Chief Operating Officer (Volunteer)

Chief Operating Officer (Volunteer)

PromiseOperations | Enterprise Operations, Organizational Systems & Execution

Organization: Mentor A Promise (MAP)

Division: PromiseOperations

Location: Fully Remote — United States, with NYC collaboration and in-person engagement as needed

Type: Volunteer Executive Leadership

Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Minimum Commitment: 6 months; 12 months preferred

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Leads: PromiseOperations

Directly Oversees: Senior Director of Operations and designated Operations Directors, Managers, Leads, and cross-functional operational initiatives

Works Closely With: CEO, Chief of Staff, Executive Team, PromiseGovernance, PromiseTrust, PromiseShield, PromisePeople, PromiseFinance, PromiseStack, PromisePrograms, PromiseLearning, PromiseMeasure, PromiseBridge, PromiseGiving, PromiseBrands, PromiseStudios, PromiseVoice, and other organizational leadership

About Mentor A Promise

Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a New York City–based nonprofit supporting children and youth ages 5–18 experiencing housing instability through mentorship, education, enrichment, creative expression, career development, advocacy, and community-centered opportunity.

MAP is building an organization capable of keeping increasingly complex promises.

That requires more than strong programs and ambitious ideas. It requires reliable systems, clear ownership, disciplined execution, strong coordination, organizational readiness, and leaders who can turn strategy into consistent action.

PromiseOperations exists to build that capacity.

About PromiseOperations

PromiseOperations is MAP's enterprise operations division.

It develops and strengthens the systems, workflows, administrative infrastructure, operational processes, coordination mechanisms, and execution disciplines that allow the organization to function effectively.

PromiseOperations asks:

How should MAP operate so that good work does not depend on confusion, memory, last-minute intervention, or individual heroics?

The Chief Operating Officer leads that work.

Role Overview

MAP is seeking a Chief Operating Officer to serve as the organization's senior executive leader for enterprise operations and organizational execution.

The COO will translate organizational strategy into operating systems capable of supporting MAP's programs, people, divisions, initiatives, and continued growth.

This is not simply an administrative role.

The COO must understand how an organization actually works: how decisions move, how responsibilities are assigned, how teams coordinate, where processes fail, why commitments stall, what information leaders need, and how systems can make execution more reliable.

The COO owns the strategic direction of PromiseOperations.

The Senior Director of Operations serves as the principal execution leader beneath the COO, helping translate that direction into day-to-day operational practice.

The central question is:

How do we build an organization capable of reliably executing what it says it will do?

Enterprise Operations Strategy

Develop and lead MAP's enterprise operations strategy.

Establish priorities involving:

• Organizational systems
• Operational infrastructure
• Cross-divisional coordination
• Workflow design
• Administrative operations
• Process improvement
• Organizational readiness
• Internal service delivery
• Documentation
• Business continuity
• Operational performance
• Execution discipline
• Organizational scalability

The objective is not more process.

The objective is better execution.

Strategy Into Execution

Help translate CEO and Executive Team priorities into coordinated organizational action.

Use a clear execution framework:

Decision → Owner → Action → Deadline → Follow-Up → Completion → Documentation

Ensure major operational priorities have:

• Clear ownership
• Defined responsibilities
• Appropriate contributors
• Timelines
• Dependencies
• Decision authority
• Escalation pathways
• Completion criteria
• Follow-through

Strategy without execution becomes aspiration.

Operations helps make it real.

Organizational Operating Model

Help define how MAP operates across divisions.

Clarify:

Who owns the work?

Who contributes?

Who decides?

Who approves?

Who executes?

Who monitors?

When does something need to be escalated?

Support an enterprise framework:

Own → Recommend → Review → Approve → Execute → Monitor → Escalate

The COO should reduce organizational ambiguity without centralizing every decision inside Operations.

Operational Systems

Build and strengthen systems supporting MAP's work.

