balance statements, and statements of functional expenses as well as understand the basics of a 990-tax return, financial reviews/audits, and compliance.
• Work with the Board Treasurer and CPA firm on the annual financial review and tax filings.
• Develop the annual budget and operating plan, ensuring proper fiscal accounting and controls.
• Supervise the independent bookkeeper and operations consultant; manage accounts payable.
• Ensure compliance with all legal, fiduciary, local, state, and federal entities.
• Manage payroll and benefits, to include processing of payroll and working with insurance brokers.

Board Governance

• Works closely and collaboratively with the Board, utilizing the knowledge, skills and experience of Board members to periodically evaluate and fulfill the organization’s mission.
• With the Board, determine and refine organizational vision, goals and policies.
• Support and collaborate with the Board Chair and Executive Committee on the organization’s fiduciary and strategic initiatives.
• Support and drive Board recruitment activities.
• Evaluate current programs/priorities and develop a strategic planning process.
• Staff liaison to all Board Committees.
• Prepare all Board meeting materials, including taking Board meeting minutes.

Programming

• Working with various constituents, prepare a content strategy to guide programming decisions, including relevance, impact, and audiences.
• Maintain and grow the K-12 education program, to include professional development for educators, the Youth Ambassador for Queer History Program, and implementation of the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, Respectful) Education Act.
• Manage community programming, to include virtual programs and exhibitions.
• Expand the LGBTQ+ Research Fellowship Program in collaboration with USC and archives across the country.

Staff Management

• Provide leadership and management of staff to build and nurture an organizational culture that amplifies a transparent vision, vibrant teamwork, and accountability.
• Inspire, energize, coach, and develop a diverse team with multiple perspectives and talents, and motivate and collaborate, actively seeking input from all staff.
• Hire qualified staff needed to achieve program goals and support administrative functions.
• Manage the annual review process of staff.
• Plan and execute the allocation of available resources to achieve the organization’s mission and strategy most effectively to include working with consultants and independent contractors.

Organizational Guidance

• Maintain and expand operational and technological systems to ensure organizational growth, to include human resources, finances, data management, property management, website development, marketing and communications, social media, and earned revenue streams.
• Work with USC’s Vice Provost’s office and USC/ONE Archives Foundation liaison to steward the relationship and agreement between the ONE Archives Foundation and the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
• Consult with legal and finance professionals as needed.

Communications/Community Relations

• Serve as the primary liaison to external organizations.
• Serve as the organization’s liaison and spokesperson to the public, funders, the media, and other constituents and allies.
• Approve all press releases and press inquiries; be available for interviews and speaking engagements as needed.

Facility Management

• Work with the City of West Hollywood’s Facilities Department to maintain the ONE Gallery in West Hollywood.
• Manage all facility upgrades related to programs and exhibitions, as well as regular facility maintenance, to include cleaning schedule, extermination, painting, and manage security for the space, including working with insurance broker.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will have a distinguished record of executive leadership. The position requires significant leadership and fundraising capability stemming from strategic thinking, intellectual curiosity, creativity, and hands-on fundraising and management experience. The candidate should have a demonstrated ability to assure an organization’s ongoing success and growth, to lead the board and staff development, and to increase the organization’s reach and profile, including within the K-12 education space.

The Board is seeking an individual with genuine motivation, solid professionalism, excellent communication skills, strong planning and organizing talents, and an orientation to teamwork.  Above all, the candidate must be deeply passionate about the ONE Archives Foundation’s stated purpose of making the history, contemporary experience and humanity of the LGBTQ+ community an integral part of the greater social whole.

Additionally, the ideal candidate will have the following professional competencies and personal characteristics:

Connection to the Mission

The Executive Director will have experience in and a deep personal commitment to the lived experience of the LGBTQ+ communities, ideally in the areas of LGBTQ+ history and/or social movement work. They will have appreciation and passion for the multiple dimensions within our communities and will be excited to create a platform to reflect those stories with authenticity, joy, and meaning. The Executive Director will have a strong commitment to racial, gender, and economic justice and will ensure these values will be reflected in every aspect of the Foundation. An unpretentious individual of unquestionable integrity and ethics, the Executive Director will possess good judgment and exude both credibility and an enthusiasm for the work at hand. Bringing a social justice and activist lens, the Executive Director will apply organizing skills to uniting people with disparate experiences and opinions around a shared historical and cultural hub. 

Strategy and Entrepreneurship

The Executive Director will be an inspiring leader and visionary thinker with the ability to create a culture of inclusion, excitement, and energy. They will have the capacity to think strategically about the LGBTQ+ movement for equality and the organization’s role within it. This individual will be capable of establishing a clear and understandable vision for amplifying the visibility of LGBTQ+ history and engaging the entire community, including communities of color, in the implementation of the vision and goals. The Executive Director will be an innovative and strategic thinker who embraces and excels at bringing ideas together to build upon the organization’s legacy. This individual will have experience planning and executing programs that includes ongoing maintenance and potential expansion. A problem solver, they must understand the subtleties of motivating and directing, as well as delegating, handling, and prioritizing multiple activities and responsibilities. They will be a practiced leader and advocate who can negotiate graciously and diplomatically, while remaining decisive, proactive, and fair.

Fundraising and External Affairs

The Executive Director will have meaningful leadership and management experience, preferably gained in complex organizations that bring together diverse audiences; prior nonprofit management experience is beneficial, but not a prerequisite. Ideal candidates will have a demonstrated track record of success in fundraising and engaging donors around a compelling mission through strategic partnerships, government alliances, private philanthropy, and/or individual giving. Bringing an established network of donors to the role is a plus; this proven fundraiser will be a flexible, confident, and self-motivated thought partner who will work with the Board of Directors in identifying and devising development strategies for the ONE Archives Foundation in order to strengthen its resource base. The Executive Director is an effective influential communicator, possessing strong verbal and written advocacy skills and the capacity to articulate the ONE Archives Foundation’s mission to audiences both within and outside of the LGBTQ+ community writ large and advance the organization’s profile through marketing, media outreach, external and government relations. This individual will have an inspired ability to listen intently to a variety of constituent groups, synthesize input, make decisions, and share information broadly in order to build consensus and support for action with a clearly articulated vision. The Executive Director will be a visible and articulate advocate for the organization both locally and nationally.

Organizational Leadership and Management

A proven leader, the Executive Director brings proven strengths in maintaining budgetary and fiscal controls and sound administrative procedures. They will be equally effective operating independently as well as on teams, and they will have been successful in building a cohesive, collaborative, and joyful work environment. They will bring a positive track record in recruiting, mentoring, and retaining a diverse and talented team, with a strong commitment to supporting the professional development of all staff. The Executive Director will ideally have experience managing and developing Boards and ensuring Board engagement. This individual will lead with new ideas that are responsive to changing attitudes and technologies. They will have demonstrated leadership in coalition building and implementing programs and initiatives and institutional practices that support the organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) values and serve the outcomes of social equity, inclusion, and justice, both internally and externally.

Compensation & Benefits

The Executive Director target salary range is between $120,000-$150,000, based on experience level, with a generous benefits package including relocation.

Contact

Stephen Milbauer of Koya Partners has been exclusively retained for this search. To make recommendations or to express interest in this role please submit a compelling cover letter and resume here or email [email protected]. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.

Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

The ONE Archives Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other category protected by local, state, or federal laws. The Foundation is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive staff team. We strongly encourage applicants who are people of color, LGBTQ, women, people with disabilities; and/or formerly incarcerated people.

About Koya Partners

Koya Partners, a part of Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.

For more information about Koya Partners, visit www.koyapartners.com.