About GLIDE
GLIDE is a nationally acclaimed center for social and racial justice, dedicated to fighting systemic injustices, creating pathways out of poverty and crisis, and transforming lives. Through integrated comprehensive services, advocacy initiatives and an inclusive approach to building community, GLIDE empowers individuals, families and children to achieve stability and thrive.
GLIDE is on the forefront of addressing some of society’s most pressing issues. They include a focus on getting to the root causes of injustice, including poverty, housing, homelessness, and racial and social justice. GLIDE's mission is to create a radically inclusive, just and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization. The organization is committed to addressing both root causes and symptoms of injustice and racism across San Francisco.
For more than fifty years, GLIDE has served the Bay area region’s most vulnerable and has intentionally hired staff from the community, which has given GLIDE exceptional cultural competency. 40% of staff come from the communities they serve and as a result they have earned the trust of clients and the credibility with the community.
Along the way, GLIDE has also earned a national and international reputation for its work, with policymakers, business leaders and global humanitarians citing the organization as a model for others. Over the years, its diverse array of supporters and allies have included such prominent figures as President Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou, Bono, Warren Buffet, Amanda Gorman, Van Jones and Oprah Winfrey.
GLIDE’s Core Values
Rooted in empowerment, recovery and personal transformation, GLIDE is inspired and guided by five core values:
- Radically Inclusive: We welcome everyone. We value our differences. We respect everyone.
- Truth Telling: We tell our story. We speak our truth. We listen.
- Loving and Hopeful: We are all in recovery. We are a healing community. We love unconditionally.
- For the People: We break through barriers. We serve each other. We change the world.
- Celebration: We sing. We dance. We laugh together. We celebrate life.
On this foundation of competency and trust, GLIDE’s integrated and comprehensive service model meets basic needs and supports people along pathways toward stabilization and self-sufficiency. Coupled with linkages to partnering organizations, this integrated approach delivers the most innovative and effective interventions to address poverty, homelessness, drug use disorders and family crisis.
Responding to the Urgent Needs of Today – and Tomorrow
Ever since San Francisco philanthropist Lizzie Glide established the GLIDE Foundation in 1929, GLIDE has been rooted in the ideas of compassion and service. Having welcomed a diverse community of marginalized people from the beginning, GLIDE continues to offer refuge and support for political, social and cultural change as well as spiritual growth.
Most recently, GLIDE developed an extensive response program to support community members during the COVID-19 crisis. Service initiatives included providing more than 10,000 weekly curbside meals to people facing food insecurity and their community partners; launching city-wide mobile outreach teams; providing essential care items and health screenings to individuals in need; and offering free COVID-19 testing.
1 in 4 San Franciscans earn less than $50,000 a year, while the cost of living continues to rise dramatically. During the pandemic, earnings have fallen 52% disproportionately among Black and Latinx low-income workers. In addition, on any given night in San Francisco, more than 8,000 people are homeless.
Given those realities, GLIDE continues to expand its capacity to meet the pressing needs of the community. Furthermore, GLIDE has a significant opportunity to help shape the national and international conversation around poverty alleviation by successfully addressing the crisis in San Francisco.
GLIDE FORWARD
A bold focus on impact, results and evidence-based solutions.
The GLIDE Forward strategy has propelled GLIDE into a new era of ambitious, transformational growth and impact. Building upon its tremendous legacy of service, GLIDE aims to eliminate the crisis of poverty and homelessness in San Francisco.
In response to some of the most dramatic and pressing inequities of any city in the nation, GLIDE recently developed a new program model and has established itself as an impact-oriented learning organization.
At the core of this effort is a growth strategy aimed at providing vital resources to eliminate poverty at the local and national levels. In close partnership with the Board, GLIDE leadership has refined its service approach to reach more people and to deepen its impact. To fund this ambitious agenda, GLIDE has embarked on a multi-year fundraising campaign effort over the next 5 years.
Key initiatives under the plan include large scale investments in:
- Building Pathways to Self-Sufficiency
- Extending Reach Across San Francisco
- Breaking Intergenerational Poverty
- Driving Systemic Change
- Transforming Communities
- Enhancing Operational Excellence & Capital Improvements
The GLIDE Forward strategy also included the creation of a Center for Applied Learning and Impact, which is dedicated to analyzing and advocating for policy changes that can address the systemic drivers of poverty. Finally, additional funds raised will be used to expand GLIDE’s headquarters and to invest in new technology to improve operational effectiveness.
For more information on GLIDE, please visit their website.