This may include:

• Project management
• Workflows
• Request processes
• Internal service systems
• Operational calendars
• Documentation
• Records management
• Organizational trackers
• Approval pathways
• Escalation procedures
• Cross-functional coordination
• Operational dashboards
• Standard operating procedures
• Knowledge management
• Organizational planning
• Administrative infrastructure

Systems should reduce dependence on institutional memory and individual heroics.

Cross-Divisional Operations

MAP operates through specialized divisions with distinct responsibilities.

The COO ensures those divisions can work together effectively without PromiseOperations absorbing their authority.

For significant cross-functional initiatives, establish:

Owner → Contributors → Dependencies → Decision Authority → Timeline → Escalation → Completion

The COO should be especially attentive to work that falls between divisions.

When everyone is involved but no one owns the outcome, execution becomes fragile.

PromiseOperations Leadership

Lead PromiseOperations as an organizational function.

Responsibilities include:

• Establish division strategy.
• Set annual and quarterly priorities.
• Define operating standards.
• Build the leadership structure.
• Recruit and develop Operations leaders.
• Delegate appropriately.
• Establish accountability.
• Review performance.
• Resolve operational barriers.
• Improve systems.
• Build succession and continuity.

The COO should not become MAP's most overworked Operations Manager.

The COO should build an operations organization capable of functioning exceptionally well without depending on one person to hold everything together.

Senior Director of Operations

Provide strategic leadership and direction to the Senior Director of Operations.

The relationship should remain clear:

The Chief Operating Officer determines where PromiseOperations is going.

The Senior Director of Operations makes sure PromiseOperations gets there.

The COO establishes enterprise operational strategy, priorities, architecture, and expectations.

The Senior Director drives implementation, department coordination, operational follow-through, and execution across PromiseOperations.

This distinction allows the COO to lead the function rather than becoming consumed by every operational detail.

Organizational Rhythm

Help establish predictable operating rhythms across MAP.

Support systems for:

• Annual planning
• Quarterly priorities
• Monthly reviews
• Weekly execution
• Leadership reporting
• Project reviews
• Operational check-ins
• Performance monitoring
• Risk escalation
• Cross-divisional coordination
• Follow-up

An organization should not need a crisis to discover what is behind schedule.

Process Improvement

Identify processes that are:

• Unclear
• Duplicative
• Manual
• Inconsistent
• Slow
• Unnecessarily complicated
• Dependent on one person
• Poorly documented
• Difficult to scale

Use a disciplined improvement process:

Understand → Map → Diagnose → Simplify → Redesign → Implement → Measure → Improve

Do not automate a broken process simply because technology makes automation possible.

First determine whether the process should exist in its current form.

Internal Operational Services

Strengthen how internal teams receive operational support.

Develop clear processes for requests, ownership, timelines, escalation, and completion.

Internal teams should not need personal relationships with the right person to receive routine operational support.

A strong organization makes ordinary work easier to accomplish.

Documentation & Institutional Knowledge

Ensure important operational knowledge remains with MAP.

Develop standards for:

• SOPs
• Playbooks
• Process maps
• Templates
• Organizational records
• Decision documentation
• Operating procedures
• Administrative documentation
• Ownership records
• Version control
• Archives

People will change.

The organization should not have to relearn how it works every time they do.

Operational Performance

Develop practical indicators for understanding organizational execution.

These may include:

• Priority completion
• Project status
• Turnaround times
• Missed deadlines
• Operational bottlenecks
• Request completion
• Cross-functional dependencies
• Process reliability
• Documentation completeness
• Recurring operational failures
• Escalations
• Team capacity

Operational measurement should help leaders identify problems before those problems become emergencies.

Risk, Continuity & Organizational Readiness

Work with PromiseTrust, PromiseShield, PromiseFinance, PromisePeople, and other responsible teams to strengthen organizational preparedness.

Support operational planning for:

• Business continuity
• Critical process coverage
• Leadership transitions
• Technology disruptions
• Vendor disruptions
• Program interruptions
• Emergency operations
• Records availability
• Key-person dependencies
• Operational incidents

PromiseOperations coordinates operational readiness.

