Recruitment Notice: Board of Directors

The Diefenbunker is seeking qualified volunteer candidates to serve on its Board of Directors, to help steer the organization on the exciting path toward its next phase of growth. If you have an interest in history and share our passion for the success of the Diefenbunker, then we’d like to hear from you.

The Board has a particular need for individuals with expertise in the following areas:

• Government relations
• Museums, heritage, tourism
• Academic expertise related to the Cold War period of history
• Philanthropy, donor relations, advocacy
• Marketing, public relations

In its commitment to a culture of equity, inclusion and diversity, the Board encourages applications from candidates whose personal backgrounds could enhance the social, cultural, demographic, and geographic diversity of the Board.

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND

The Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum is a once top-secret, four-storey underground bunker and is the only museum of its kind in Canada. As a museum and national historic site preserving and promoting Canada’s Cold War history, the Diefenbunker has a crucial role to play in helping us learn from our past and envision a more peaceful future. The Diefenbunker’s one-of-a-kind experiential learning environment, along with its award-winning programs, events, and exhibitions, draws close to 70,000 visitors per year from around the world.

Designed sixty years ago as the centre for Canada’s defence against nuclear attack, the Diefenbunker was intended to house key government and military officials to ensure national communications and continuity of government. The facility operated as Canadian Forces Station Carp until 1994, when the site was decommissioned, and a group of volunteers stepped forward to preserve the building. In 1998, the Diefenbunker opened as a museum and charitable organization. Today, twenty-five years later, the museum is governed by a Board of Directors, led by an Executive Director, and operated by a full-time professional staff and a corps of volunteers.

The mandate of the Diefenbunker is to increase, throughout Canada and the world, interest in and a critical understanding of the Cold War, by preserving the Diefenbunker as a national historic site and by operating a Cold War museum. By showcasing Canada’s preparedness to secure the seat of government during the Cold War, the Diefenbunker creates this country’s most unique learning environment for Canadians to better understand a critical period in recent world history.

The current 2022–2024 Strategic Plan prioritizes four areas of development:

• Growth: To expand the national profile and visibility of the Diefenbunker as Canada’s Cold War Museum
• Journey: To lead visitors through a journey of Canada’s Cold War story
• Financial Capacity: To diversify revenue sources by growing our fundraising capacity
• Preservation: To solidify a long-term sustainability and preservation plan for the building

DIRECTOR RESPONSIBILITIES

As a not-for-profit corporation, the museum is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors with a duty of care, diligence, and loyalty.

The Board carries the following primary responsibilities: 

• Purpose: Oversee the implementation of the museum’s mandate and vision.
• Legal: Ensure compliance with legislation and legal requirements, as well as governing policies. Ensure that the objects of the corporation are properly carried out. Set operating policies.
• Strategic: Set the long-range objectives and strategic priorities of the museum, with appropriate goals and performance indicators, to achieve the museum’s mandate. 
• Risk: Assess potential risks to the organization and identify mitigation strategies. Ensure assessment and control systems are in place.
• Fiduciary: Ensure the corporation’s financial stability and overall performance. Ensure the integrity of accounting practices.
• Leadership: Ensure an effective management team is in place to secure resources and manage museum operations. Hire and oversee the performance of the Executive Director.
• Profile: Champion the organization within personal networks and industries, including philanthropic networking, to build and nurture a community of stakeholders.
• Fundraising: Participate in fundraising activities and make a charitable donation annually at a level that is personally meaningful.
• Succession: Plan for the succession and diversity of the Board.

Directors are accountable to:

• Become deeply familiar with the museum’s mandate, programs, policies, and needs.
• Regularly attend and participate in all bi-monthly meetings of the Board, the committee(s) on which they serve, annual general meeting, strategic planning sessions, and other special meetings, as required.
• Participate on a minimum of one Board committee, possibly as Chair.
• Draw on professional expertise to provide guidance and oversight, as required.
• Prepare for meetings by reviewing reports and materials provided in advance.
• Ensure personal compliance with the Code of Conduct and any other applicable policies.
• Maintain the confidentiality of all deliberations and proceedings of the Board.
• Keep up with issues and trends that affect the organization.

Director time commitment:

• The Board meets six times per year for two hours each. Hybrid (virtual and in-person).
• Committees meet bi-monthly for one hour and occasionally more often, as required.
• Directors are expected to arrive at meetings fully prepared by having read all documentation and background information.
• Planning sessions are held every three years to update the Strategic Plan.
• The term of office is three years, renewable up to three times for a maximum of nine years. On average, Directors stay for two terms.