The Opportunity
At this critical moment in its history, GLIDE is seeking a strategic and tactical finance leader to serve as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Reporting to the CEO, the CFO is a key member of the executive management team, working with senior leadership to set the strategic direction of GLIDE. The CFO provides strong technical and visionary leadership to the finance department, comprised of a Director of Finance and Senior Accountant, while guiding the pace of growth of the organization overall and ensuring its financial health. The CFO actively engages with staff at all levels, establishing and supporting the necessary systems for responsible fiscal management and protection of the foundation’s assets.
As a thought-leader, the CFO offers a strong voice of support and allyship to GLIDE, striving towards achieving greater transparency, equity, and inclusion.
Key responsibilities of the CFO include:
- Drive strategic and sustainable growth in key areas of responsibility;
- Work in partnership with Board and senior leadership as appropriate;
- Act as the staff lead for the Finance & Investment, Audit and Real Estate Committees of the Board of Trustees;
- Manage GLIDE’s financial resources including accounting, finance, organization-wide budgets and treasury in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and organization/contract policies and procedures;
- Develop long and short-range financial plans and ensure the preparation of accurate and timely financial reports. Provide leadership and guidance in the budgeting process, including preparation of annual budgets, forecasts, and various financial reports;
- With senior managers, review proposed new programs, and where appropriate, collaborate with the finance and administration directors of partner organizations;
- Ensure GLIDE remains on budget and that services are scaled to financial means and assets are safeguarded through the maintenance of proper controls; and
- Consult on compensation planning and strategy for the organization as it relates to budgeting, forecasting and sustainability, as requested by CPO.
Candidate Profile
The CFO of GLIDE will possess the following attributes and competencies:
Financial Acumen
The CFO will have deep experience leading finance in a complex nonprofit enivronment . They will have the technical abilities and confidence to ensure that GLIDE’s financial oversight is of the highest caliber. The CFO will be a strategic finance leader with the tactical ability to “deep dive” into the details with strong quantitative and analytical skills. The CFO will be able to transition seamlessly between the “big picture” and minutia. They will bring a high level of intellectual horsepower with a collaborative, creative, and service-oriented mindset. The CFO must have proven experience in budgeting, strategic forecasting and planning, and in overseeing financial, accounting, compliance, and risk management of a complex organization.
Passion for the Mission
The CFO will bring a personal passion for equity and a deep interest in the communities that GLIDE serves. This leader will demonstrate a commitment to social justice and will clearly embody the organization’s core values and mission. Empathetic, thoughtful, collaborative, and innovative, this leader will ensure the health of GLIDE overall and proactively seek opportunities to make positive contributions to long term success.
Problem Solver
The CFO will be a strategic partner to the CEO. They will anticipate problems and develop proactive solutions, particularly when there may be no available precedents, guidelines, or policies. As such, the CFO will have a track record of success in devising innovative and data-driven solutions, creating measurable markers of progress towards our mission to achieve hunger eradication. The CFO is an individual with unquestioned integrity, ethics, and values; someone who can be trusted with highly confidential and sensitive information.
Relationship Builder and Skilled Manager
The CFO will have strong executive presence, engender confidence, and lead with intentionality. The CFO will be experienced with change management and skilled at quickly establishing rapport and cultivating relationships across all levels of the organization. They will exhibit strong management skills including the ability to influence and engage direct and indirect reports, foster trust and collaboration among team members, empower managers and leaders, develop systems of accountability, and possess the ability to manage change with flexibility and poise. The CFO will be a skilled manager, equipped to build bridges across departments, and will foster a culture of collaboration and mutual respect, encouraging a diversity of opinions, values, and perspectives.
An Inspiring and Transformational Leader
The CFO will be an inspiring, empathetic, approachable, and inclusive leader with an infectious optimism and adept ability to lead through periods of change. They will possess the ability to attract, cultivate, and retain diverse teams with a broad set of ideas and skills and achieve organizational impact by recognizing and leveraging individual strengths, expertise, and teamwork. The CFO will be able to develop a powerful sense of shared purpose and engagement in the future of GLIDE’s work and the possibilities ahead. This leader will the ability to work at the national and local level, with an understanding and deep respect for the nuances of the communities and people GLIDE serves.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this position is $240,000 - $275,000.
Contact
Koya Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Alex Corvin and Maleka Pensky of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express interest in this role please submit your materials here, or email Alex and Maleka directly at glidecfo@koyapartners.com. 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.
GLIDE is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.
About Koya Partners
Koya Partners, a part of 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
