Mdcc Director of External Relations

**MDCC Director of External Relations**

**About the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre**

The Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre is a project mandated by all thirteen Mi’kmaw Chiefs in Nova Scotia and administered through The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM), one of two Mi’kmaw tribal councils in Nova Scotia. The future MDCC will be an experiential cultural centre that will anchor Mi’kmaw culture and heritage sectors

with more than 60,000 annual visitors, integrating community outreach and knowledge with robust educational and public programming. Since 2002, all thirteen Mi’kmaw First Nations in Nova Scotia have repeatedly affirmed the MDCC project and its mandate to protect the Debert ancestral sites, to return Mi’kmaw collections from across North America and to develop visitor and educational programming. From its inception, the MDCC Elders’ Advisory Council has guided the project.

**Position Overview**

The **MDCC Director of External Relations** plays a strategic role in sustaining primary external relationships with our core program areas, Sharing Our Stories (SOS) and Protecting Our Past (POP) as The Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre is a project mandated by all thirteen Mi’kmaw Chiefs in Nova Scotia and administered through The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM), one of two Mi’kmaw tribal councils in Nova Scotia. The future MDCC will be an experiential cultural centre that will anchor Mi’kmaw culture and heritage sectors well as the IRS Legacy Program. The primary outcome of this position is to strengthen the strategic direction and financial support for our program areas in meeting the needs of the MDCC’s primary audiences: Mi’kmaw and other Indigenous communities and learners and educators of all ages across Nova Scotia and the region. As the Director of External Relations you will ensure that the programmatic priorities of the MDCC are clearly and meaningfully integrated into the wide range of donor relationships currently sustained by the MDCC. As such, the Director of External Relations will work to identify and to support financial needs of the operations and work closely with the Board of Directors and the MDCC Leadership Team to sustain productive and meaningful relationships with external funders including individual donors, foundations and corporate partners.

**Overview of Responsibilities**:

- Role as a senior staff of the organization, ensuring its viability and vision into the future. Decision-making for key strategic directions and weighing of organizational priorities.
- Maintain a proactive, creative leadership role in the identification, cultivation, and solicitation of individual, corporate and foundation donor partners.
- Key position sustaining primary relationships with Mi’kmaw leadership and the MDCC Board of Directors.
- Support the external relationships of POP and SOS, such that strategic directions and workplans are integrated and reflected in donor capacity and giving. Egs, building research agendas and community narratives, Mi’kmaw History Month theme development and resources, and external curatorial collaborations and research agendas.
- Develop and maintain close working relationships with the philanthropic community, individual and corporate donors, sponsors, EAC, and volunteers.
- Works with the Elders’ Advisory Council, MDCC Board of Directors and the MDCC Leadership Team to develop strategies to initiate and meet fundraising goals.
- Increase MDCC presence in Mi’kmaw communities across Nova Scotia, and then Mi’kma’kik.
- Key strategic and public-facing support for curatorial and educational programs as required.
- Member of the MDCC Leadership Team, connecting fund development opportunities with MDCC programs and priorities.
- Ensure meaningful and appropriate relationships between fund development and the Centre’s programs.
- Writing proposals and otherwise approaching funders to secure resources for POP, SOS, and IRS programs.
- Supporting the Executive Director and the Fund Development Coordinator as well as other staff in outreach and service to Mi’kmaw communities as necessary.
- Supporting key staff in liaising with partner organizations such as Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, the Mi’kmaw-Wolastoqey Centre, and other regional and national Indigenous initiatives and organizations.

**Position Requirements**:
This is a senior level position that brings together skills and expertise in Mi’kmaw experience and culture with outreach and partnership capacity. You are a person who is at home speaking about the MDCC to Mi’kmaw communities, leadership, and organizations. You have the capacity to develop proposals, assess financial need, and communicate with current and future funders. You possess strong verbal and written skills, you have at least a familiarity with the Mi’kmaw language, and you are comfortable with a variety of digital platforms. Specific requirements include:

- Experience with partnership development and sustainability.
- Experience with strategic de