Position: Executive Director, Los Angeles
Organization: Peace First
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Peace First seeks an Executive Director with a blend of experience and entrepreneurial spirit to grow their LA office. The position builds from a solid base, including a decade of strong results with several local schools, an experienced program director who manages day-to-day operations in the schools, and a strong national team to provide resources and wisdom. At the same time, Peace First LA is in a start-up mode, demanding creativity, drive, and the ability to identify and engage a diverse group of supporters in a critical mission. The ideal candidate will be fearless and creative with strong fundraising and operational management skills, deep cultural competency, and a passion to transform Peace First LA into a national example of excellence.
Responsibilities:
The Executive Director will play the lead role in directing the Peace First program in LA. Major areas of responsibility include:
- Fundraising: Much of the ED’s work will center around trailblazing efforts to build a local board and reach out to individuals, corporations, and foundations to raise the necessary awareness and funds to support growth.
- Advocacy/Outreach: The ED will serve as the “face” of Peace First LA, speaking, writing, and organizing in order to call attention to the needs and potential of young people and to help build the organization’s credibility as a force to assist in developing that potential.
- Relationship Building: The ED will be responsible for establishing and growing strong partnerships with school and other potential partners in areas ranging from funding to program delivery to evaluation.
- Operations: The ED will be responsible for the overall management of the program and ensuring consistent, high quality delivery of Peace First to a growing group of LA schools.
- Administration: The ED will serve as the chief administrative officer of the LA region, with responsibilities for budgeting, staffing, and managing day to day operations. The ED will represent the LA region’s interests and also serve as a member of the senior management team, contributing to work with national and other regional staff around program development and evaluation, communications and fundraising, and finance and administration.
The ideal candidate will possess most, if not all, of the following skills and experience:
- Significant experience as an entrepreneurial leader, managing and growing organizations: At least 5 to 7 years experience launching or expanding programs. Ideally this would be a philanthropically funded program, working in a related area (youth, schools), and one with tangible evidence of success in establishing or expanding the program’s footprint.
- Significant experience with fundraising or growing income: At least 5 to 7 years experience soliciting donations, grants, or earned income, with tangible evidence of significantly increasing income over time. Knowledge of the LA donor base strongly preferred.
- Self-Starter: Previous experience working independently yet in close collaboration with remote offices to build relationships and organizational infrastructure from the ground up preferred. Comfortable prioritizing tasks in a resource constrained environment. A flexible problem solver, good at striking the balance between innovation and continuity, deliberation and action, independence and collaboration.
- Deep cultural competencies: Peace First schools tend to be located in urban neighborhoods wrestling with issues of race, youth violence, and financial challenges. The LA Executive Director will be most effective possessing a deep understanding of the history and dynamics of these neighborhoods, and a strong appreciation for both the resources and challenges that LA’s children and families bring to our schools. The Executive Director must be a culturally competent leader: eager to learn, open to diversity, a good listener, and capable of working well with people from different backgrounds.
- Strong communicator: The Executive Director will represent Peace First in many different settings—from a funder’s office to City Hall, from the school hallway to a partnering organization’s playground to a neighborhood meeting. He or she must be able to listen well and hone in on what is important, as well as to succinctly, articulately and compellingly present the work and mission of Peace First in diverse settings. The Executive Director should be a clear writer and a comfortable public speaker.
- Strong management and administrative skills: The Executive Director will need to be well organized and able to prioritize and manage effectively given ambitious goals, evolving plans and uncertain resources. The ED should have experience developing and managing annual budgets in excess of $350K and be comfortable playing whatever managerial role is needed in the early phases of growing the program.
- Passion for Peace First’s mission and goals: The Executive Director will need to be able to persuade others convincingly of the need for and benefits of our program.
- Education: The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree in a related field (such as education or management).
Compensation and Benefits:
Peace First offers a competitive salary (depending on experience), with a generous benefits package.
Next Steps:
Peace First has engaged Koya Consulting to help in this hire. Please send a compelling cover letter and resume Molly Brennan at executivesearch@koyaconsulting.com.
Peace First is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, cultural heritage, ancestry, political belief, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability or veteran status.
About Peace First:
Peace First (formerly Peace Games) is a growing non-profit working to teach the critical skills of conflict resolution and civic engagement in public elementary schools. Founded at Harvard University in 1992, we have a ten year track record working in a few Los Angeles schools and now are seeking to make a significant commitment to decreasing violence in more schools. We have extremely promising data from our pilot schools (a USC study found a 60 percent decrease in disruptive incidences at the school, 36 percent decrease in physical aggression, 81 percent of students reporting they can walk away from a fight) and are at one of those rare organizational moments where we are preparing to exponentially increase our impact. For more information, please visit www.peacefirst.org.