Paul Bachleitner
he/him/his
Communications Director
Joined Northwest Area Foundation: April 2014
EMAIL“Patience in the face of the bitterness of misfortune is the door to the sweetness of intimate discourse.” — Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt’s first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
The need to transcend suffering through discourse is the work of good storytelling and relationship building. This work is the centerpiece of Paul’s vision for the Foundation’s outreach. Communications has become a tool to make change happen.
Paul pursues this vision through cross-departmental leadership, impacting a variety of issues that range from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and justice to crisis response to networking strategy on advocacy campaigns. Digital content, analytics, and research-based messaging are the nuts and bolts that pull it all together.
Paul has helped advance change for more than 20 years as a strategic thinker and collaborator through various leadership roles with nonprofits and in philanthropy—at local, regional, and national levels. This includes his position prior to coming to NWAF as a member of the D5 Coalition’s leadership team and the first-ever director of the Joint Affinity Groups (now CHANGE Philanthropy), a coalition of national grantmaking professionals that integrate diversity, inclusion, and justice into philanthropic practice.
He is currently chair of the marketing committee for the board of Marnita’s Table and is a member of the Minnesota Council of Foundations’ Membership and DEI committees.
As an active creative writer, Paul has had his work short- and long-listed in national competitions and his work has appeared in publications for the 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) and the Loft Literary Center. He’s proudest of his roles as a devoted husband and as a father to his 10-year-old son. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University.