Education and Outreach Program Director

About Quivira

Quivira Coalition is a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that builds resilience on working lands. We foster ecological, economic, and social health through education, innovation, and collaboration. We aim to shift current agricultural and land stewardship practices in ways that produce good food, support meaningful livelihoods in rural places, sustain biodiversity, and remedy the impacts of climate change. We conduct this work through agricultural apprenticeships, land and water restoration, and rancher- and farmer-led knowledge exchange. Knowing that it is critical to the success of our work, Quivira is committed to racial equity and inclusion, and we aspire to build and support a diverse staff, team, and community, including groups that are traditionally underrepresented within conservation and agriculture.

About our hiring process

Our hiring team consists of our executive director, our grants manager, and several other team members who will review applications and participate in interviews for this position. We work as a team, so we hire as a team. Many other folks on staff help with our hiring process, including our communications team who helps us get the word out, and the operations team who helps design and hold our teams accountable to a consistent, transparent, and equitable process.

About the Education and Outreach Program

Quivira’s Education and Outreach Program fosters a community of working lands stewardship that centers relationships, collaboration, education, equity, and care for community and ecology. The program’s vision is thriving, equitable, and intergenerational land-based communities who have culturally relevant tools, networks, and resources needed to practice regenerative land stewardship and collaboration, to advance justice, and to pursue economic and ecological resilience and equity. This program does this work through three primary focus areas: community building; capacity and leadership development; and resource development. The program hosts coalitions to enhance working lands in Colorado and New Mexico (COCEWL and NMCEWL); connects underserved producers to each other and to USDA resources; hosts land stewardship workshops and conferences; and develops technical guides based on this work. Our work broadly focuses on a large landscape/watershed scale approach, with recognition that it takes a community to care for land and water. 

The Education and Outreach Program director is a people-oriented facilitator and team leader who has experience in the nonprofit sector sustaining and evolving programs through fundraising and strategic planning. This person understands how to guide a remote team through complex projects, to direct field-based workshops on a variety of land stewardship topics, to navigate government grants, and to engage in nonprofit organizational development as part of a leadership team. They have a strong work ethic, professional demeanor and boundaries, a sense of humor, and care and compassion for coworkers. The Education and Outreach Program director is able to think creatively, is adaptable, can develop usable systems for a team to manage complex projects, and thrives with a degree of uncertainty. They have an understanding of different types of power and appropriate methods/approaches to support responsible use of power. They also are able address conflict skillfully as a source of transformation.

We are looking for someone to take Quivira’s Education and Outreach Program into its next evolution. This person would be someone who has a vision for the ways that equitable, producer-driven education, and collaboration can facilitate better land stewardship and the capacity to bring this vision to fruition. This person has worked with ranchers and farmers and understands how to design and implement experiential education programming that reflects the needs and desires of diverse agricultural producers. They will also build community among other stakeholders, such as conservation districts or public land managers invested in land stewardship. This person has a love of convening people and hosting events that are inclusive, supportive, and inspire learning and connection. Finally, they have a vision for the ways in which working together on regenerative land stewardship can heal people and the planet. 

The Education and Outreach Program director will be supervised by the executive director, will manage a team of 2-3 program managers, and will work as a member of the organization’s leadership team. They will also be responsible for finding opportunities to collaborate across programs within the organization. 

About the work

The Education and Outreach Program director is responsible for the overall success and vision of the Education and Outreach Program. Their programmatic tasks broadly include managing and directing the Education and Outreach team; developing and overseeing its budget, fundraising, and financial management; developing the program’s strategy and goals; and evaluating the program. They also will participate in organizational activities and will contribute to the work of the leadership team, which consists of all directors across the organization. They will also be responsible for periodic presentations and collaborations with the nonprofit’s board related to the work of the program. 

The Education and Outreach Program director must be able to lead a collaborative team remotely; is self-directed, organized, and computer literate; and has a flexible schedule that accommodates workshops, events, and conferences occurring beyond normal business hours. This person will have program management, event management, people management, fundraising, and administrative experience. Working closely with the Education and Outreach team, the director is responsible for ensuring that all necessary tasks required to effectively run, manage, and evolve the program are completed and that program goals and deliverables are met. Alongside external partners, the director will help to set programmatic goals and strategic plans for COCEWL and NMCEWL, and oversee its implementation. The position also requires travel to conferences, presentations, and other work events.  Currently, about 90 percent or more of this position is computer-based, and 10 percent or less is spent traveling to workshops, field visits, or the conference, meeting with partners or funders, or presenting about our program. These percentages could shift depending on the new director’s work style and the direction they take this program.

More specifically, this position will oversee activities pertaining to: the New Mexico and Colorado Coalitions to Enhance Working Lands (NMCEWL and COCEWL); the REGENERATE Conference; producer-driven education, networking and outreach; and collaborating with other programs in their educational endeavors. Some of these projects focus on developing a community of practice among ranchers and farmers, while others, like NMCEWL and COCEWL, focus on developing a community of practice among organizations and agencies that support agriculture and land stewardship. 

