Regional Director, Twin Cities

Food Connect is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bridging the gaps in our food system to build healthier communities. We are passionate about leveraging technology and existing community efforts to bring about a more thoughtful, sustainable, and connected food system. There are amazing initiatives happening all over the world, but so much momentum is lost when there is no easy way to connect and collaborate in real time. We are building solutions to help lower the barriers to collaboration and increase efficiencies in food distribution and collaboration to drive better health outcomes for communities and individuals.

The Regional Director will be responsible for building, overseeing and managing programs and projects in the Twin Cities. This position will be remote, with some travel required to key program locations within the Twin Cities. The Program Director will report directly to the Executive Director and will work closely with the Executive Leadership team that oversees Partnerships and Fundraising. The Regional Director will work closely with the Logistics team to develop, implement, and manage food programs and projects that support our organization's mission and goals. Additionally, the Director will contribute to the fundraising process by identifying funding opportunities, supporting the development process, and stewarding existing funding relationships.

The role is based in the Twin Cities area and will require on the ground community engagement in and around the Twin Cities metro area. This individual must be a self starter with proven experience in establishing footholds in new markets and building small high-performing teams.

Responsibilities:

• Program Management:
  • Oversee and manage existing programs and projects, ensuring alignment with the organization’s strategic plan and mission, with a proven track record of program planning, launch, and successful execution.
  • Manage daily program operations in the region, in close collaboration with team members.
  • Develop program and project budgets, timelines, and evaluation plans in collaboration with the Executive team, ensuring oversight of regional activities.
  • Design and implement evaluation plans to measure program and project effectiveness, with demonstrated ability to collect, track, and analyze metrics and KPIs in Google Sheets and/or Excel specifically.
  • Conduct research and provide support on program-related topics, including best practices, trends, and emerging issues.
  • Facilitate regular program meetings with partner organizations and send meeting recaps as needed.
  • Prepare, update, and maintain program databases, records, and other documentation related to program activities.
  • Review and approve program invoices, managing timely follow-up communications alongside the accounting team.
  • Create and execute an annual donor stewardship plan to sustain surplus food donation streams.
  • Develop and disseminate quarterly program and food donor impact reports in collaboration with the Data Analyst.
  • Generate program contracts and oversee contract renewal processes.
• Partnership Development:
  • Create target program prospect lists by researching and contacting new leads.
  • Schedule partnership prospect meetings and conduct regular follow ups to enact desired outcomes.
  • Develop relationships with various stakeholders at related nonprofit organizations, government offices, educational institutions, etc. and pursue collaboration opportunities.
  • Participate in regional professional groups, advisory councils, nonprofit boards and attend conferences to explore and develop mutually beneficial partnerships.
  • Manage new partnership/program onboarding processes to ensure successful integration into daily operations.
  • Collaborate with other Regional Program Directors and National Director of Partnerships on national partnership cultivation strategies.
  • Support the Development and Impact team by developing relationships with potential funders and corporations to generate fundraising strategies.
• Regional Expansion Planning and Fundraising Support:
  • Analyze existing programs, food rescue trends, and food as medicine best practices to inform strategic growth opportunities specific to the region.
  • Create a multi-year growth strategy to expand surplus food donations and meals initiative programming
  • Manage and implement food donor and partner solicitation strategies; track and document outcomes and impact.
  • Align regional growth strategies with fundraising activities to ensure program sustainability.
  • Identify new funding opportunities and steward existing funder relationships.
  • Collaborate with other team members to ensure that regional growth strategies are aligned with the organization's strategic plan and mission.

Candidate Qualifications and Traits:

• Bachelor's degree in a related field (such as Non-Profit Management, Public Administration, Public Health, or Social Work) is preferred but not required.
• Experience in a related field (such as non-profit management, hunger relief or food bank operations, or food rescue coordination) is preferred, but not required.
• Proven track record and ability to multitask
• Must have 5+ years of program launch and program management experience
• Excellent organization and attention to detail
• Self-starter with strong reasoning and communication skills and comfort with ambiguity
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills
• Strong desire to provide high-quality customer service
• Desire and ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment
• Able to keep many projects moving forward concurrently
• Proficient in Google Suite specifically Google Sheets
• Must have a personal laptop with a stable broadband connection
• A people person who is passionate about making a difference.

Workdays and times:

Monday - Friday from 9 am – 5 pm CST

Compensation:

Salary $70,000-$80,000 per year based on experience

Our Values:

• Awareness - You make wise decisions despite ambiguity
• Courage - You are able to be vulnerable in search of truth
• Passion - You care intensely about the people we service
• Curiosity - You re-conceptualize issues to discover solutions to hard problems
• Integrity - You demonstrate consistently strong performance so colleagues and clients can rely upon you and your word

Don’t meet every single requirement?

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Food Connect, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.