PeaceMaker Minnesota

With the support of friends and family, Dan started PeaceMaker Minnesota in 1998. He was inspired in part by his college studies, experience in living with Franciscan priests in Siberia and his professional work in soliciting foundations.

While a student at the University of Minnesota, Dan participated in the Student Project for Amity among Nations (SPAN) study abroad program. He spent the summer of 1988 traveling Yugoslavia and writing a research paper on peace. After graduating from the University, he served as a Scholar’s Intern with The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia and was an assistant to the Executive Director.

In the fall of 1992, Dan joined the Franciscan Mission Service as a lay volunteer. From 1993 to 1995, Dan served as the Assistant Director and then the Acting Director of Caritas for the Asian Part of Russia. The organization, based in Novosibirsk, Russia, had eight employees. Their primary work was to oversee construction of a home for children, to distribute humanitarian aid and to provide food and assistance to the city’s population of individuals experiencing homelessness.

Upon returning  to Minnesota, Dan was hired as Catholic Charities’ Grants Coordinator and then Director of Corporate and Foundation Giving. Dan began working for Guild Incorporated in 2000 as Development Director. He started their fundraising program while working four days a week, allowing time to develop PeaceMaker Minnesota.

In 2007, Dan reduced his hours at Guild Incorporated, becoming their Major Gift Officer, in order to start working for PeaceMaker Minnesota on a part-time basis. In April 2018, Dan resigned from Guild Incorporated to work for PeaceMaker Minnesota full-time.