About GreenLight Fund
Founded in Boston in 2004, GreenLight Fund addresses barriers to economic mobility for children, youth and families in high-poverty urban areas by creating local infrastructure and a consistent annual process to:
- Identify critical needs and barriers for people experiencing poverty.
- Import innovative, entrepreneurial programs that can have a significant, measurable impact.
- Galvanize local support to help programs reach and sustain impact in the city.
In addition to funding, GreenLight Fund provides ongoing support to the organizations it brings to a city (portfolio organizations) through access to a national network of partners and city-specific relationships and knowledge, as well as expertise developed through GreenLight Fund’s experience in other cities, which help ensure their success and impact.
Currently, in addition to the founding site in Boston, GreenLight Fund now has sites in Philadelphia, the Bay Area, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Detroit, Kansas City, Atlanta, the Twin Cities, Baltimore, and is currently launching in Newark. Since our founding, GreenLight has launched and supported 40 innovative organizations across these sites that reached more than 325,000 children and families last year.
With a new strategic plan in place, GreenLight Fund is poised for continued growth, with a focus on deepening community impact, growing to new cities, building our learning capacity, building strategic partnerships, and centering equity in all that we do.
To learn more about GreenLight Fund’s work, please visit http://greenlightfund.org.
The Opportunity
GreenLight Fund is currently seeking a dynamic, passionate, and collaborative Executive Director to lead the launch and establishment of GreenLight Chicago. This entrepreneurial leader will build the GreenLight Chicago Selection Advisory Council and run the diligence and selection process which includes identifying portfolio organizations and supporting expanding organizations as they launch and grow. In addition, they will steward and secure funders and other resources to support GreenLight Chicago and its portfolio organizations and engage a wide variety of constituents in this work.
This is a fantastic opportunity for a results-oriented and inspiring leader to work autonomously to bring proven models of growing, high-performing nonprofits to Chicago and to engage individuals, funders, and companies to create meaningful community impact. The Executive Director will lead implementation of GreenLight’s Method of Impact in Chicago, partner with peers across the country to find and spread what works, and support the national GreenLight network.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Programmatic Leadership
- Lead a community-wide Selection Advisory Council to advise on identifying Chicago's high priority community needs and the vetting and selection of portfolio organizations that can powerfully address them.
- Run an annual selection process to identify organizations with potential to have a significant impact on community needs, including conducting rigorous diligence and deep landscape analysis to understand organizations’ potential for impact and community fit.
- Engage the voice of community members with lived experience navigating poverty in determining priority needs and solutions.
- Serve as an active local board member for portfolio organizations.
- Act as a strategic thought partner to and connector for local portfolio organization Executive Directors and boards on a broad range of strategic and operational issues.
External Relations and Fundraising
- Represent GreenLight Chicago externally and cultivate a network of relationships with community leaders, entrepreneurs, the private-sector investor community, philanthropic partners, government officials, nonprofit and business leaders, and prospective partner organizations.
- Actively steward GreenLight Chicago investors, secure event sponsorships, and lead all stages of the fundraising cycle.
- Secure critical resources, financial and otherwise, for GreenLight Chicago and portfolio organizations, and actively and thoughtfully steward these relationships over time.
- Create and manage events to launch new portfolio organizations to the region’s community and build awareness of and support for portfolio organizations.
Organizational Leadership
- Participate actively in the GreenLight network of site Executive Directors and local and national staff to share best practices, knowledge of promising social innovation, and strategies to build the network and collaborate to find and support GreenLight organizations.
- Help execute the organization’s Strategic Plan over the next 4 years to deepen community impact, grow to new cities, build our learning capacity, build strategic partnerships, and center equity in all that we do.
Candidate Profile
The Chicago Executive Director will be an experienced, innovative, and collaborative leader with compelling presence and exceptional communication and relationship-building skills. While no one candidate will possess every quality outlined for this position, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional qualifications and personal attributes:
- Authentic passion for GreenLight’s mission and commitment to the Chicago community.
- Proven commitment to bringing a racial equity lens to their work and deep understanding of how systems of oppression have affected communities experiencing poverty.
- A successful track record in entrepreneurial environments holding positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.
- Demonstrated experience developing effective working relationships with people from a wide array of backgrounds, leading groups and developing talent, all with a collegial and team-building approach that puts others at ease, engenders trust, and is grounded in community needs.
- Experience and relationships in the Chicago philanthropic, nonprofit and/or business sectors, as well as knowledge of the critical social issues affecting low-income residents in the area.
- Familiarity with nonprofit and/or philanthropy sectors, ideally with knowledge of the social innovation world and results-oriented, evidence-based program design; passion for and a demonstrated commitment to social entrepreneurship and social change.
- Strong analytical skills and experience with due diligence and/or grant-making processes.
- Superb verbal and written communication skills and the ability to represent GreenLight Chicago and portfolio organizations in a professional, engaging and dynamic manner.
- A track record of securing financial resources from a variety of sources, building awareness of and support for important endeavors, and successfully cultivating and stewarding donors over time.
- Experience building and managing pipelines, especially with donors and/or programs.
- Creative, collaborative, entrepreneurial, and action-oriented with an eagerness to roll up one’s sleeves and work hands-on to grow organizations.
- Bachelor’s degree is strongly preferred but not required.
Compensation & Benefits
The salary range for this position is $145,000. The compensation package includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k match, and generous PTO and parental leave, as well as short- and long-term disability, life insurance, FSA, EAP, and professional development stipend.
Greenlight Fund is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBT applicants.
Contact
Koya Partners has been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role, please submit materials here. Materials should include a thorough resume and compelling letter of interest. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
About Koya Partners
Koya Partners, a part of the Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.
For more information about Koya Partners, visit www.koyapartners.com.
