WHITING FOUNDATION

Executive Director

New York, New York

BACKGROUND

Founded in 1971 by Mrs. Flora Ettlinger Whiting, the Whiting Foundation believes in identifying and empowering talented people at just the right moment in their creative and intellectual development to provide far-reaching societal benefits. Since its inception, the Whiting Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit private foundation, has advanced literature and the humanities. Its mission is to provide support for writers, editors, educators, and the librarians and archivists who preserve humanity’s shared cultural heritage. By nurturing new creation and expanding access to art and insight, Whiting helps bring about a world where everyone can engage deeply with the richness of literature and the humanities.

The Foundation’s grantmaking programs are:

In literature

• The Whiting Award supports early-career writers every year across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Whiting winners have gone on to win numerous prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize. The Foundation is proud that on the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes list, past Whiting Awardees were represented as winners or finalists in every category the Award supports. Others have gone on to receive the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Obie Award, and MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Lannan fellowships. The program’s longstanding reputation for spotting talent is based on decades of providing early support for authors such as Colson Whitehead, Tony Kushner, Sigrid Nunez, and Tracy K. Smith.
• The Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant fosters original, ambitious, deeply researched book-length projects brought to the highest possible standard by providing funding at a crucial mid-stage point in the writing process. Grants are given annually for books under contract with publishers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Like Whiting Awardees, Creative Nonfiction Grant recipients have gone on to win the National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, and numerous other awards.

In the humanities

· Cultural Heritage Preservation grants support the preservation, documentation, and dissemination of timeless contributions to world heritage that are under threat in less-well-resourced countries globally, with an emphasis on documentary heritage such as manuscripts, inscriptions, and archives. Recognizing that irreplaceable cultural heritage is being lost at an alarming rate around the world, the Whiting Foundation has committed to joining the fight to save the treasures of human civilization from threats both man-made and natural.

· High-School Humanities grants foster deep engagement with rich works of history, philosophy, literature, and the arts so students graduate equipped with the beginnings of a mental map of human history and cultural achievement – and with the informed curiosity to continue to expand that map.

The Foundation is completely self-supported through an endowment which has grown to approximately $75M. Over the years, the Whiting Foundation has become a convener, a leader and partner with other foundations in the support of writers and cultural preservationists. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.whiting.org

POSITION

The Executive Director serves as the chief professional officer of the organization and reports directly to the Board of Trustees.

The core work of the Executive Director is divided into four parts:

1) partnering with the Board and the Director of Literary Programs to develop and implement the overall strategy of the organization;

2) running the humanities programs directly;

3) supporting the rest of the staff in refining and executing the literary programs; and

4) administering the organization.

Professional leadership is an integral component of the position. The Executive Director will be expected to be a leader and resource to the Board and staff. S/he/they will oversee and maintain multiple high-quality grant programs while exploring new areas where the Foundation can make an impact. The Executive Director will ensure the Foundation continues to be a convener of people and innovator of ideas that support the humanities and literary arts, both domestically and abroad.

Whiting is a small-staffed organization that aims to achieve much more than its size would suggest, and there is flexibility in roles as people pitch in as needed to run the programs and advance the mission. The incoming Executive Director follows a predecessor who served for more than a decade and was Whiting’s first Executive Director with a mandate to work with the Board and staff to develop a new slate of programs and build all the processes of a professional foundation. As the Foundation moves forward, the Executive Director will be a thought leader for the Board of Trustees in measuring program effectiveness.

RESPONSIBILITIES

· Partner with the Board: The five-person Board and its two committees, the Programs Working Group (PWG) and the Investment Committee, each meet formally three times a year. The Executive Director is responsible for facilitating these interactions, ensuring Trustees have all the information they need to oversee the work of the Foundation, serving as a thought partner, and ensuring Board decisions are implemented effectively.

· Direct the humanities programs: At present, the Executive Director is the only staff member involved in the two active humanities programs. In this capacity of humanities program director, the ED stays abreast of developments in heritage preservation and high-school humanities through reading, attending conferences, and conversations with players in these spaces; identifies, speaks with, solicits, and summarizes proposals from promising potential grantees, working with the PWG; and, as humanities grantees’ primary point of contact at Whiting, manages the administration, monitoring, evaluation, and potential renewal of grants that are approved by the Board.

· Support the literary programs: Whiting’s three literary programs are overseen by the Director of Literary Programs (DLP), a veteran literary editor who has been in this role at the Foundation for more than a decade. Implementation is managed under the DLP’s supervision by two long-serving Program Officers and a Program Assistant. As the fortieth anniversary of the Whiting Award approaches, the ED will be involved in the planning of celebratory events and the creation of a video to mark the milestone and describe the Foundation’s programs more broadly to better communicate to a range of stakeholders and the public.

· Administering the organization: At present, the Executive Director is the primary staff member wearing the Foundation’s financial, operational, HR, IT, and legal hats, including vendor management. Whiting’s Board Secretary is an indispensable advisor and ally in this.

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

Professional

· At least 10 years progressive senior level management and organizational leadership experience.

· Demonstrated track record of excellence in developing and implementing successful programs to meet pressing needs in innovative ways, ideally in a humanities, grantmaking, and/or nonprofit setting.

· Strong leadership skills with a philosophy and style that encourages creativity, growth, collaboration, problem solving, open communication, and accountability.

· Proven effectiveness in serving as a spokesperson and representative with grantees, organization leaders, program officers and other internal and external stakeholders

· Experience working collaboratively and collegially, ideally with a small- to medium-sized team, and an ability to bring people and ideas together.

· Knowledge of principles involved in strategic planning, organizational management, budget development and oversight, and coordination of people and resources.

· Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree preferred.

Personal

· Demonstrated passion for the humanities and literary arts.

· Deep intellectual curiosity coupled with interest in developing vehicles to share knowledge with others.

· An open and inclusive style that encourages teamwork and acknowledges enthusiasm and success.

· Ability to present as a persuasive, informed, and inspiring leader and spokesperson.

· Excellent written and verbal communications skills.

· Superior active listening, observation, analytical, and problem recognition and solving skills.

· Ability to make sound judgements independently and to take initiative.

· Well-disciplined and results-oriented self-starter who is extremely resourceful and resilient.

· Past success working with a Board of Directors, with the proven ability to cultivate existing board member relationships.

· Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, and innovative approach to business planning.

· Passion, idealism, integrity, and a positive, mission-driven, and self-directed attitude.

The Whiting Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. It is committed to ensuring equal opportunity to all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, or gender identity or expression.

For more information, to refer a candidate, or to apply in confidence, please contact:

David Hinsley Cheng, Managing Partner

Jennifer Thorne, Search Consultant

DHC Search

www.DHCSearch.com

(203) 307-0120

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $200,000.00 - $240,000.00 per year

Work Location: Hybrid remote in New York, NY 10007