Specific duties and responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and evaluate program mission, plans, and objectives
• Develop, implement, and evaluate program fundraising and income generation plans and objectives
• Develop and oversee program budget and financial management
• Maintain compliance with external regulations and internal policies as they apply to programmatic activities
• Oversee daily programmatic activities
• Supervise and evaluate program staff according to organizational policies and procedures
• Participate in leadership team activities including policy and procedure development and evaluation
• Report regularly to the executive director on finances, fundraising, work progress, evaluation, and program staffing

Management

• Coordinate team and contractors to achieve the strategic goals of the program
• Make sure the team has the direction, support, and information needed to execute the work of the program
• Oversee program evaluation and evolution based on feedback from program stakeholders
• Hone the program mission and vision, and develop aligned work plans in partnership with the team and the executive director
• Create and manage the program budget to ensure financial sustainability and longevity
• Contribute to policy updates and implementation to support diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout Quivira’s internal and external working relationships.

Fundraising

• In cooperation with the executive director, expand the reach of the Education and Outreach Program by designing, funding, and implementing new ideas that move forward research, education and outreach, and technical service provision and provide leadership training, networking, and capacity-building support for people interested in building healthy soils on working drylands
• In cooperation with the executive director and development team, build rapport with existing and potential major donors for the program
• Facilitate program growth while maintaining high quality standards
• In cooperation with the development team, craft grant applications and reports for funders that may support the program

Program implementation

• Help design, implement, and share protocols for information collection and management, analysis, and dissemination
• Help design, implement, and share curricula and other materials for education and outreach
• Help design, implement, and share protocols for planning, implementation, and other technical support services.
• Help design and develop new and creative ways to advance program goals (conferences, newsletters, local outreach, collaboration, etc.)
• Maintain a growing network of partner organizations and established producers; help facilitate connections between current and future generations of food producers and land stewards around soil health
• Coordinate with program partners on collaborative grant projects
• Lead the development of strategies, toolkits and templates that support educational efforts in all programs by providing consistency, efficiency and clarity
• In partnership with the American Grassfed Alliance and Holistic Management International, oversee the annual REGENERATE Conference (~25 percent of the position)
• In partnership with its steering committee, oversee the Colorado and New Mexico Coalitions to Enhance Working Lands

Outreach

• Contribute to regular communication with relevant stakeholders through phone calls, emails, newsletters, and meetings
• Publish technical guides and peer-reviewed manuscripts aimed at helping producers build soil health
• Regularly engage local, regional, and national agrarian communities through conferences, meetings, and other activities
• Represent Quivira and the Education and Outreach Program at relevant events in the community and by actively seeking opportunities to present to relevant conferences

Qualifications and experience

We recognize and value the many ways to learn, grow, and succeed professionally, and acknowledge that individuals acquire skills, knowledge, and perspectives through diverse educational, professional, personal, and volunteer experiences. We take all relevant experiences into account when reviewing applications and ask that you share with us the unique strengths and experiences that you will bring to Quivira and to your work.

Required qualifications

• Experience with managing staff and budgets, particularly in a nonprofit environment
• Experience with information management for reporting, particularly for federal grants
• Experience writing grants and engaging in other types of fundraising
• Experience developing and managing team structures and culture
• Experience in embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplace settings, including identifying how to resource this work in an ongoing way
• Professional written and verbal communication skills
• Experience in meeting facilitation and large event planning
• Experience supporting experiential education and providing technical assistance for a diverse range of learners
• Knowledge of the relationship between land stewardship and resilience to climate change
• Strong skills related to managing and working with diverse groups of people and cross-cultural communication
• An understanding of how conservation and agriculture have historically and currently impacted Hispanic, Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color
• Must be able to travel to remote locations where camping may be required for multiple days/nights at a time and drive long distances (up to 8 hours in a day)
• Flexible schedule to accommodate weekend, evening, and remote work
• Must live in New Mexico or Southern Colorado
• Must have a valid driver’s license
• Must be able to lift 25 lbs. and work long hours bending and walking outdoors

Desired qualifications

• Experience working with or within government agencies
• Experience with soil carbon-related practices related to regenerative agriculture
• Existing relationships or involvement in the agricultural community in the Southwest
• Experience working directly with ranchers/farmers or working on a ranch or farm
• Experience working in and communicating about agriculture, natural resource management, or both
• Experience in building culture and systems to develop staff capacity to engage in discomfort in transformative change
• Experience writing, presenting, or developing other public-facing communications related to regenerative agriculture and land stewardship
• Experience with G Suite (gmail, drive, calendar, etc.)
• Experience with project management software (e.g. Asana)
• Multi-lingual in Spanish or Native languages

Terms of employment

Quivira is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization. We embrace and encourage applicants of all ethnicities, national origins, races, colors, socio-economic statuses, ages, gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, family or marital statuses, disability status, physical and mental abilities, political affiliations, religions, or veteran statuses.

• Reports to the executive director
• Full-time, 40 hours a week, salaried
• Salary range for director-level positions: $60,000 – $70,000 annually, depending on experience, paid bi-weekly. Quivira uses a wage scale to determine pay rates and ranges for all positions within the organization.
• This position is primarily remote, but requires that a candidate lives in southern Colorado or northern New Mexico. All employees currently work from home with access to a Santa Fe office on an as-needed basis. Candidates must be able to drive to the Santa Fe office for event supplies and preparation.
• Quivira offers a flexible work schedule, recognizing that employees have lives outside of work
• No relocation compensation
• After two months, benefits include health, dental, vision, simple IRA, paid time off, generous holidays, life insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, and continuing education benefit