Salary Range: $90,000 to $100,000 based on experience and qualifications. Hand2Paw offers a healthcare reimbursement benefit and generous paid time off.
Email resume to hand2paw.program@gmail.com
The Organization:
Do you have a passion for youth and animals? Hand2Paw is seeking a dynamic Executive Director to lead our organization. Hand2Paw is a unique Philadelphia nonprofit that provides paid internships for youth experiencing housing insecurity or foster care involvement, allowing them to work with homeless animals while working through a curriculum of programming that enhances coping skills, emotional regulation and healing using animal assisted interventions.
The Position:
Hand2Paw is hiring its first Full-time Executive Director. Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director is responsible for overall leadership, program direction, partnership development, and fundraising to advance Hand2Paw’s mission and programs. The Executive Director will bring innovative ideas to the work to develop new programming, connect with cutting edge organizations and resources nationally and locally, seek out city initiatives that Hand2Paw might leverage, and generally serve as a thought leader on positive youth development related ideas for partners.
The Executive Director will provide strategic management to staff members and build on our relationships within the community while having knowledge of trauma informed practices in positive youth development. The ideal candidate will have had prior experience as an Executive Director and will be a highly collaborative, empathetic team leader with a strong commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI). We are looking for someone who has expertise in and shares our passion for both youth and animals.
Specific Responsibilities:
- Overall:
- Work with the Board, staff and partners to develop and implement a strategic plan and provide leadership and vision to guide the planning, development and realization of goals towards impact, growth, and sustainability.
- Direct the overall administration of the organization.
- Provide inspirational and collaborative leadership with excellent interpersonal and intercultural communication skills with the ability to forge and cultivate strong relationships with staff, volunteers, and partners.
- Build and foster strong fundraising, public relations, and participant recruitment strategies.
- Think smartly about Hand2Paw’s intended impact and ensure ongoing programmatic excellence through rigorous program evaluation. Work with staff and board to build the infrastructure and systems necessary to collect the metrics and information necessary to measure and report on the organization’s success.
- Fundraising Planning and Implementation
- Work with the Board to build and strengthen relationships with new and existing foundations, government agencies and industry donors to secure the organization’s financial health and operating budget
- Establish strategies to approach and engage funders in Hand2Paw’s mission.
- Identify grants, submit proposals, complete reporting requirements, and maintain fundraising records and documentation with the support of a contracted grant writer.
- Financial and Business Management
- Oversee all aspects of financial and operational reporting for day-to-day management and longer-term planning with the support of the Operations Director, assuring appropriate record keeping, and accurate and timely reporting to board, government and funding agencies.
- Ensure fiscal integrity, strong administration, and sound operational management, including processes such as payroll, banking, and hiring practices.
- Create an annual financial budget of revenues and expenses for Board approval.
- Community and Stakeholder Communications
- Cultivate and nurture community outreach and stakeholder relationships to ensure robust programs and mission fulfillment by identifying gaps, challenges, and collecting feedback on existing programming.
- Act as chief press spokesperson and build brand awareness through consistent oversight of social media, newsletters, and press releases ensuring that Hand2Paw’s mission, programs, and services are consistently presented in a strong, positive image to its wide-ranging constituents.
- Engage, energize, and broaden Hand2Paw’s volunteer base including Board members and alumni.
- HR, Staff Development and Supervision
- Develop and maintain a highly competent, motivated, and productive staff, and effectively serve as a role model while maintaining the highest ethical standards.
- Model strong REDI leadership principles and provide empathetic supervision to staff that centers mental wellness and work-life balance; lead, manage, and mentor teams with empathy, humility, compassion, and trust.
- Manage staffing needs and build and implement HR systems for supervision, performance evaluation, and professional learning and development for all staff.
- Ensure that all HR policies and procedures fully conform to current laws and regulations.
THE CANDIDATE
The successful candidate will have the ability to lead the organization and work with the Board of Directors in developing innovative and fiscally responsible programming to fulfill our two-fold mission to serve both youth and animals. The Executive Director must be an outstanding and engaging communicator with the ability to listen and effectively convey the mission and successes of Hand2Paw to the community at large.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or related field (Masters Preferred).
- Track record of effectively leading and growing a performance- and outcomes-based organization and staff with specific experience of having developed and operationalized strategies that have taken an organization to the next stage of growth
- Demonstrated commitment to and experience in trauma-informed approaches to working with young adults along with some experience working or volunteering with animals.
SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
- Excellence in organizational management in a direct service delivery setting, with the ability to coach and supervise staff, manage, and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget
- Demonstrated ability to lead community outreach and fund/resource development, including identification, solicitation, cultivation, and stewardship of donors with the experience of engaging a wide range of stakeholders and cultures.
- Strong interpersonal skills with proven success in building, fostering, and maintaining positive relationships with both internal and external constituencies across a wide range of academic, nonprofit, business, youth development, and animal welfare organizations within the community.
- Demonstrated commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at all levels of the organization with ability to work effectively with diverse groups of people.
- Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal skills
- Strong multi-tasking skills and an entrepreneurial mindset with the flexibility necessary to work within a small nonprofit with broad responsibilities. Action-oriented and adaptable with a hands-on approach to solving problems and handling challenges as they arise.
- Knowledge and understanding of how nonprofit organizations operate in an ever-changing environment and the ability to engage partners across the eco-system to leverage emerging opportunities.
- Passion, idealism, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed with a sense of humor.
- Some flexibility to attend weekend events.
Email resume to hand2paw.program@gmail.com
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
Hand2Paw actively seeks to build and support a diverse staff; we are committed to fostering the leadership and elevating the voices of women, young people, people of color, Native people, immigrants and refugees, low-income people, LGBQ+ people, transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, people with disabilities, and people living in the many intersections of these experiences. We strongly encourage people from these communities to apply.