ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Based in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain States, Western States Center (WSC) serves as a national hub to engage partners committed to strengthening inclusive democracy. For 35 years, our work has advanced social, racial, and economic justice by convening, developing, organizing, and supporting the communities most affected by inequities. Our programs have lifted the voices of marginalized communities while providing accessible tools and support for grassroots organizing, civic engagement, and collective action. Our work has resulted in concrete policy and institutional changes across the West and beyond. We’ve played a catalytic role, working with community partners to build people-centered movements, develop new leaders, and shift culture – with our eyes on the prize of an inclusive democracy where people can live, love, and work free from bigotry and fear.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Western States Center is expanding to meet the urgent challenges facing our country. We seek an Executive Director that will work in building and strengthening the Center’s organizational infrastructure, culture, practices, programs, and staffing, ensuring sustainability and growth by leading robust fundraising strategies and financial management in collaboration with staff and Board Members, and the formation of strategies and cultivation of relationships that advance the Center’s mission. A strategic mindset and collaborative leadership style are essential for this position.

The Executive Director will report directly to the Board of Directors and supervise, coach, and lead the Deputy Director and Directors of the Center. The successful candidate will have demonstrated their ability to fulfill the role by working collaboratively to cultivate organizational culture, facilitate organizational planning, build effective relationships, and demonstrate an understanding of organizational systems and strategies as well as have deep experience with justice movements in the Center’s sectors and serve as a catalyst for creating excitement around core strategies to strengthen inclusive democracy.

A FEW ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Organization Development:

• Organizational Culture: Cultivate a professional, values-driven environment where all feel proud to participate by developing and maintaining practices, systems, and facilities, including maintaining the organization’s four-day work week.
• Planning: Facilitate organizational planning in conjunction with the board and staff. Set concrete goals and objectives along with the annual implementation plan. Support staff with creative, collaborative approaches to program development and strategy implementation.

Fundraising and Resource Development:

• Maintain a proactive role in the Center’s development activities, including advising on overall strategy; working with staff, board, and consultants to ensure implementation of annual fundraising plan; engaging in major donor cultivation and solicitation; and grant writing and grant calendar management as needed.
• Ensure that all staff and board are involved in fundraising activities for the organization.

Strategic Leadership:

• Steward organizational mission and strategic plan, guided by organizational values.
• Work closely with the board chair to translate vision into action, evaluate new opportunities through the agreed-upon strategy screen, and leverage assets to work at scale.

Operations:

• Work closely with the operations staff to ensure effective organizational governance, risk management, and internal communications.
• Develop internal policies and organizational development tools based on sector best practices for board review.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Nonprofit HR is committed to fostering and maintaining a work environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is fully integrated into everything we do for the benefit of our employees and the clients that we serve. To fully realize our goal, we prioritize our understanding of the complexities of DEI within our workforce to inform our approach to talent management. We believe that this guides how we do our work, advises our clients to operationalize DEI and position our content and educational opportunities to help strengthen the talent management capacity of the social impact sector. See the full statement.