Co-Executive Director

About the Co-Executive Director Position

BLUU seeks an experienced, visionary, and collaborative leader to serve as a Co-Executive Director with our current Executive Director. The Co-EDs will share executive leadership responsibilities, serving as the strategic stewards, external representatives, and systems facilitators of the organization. The position will be full-time, exempt, permanent.

This role offers an opportunity to co-lead an evolving spiritual community that centers Blackness, queerness, and Unitarian Universalist principles. The Co-EDs will collaborate with the BLUU Organizing Collective Board (OCB) and staff to build an effective organizational structure of leadership and mission implementation that reflects the values and collective vision for Black liberation and spiritual wholeness.

Immediately upon hire the Co-ED will be the caretaker for the ED role, as the current ED takes a sabbatical for six months. The individual will assume operational and administrative responsibilities of an ED, but not be expected to undertake new strategic initiatives. This will give the individual the opportunity to learn more about BLUU, its community, and the staff.

After the sabbatical, the Co-ED will be responsible primarily for Organizational, Operations and Financial Management, while sharing strategic and governance responsibilities with the current ED.

Salary range is $87,000 - $93,000, with a generous benefits package including health, dental, long-term disability, paid time off, and retirement.

About BLUU

Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) is a spiritual community for Black Unitarian Universalists and Black people who hold liberatory values. BLUU is committed to expanding the power and capacity of Black UUs within Unitarian Universalism; providing, support, information, and resources for Black Unitarian Universalists; and advancing justice-making and liberation for Black people through our faith.

BLUU creates transformative experiences for Black people through worship, spiritual care, organizing, youth ministry, and other opportunities for social and spiritual connection. BLUU is Black-founded, Black-led, and centers queer Black leadership in all that we do. Our work places Blackness at the center of Unitarian Universalism and offers a spiritual home for Black people from many traditions who share values of liberation and self-determination.

For more about BLUU, visit BlackLivesUU.org.

Responsibilities

The Co-Directors will share organizational leadership, each holding distinct areas of responsibility while maintaining a collaborative and co-equal partnership. Together, they will collaborate on:

Organizational Stewardship & Strategy

• Guide the organization’s long-term vision and strategy in collaboration with staff and the OCB
• Model and nurture liberatory, anti-oppressive leadership grounded in Black, queer, and UU values.
• Ensure alignment between mission, values, strategy, and daily operations
• Support collective decision-making processes while maintaining clarity of roles and accountability

Organizational Leadership

• Design, implement, and continuously refine systems for shared leadership and decision-making
• Ensure decision-making authority is appropriately distributed, documented, and transparent
• Address conflict constructively and strengthen internal communication practices

Governance & Accountability

• Work closely with the OCB to ensure fulfillment of fiduciary, compliance and oversight responsibilities in accordance with federal and state law.
• Provide updates to the OCB regarding strategic directives, progress, and organizational health.
• Participate in Board development, planning, and evaluation processes.
• Share responsibility for internal and external communications with transparency and integrity.

Organizational Management

• Supervise staff, operations, finances, and administrative systems
• Support team wellness, accountability, and professional development.
• Cultivate an organizational culture that emphasizes equity, collaboration, joy, and mutual care.

Operations & Financial Oversight

• Ensure sound financial management, budgeting, and long-term sustainability
• Ensure legal, HR, and administrative systems are functioning effectively
• Ensure staff have access to the information needed to make informed decisions
• Identify and mitigate organizational risks

Fundraising & External Relations (Focus of current ED)

• Support the development activities being organized by the Associate Director of Development, including donor cultivation, grant writing, and community fundraising.
• Represent BLUU with funders, partners, and in public contexts, strengthening the organization’s visibility and impact.
• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including congregations and aligned organizations.

Community Engagement & Spiritual Leadership (Focus of Current ED)

• Support BLUU’s programming, spiritual offerings, and community-building efforts.
• Collaborate with staff and volunteers to design spaces of care, growth, and transformation.
• Uphold and embody BLUU’s spiritual grounding and commitment to collective liberation.

Housing Initiative Management and Coordination (Focus of Current ED)

• Maintain partnerships with Housing In Action, City of Minneapolis Minneapolis Homes program, Shared Capital to help the cooperative housing project
• Help fundraise and develop for the other construction sites
• Work with communications to help keep stakeholders and constituents in the loop
• Sit or appoint someone to sit as a non-voting member on the Board of Directors for the coop
• Assist the coop as needed in development and management in collaboration with other partners

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant leadership experience in nonprofits, movement organizations, faith communities, or similar contexts.
• Demonstrated experience with shared leadership, participatory governance, or self-managed teams
• Strong skills in organizational management, team supervision, and budget oversight.
• Demonstrated commitment to Black liberation, queer inclusion, and faith-rooted justice.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to move between visioning and execution.
• Excellent communication and relational skills, with experience navigating complex organizational relationships.
• Experience with collaborative or co-leadership models preferred.
• Familiarity with Unitarian Universalism, liberation theology, or related spiritual frameworks a plus.
• Ability to balance structure and flexibility in complex organizational systems
• Bachelor’s degree preferred but not required; equivalent leadership experience welcomed.

Shared Expectations

• Commitment to BLUU’s principles and established Working Agreements.
• Willingness to advance strategic goals and outcomes.
• Self-motivation, flexibility, and a capacity for shared leadership and accountability.
• Strong interpersonal skills and commitment to a collegial, transparent work style.
• Ability to work with people across diverse class, race/ethnic, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability experiences.
• A sense of humor, a spirit of curiosity, and a grounding in care and patience while co-creating in a dynamic organization.

Work Environment

Hybrid (remote with optional use of BLUU’s Minneapolis, MN headquarters). QTBIPOC candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Former incarceration is not a barrier to employment.

Generous benefits package including subsidized health, dental, long-term disability, retirement and paid time off.