BCNH Executive Director

About the organization

Building Community in New Hampshire helps refugees and other immigrants navigate their way to safe, healthy, productive, prosperous, and connected lives in New Hampshire.  Founded in 2009 by a group of refugees from Bhutan, BCNH now serves hundreds of clients from around the world.  Our case managers, former refugees themselves, are from Congo, Haiti, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. Our deputy director is from Bhutan.

Even as immigration and refugee resettlement are under attack, we are expanding our services to those who are here: we are hiring a team of three to teach English to Afghan women and children.   We anticipate revenues in 2025 of $869,000 and already have grants and contracts totaling approximately $600,000 in hand for 2026.  The next executive director, nevertheless, will need to lead BCNH through a turbulent period for refugees and the nonprofits that serve them.

BCNH has an office on Elm Street in Manchester and satellite office in Nashua.  The board is almost as diverse as the staff and dedicated to our mission.  The current executive director is retiring in December after leading the organization for seven years.

About the job

The Executive Director of Building Community in New Hampshire is responsible for all aspects of the nonprofit organization’s operations and impact: internal and external; short-term and strategic; finances, personnel, reputation, and resilience.  The Executive Director needs to advance the organization’s mission with clarity, integrity, compassion, and vision. 

Because the skills needed to succeed in those roles are so diverse, one of the most important requirements of the job is the ability to manage teams and to help their members flourish.

The Executive Director works at BCNH’s Manchester office.  He or she reports to the Board of Directors: a “policy board” with no role in the day-to-day management of the organization or its staff.

Because BCNH serves refugees and immigrants from all countries, ethnicities, and religions, the Executive Director must foster through word and deed an inclusive operation and a diverse staff that strives for equitable treatment for all.

The Executive Director need not have come to the United States as a refugee or immigrant, nor is he or she expected to provide direct service to the organization’s clients.

Because immigration and refugee resettlement are inherently dynamic, subject to global conflicts and domestic politics, the Executive Director needs to develop the organization so that it can respond quickly to change.

The annual salary range for the position is $85,000 to $95,000.

How to apply

TO APPLY, please send a cover letter and resume to Executive Director Richard Minard at rminard@bcinnh.org by September 19.  You may include particularly relevant letters of  recommendation with your resume.  Rick will distribute your materials to a committee of five board members who will review all applications and make decisions about which candidates to interview and hire.

We anticipate completing the process and hiring a new director by mid-October, giving the new hire time to work directly with Rick for several weeks before his retirement at the end of the year. 

You can expect an emailed confirmation that we have received your application materials, but please do not expect further communication until the Board invites candidates for interviews.

Job Description: BCNH Executive Director

The Executive Director of Building Community in New Hampshire is responsible for all aspects of the nonprofit organization’s operations and impact: internal and external; short-term and strategic; finances, personnel, reputation, and resilience.  The Executive Director needs to advance the organization’s mission with clarity, integrity, compassion, and vision. 

Because the skills needed to succeed in those roles are so diverse, one of the most important requirements of the job is the ability to manage teams and to help their members flourish.

The Executive Director will work at BCNH’s Manchester office.  He or she reports to the Board of Directors: a “policy board” with no role in the day-to-day management of the organization or its staff.  The Executive Director is an “exempt” employee, paid a salary rather than an hourly wage.   He or she works “at will,” without a fixed contract.

The detailed list of duties that follows outlines the scope of the Executive Director’s responsibilities.

1. Work with the BCNH Board of Directors

1.      Coordinate Board and committee meetings

2.      Prepare materials for the Board of Directors and its committees

3.      Propose policies to the Board and implement approved policies

4.      Develop with the Board an annual work plan for the organization

5.      Prepare organization and program budgets for Board and funders

6.      Provide periodic management and progress reports to the Board

7.      Inform the Board of conditions, opportunities, issues, and challenges

8.       Retain and develop existing Board members; strengthen the Board’s capacity to govern

9.       Identify and recruit potential Board members

10.  Participate in the Board’s evaluation of its own performance

2. Internal Management

1.      Ensure compliance with nonprofit, government, and funder requirements and best practices

2.      Lead, inspire, develop, and supervise staff

3.      Maintain a professional working environment for all staff

4.      Ensure employees have job descriptions and are evaluated adequately

5.      Ensure employees have workplans that include goals, objectives, and measurable outcomes with timelines for achievement

6.      Manage resources within approved workplans and budgets

7.      Prepare contracts and supervise any independent consultants and contractors

8.      Manage hiring, firing, resolution of grievances, and disciplinary actions

9.      Ensure program quality and consistency through ongoing evaluation of programs and services

10.  Manage BCNH’s physical workplace: negotiate leases, attend to office needs; ensure that employees have a safe, comfortable, and accessible place to meet clients and do their work, and ensure that refugee communities have easy access to our offices.

3. Organization Finance

1.      Develop annual budget and fundraising plan for review and approval by Board

2.      Develop relationships and maintain regular communications with funders and supporters

3.      Manage accounting services, typically provided by a CPA firm; manage the annual development and submission of BCNH’s 990 report to the IRS and NHCT-12 to the NH Division of Charitable Trusts

4.      Monitor expenditures and income; record most transactions in QuickBooks Online

5.      Support the organization’s treasurer with monthly financial reports generated by QuickBooks and personal insight 

6.      Contract and oversee annual audit with Audit Committee of the Board

7.      Maintain inventory records of capital assets

8.      Prepare and submit required reports to all funders

4. Organizational Development

1.      Formulate and execute marketing, branding, and development strategies

2.      Lead fund-raising activities

3.      Build and maintain relationships with donors and project sponsors

4.      Identify and cultivate potential future supporters

5.      Prepare project grant proposals and budgets for submission to governmental and private sources

6.      Comply with all reporting requirements of funders

5. Communications

1.      Represent BCNH and its mission in public settings; be the face of the organization.

2.      Develop and implement communications strategies including television and radio

3.      Manage BCNH’s website and maximize the potential of social media to advance BCNH’s goals

4.      Develop media contacts for the organization

5.      Make presentations regarding immigrant communities to legislative committees, boards, commissions, chambers of commerce, mayors, foundations, etc.

6.      Develop and maintain good working relationships with public and private agencies that provide services to immigrant and refugee communities in NH

7.      Develop relationships with national organizations and organizations in other states with similar goals and activities

8.      Supervise print and electronic communications including newsletters, outreach materials, workshops, conferences, and website content

9.      Represent BCNH at conferences and in multi-organization collaborative settings

10.  When invited, participate in activities of other organizations important to BCNH

6.      Organizational Culture and Operating Principles

1.      Because BCNH serves refugees and immigrants from all countries, ethnicities, and religions, the Executive Director must foster through word and deed an inclusive operation and a diverse staff that strives for equitable treatment for all.

2.      The Executive Director need not have come to the United States as a refugee or immigrant, nor is he or she expected to provide direct service to the organization’s clients.

3.      Because immigration and refugee resettlement are inherently dynamic, subject to global conflicts and domestic politics, the Executive Director needs to develop the organization so that it can respond quickly to change.

4.      The Executive Director needs to be a recognized advocate for immigration and the refugee community in New Hampshire and nationwide while empowering all members of the BCNH Board and staff to magnify BCNH’s leadership on behalf of New Americans.