Vice President of External Affairs

Vice President of External Affairs
GreenLight Fund
Boston, MA

About GreenLight Fund

Founded in Boston in 2004, GreenLight Fund is a national nonprofit with a local focus that partners with communities to create opportunities for inclusive prosperity. In our 11 sites, we facilitate a community-driven process that matches the local needs of individuals and families not met by existing programs, to organizations with track records of success elsewhere. Working with communities, we identify, invite in, and launch proven organizations, providing collaborative support so they can quickly take root and deliver change. Everything we do is designed to remove barriers to inclusive prosperity all too often rooted in racial inequities.

Our impact increases exponentially as we address one specific, community-identified need each year, in each GreenLight site. Since 2004, we have launched 39 portfolio organizations across 11 sites, invested $26M, and attracted an additional $169M from other funding sources, reaching more than 417,000 individuals and families in 2021 alone.

GreenLight Fund is headquartered in Boston, with sites in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Detroit, Kansas City, Newark, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Twin Cities. GreenLight is continuing to expand and is currently opening a new site each year, including Chicago in 2023.

At the national level GreenLight runs campaigns to fund multiple years of national operating costs. The current four-year $16 million campaign is underway, and we expect to complete it in mid-2022. At the site level, GreenLight raises multi-year funds of approximately $5M to operate and invest in portfolio organizations over a five-year period.

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 our website:
http://greenlightfund.org

The Opportunity

Partnering closely with John Simon, GreenLight's Co-Founder and Board Chair, who serves as our chief fundraiser, the Vice President of External Affairs (VPEA) will play a critical role in shaping and delivering on organizational growth and strategy. The VPEA will lead all internal strategy and operations in support of GreenLight Fund reaching its national fundraising targets and ensure necessary national support of local sites' ability to reach their targets and effectively engage their donors. In addition, the VPEA will lead the design of systems and processes to ensure that fundraising and communications are carried out in alignment with GreenLight's vision, mission, and values, including overseeing a marketing and communications strategy that supports fundraising goals and builds brand recognition and visibility at both the local and national level.

Reporting directly to the CEO, the VPEA will serve on the Management Team and lead a team of five national staff.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

National, Site and New Site Development Strategy and Infrastructure
• Oversee the implementation of a multi-year funding strategy to generate GreenLight's $12M+ annual budget, including national and site operations and grants to portfolio organizations.

• Partner with the Board Chair and CEO to design and support the strategy to raise funds for new sites, helping GreenLight continue its expansion, while working closely on the development and implementation of national funding partnerships.

• Ensure GreenLight has the development infrastructure to support national and local fundraising, including standard operating procedures, scalable systems, staff training, and professional development.

• Coach site Executive Directors on developing and implementing fundraising and donor stewardship plans.

• Establish strong communication and coordination among the sites and with the national External Affairs team, including the Board Chair and CEO.

• In partnership with the Board Chair and site Executive Directors, generate and oversee a strategy to diversify the organization's revenue streams and solicitation programs to ensure GreenLight attracts and retains a diverse group of individual, corporate and institutional investors.

Donor Cultivation and Stewardship Support
• Develop a comprehensive investor relations strategy for GreenLight Fund's national investors.

• Support the Board Chair and CEO on all national and new site development fundraising activities, serving as a thought partner on all components of the strategy and operations.

• Design and oversee targeted donor cultivation and stewardship events.

• Oversee the External Affairs team to ensure accurate and timely outreach to donors on the impact of their giving through acknowledgment letters, regular communication and programmatic updates.

• Monitor the production of grant proposals, grant reports, and other development presentations and materials to ensure the highest quality and best representation of GreenLight's work.

• Ensure appropriate donor recognition opportunities through events, publications, and related publicity vehicles.

Communications and Marketing
• In partnership with the Director of Marketing and Communications, help build and support GreenLight's brand program and communications strategy with key stakeholders.

• In partnership with the Development and Communications team, oversee new site announcement events.

Team Management
• Directly manage the External Affairs team (currently 5) and support and develop the investor relations and fundraising capacity of all sites (currently 11).

• Provide coaching, mentoring, and professional development to direct reports and key leaders within the organization.

• Cultivate a learning community grounded in philanthropic best practices for all Greenlight Fund sites.

Candidate Profile

The Vice President of External Affairs will be an experienced, innovative, and collaborative leader with compelling presence, exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, and a sense of possibility. 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:

• Passion for and commitment to GreenLight's mission and values, including our commitment to racial equity and centering communities in our work.

• 10+ years of professional experience in nonprofit leadership roles, with demonstrated success spearheading the development function within a high-performing organization.

• Experience cultivating and closing six-figure gifts from individuals, in addition to fundraising experience with foundations and corporations, with the ability to create and advise on strategy, coach site Executive Directors, and model best practices.

• Experience leading external facing teams, including fund development and communications, in a national organization with multiple sites.

• Proven ability to thrive and lead within a dynamic organization with a collaborative, people-centered management style.

• Deep understanding of and ability to articulate the challenges and opportunities of philanthropy and how to build investor relations programs grounded in equity, inclusion, and respect.

• Experience developing and implementing strategies and related plans, tools and processes in fund development and, preferably, communications.

• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to develop strong relationships across a diverse spectrum of stakeholders.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to author grants and other external documents in partnership with the development and communications team.

• Ability to manage up and sideways with the Board Chair, CEO and a strong team of site Executive Directors.

Compensation & Benefits

The starting salary range for this position is $185,000-200,000. 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, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. To express interest in this role please submit your materials here (https://talent-profile.diversifiedsearchgroup.com/search/v2/18298). 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 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 koyapartners.com.

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