It does not replace the specialized legal, privacy, cybersecurity, financial, safeguarding, or governance authority of other divisions.

Governance & Operations

Maintain a clear distinction between PromiseOperations and PromiseGovernance.

PromiseGovernance establishes and protects the frameworks within which MAP operates, including appropriate governance structures, authority, oversight, accountability, and institutional responsibilities.

PromiseOperations builds and runs the systems that allow MAP to operate effectively within those frameworks.

Governance establishes the guardrails and appropriate oversight.

Operations builds the systems and processes that allow the organization to move effectively within them.

Governance should not become Operations.

Operations should not become Governance.

Legal, Risk & Compliance

Partner closely with PromiseTrust while maintaining functional boundaries.

PromiseTrust owns legal affairs, legal risk, compliance, and related institutional responsibilities.

PromiseOperations may implement processes required by legal or compliance standards but should not independently determine the legal standard.

The distinction is important:

PromiseTrust determines what MAP must do.

PromiseOperations helps build reliable systems for doing it.

Privacy, Cybersecurity & Safeguarding

Partner with PromiseShield on operational processes involving privacy, cybersecurity, data protection, safeguarding, and related protective requirements.

PromiseShield establishes specialized protective requirements and standards within its authority.

PromiseOperations helps ensure those requirements can function consistently in organizational practice.

People Operations

Partner with PromisePeople on systems involving recruitment, onboarding, volunteer administration, role transitions, organizational capacity, and people-related workflows.

PromisePeople owns people strategy and HR responsibilities.

PromiseOperations supports the systems through which those responsibilities can be executed efficiently.

Technology & Systems

Partner with PromiseStack and PromiseShield to ensure technology supports operational needs.

Help identify:

• Business requirements
• Workflow requirements
• System gaps
• Automation opportunities
• Integration needs
• User requirements
• Operational dependencies
• Implementation priorities

Technology should solve a defined organizational problem.

A new platform is not automatically an operational improvement.

Financial Operations

Partner with PromiseFinance on operational processes involving purchasing, expenses, approvals, vendors, documentation, budgeting workflows, and other administrative-financial intersections.

PromiseFinance retains financial and accounting authority within its responsibilities.

The COO helps ensure financial processes integrate effectively with broader organizational operations.

Decision Rights

The COO should have meaningful operational authority within the scope delegated by the CEO.

The COO may:

• Establish PromiseOperations standards.
• Set operational priorities.
• Assign operational ownership.
• Require appropriate operational documentation.
• Establish workflows and execution processes.
• Request status reporting.
• Surface missed commitments.
• Resolve operational coordination issues.
• Recommend organizational process changes.
• Escalate unresolved risks or barriers.
• Hold PromiseOperations leadership accountable for execution.

The COO does not automatically acquire the specialized authority of the CEO, Board, PromiseGovernance, PromiseTrust, PromiseFinance, PromisePeople, PromiseShield, or other functional leaders.

Strong operations requires clear authority.

It also requires knowing where that authority ends.

Executive Leadership

Serve as an active member of MAP's Executive Team.

The COO will:

• Participate consistently in weekly Chiefs meetings.
• Meet regularly with the CEO.
• Provide clear operational updates.
• Surface organizational risks early.
• Identify cross-functional dependencies.
• Challenge unrealistic execution assumptions.
• Bring operational implications into strategic decisions.
• Follow through on executive commitments.
• Support quarterly organizational priorities.
• Help leadership distinguish urgent work from important work.
• Model accountability, collaboration, judgment, and integrity.

The COO should be capable of telling leadership not only whether an idea is exciting, but what it will actually take to execute it well.

Leadership Development

Recruit, develop, and retain strong operational leaders.

Create an environment where people:

• Understand their authority.
• Know what they own.
• Can make appropriate decisions.
• Escalate problems early.
• Document important work.
• Learn from mistakes.
• Collaborate across functions.
• Follow through on commitments.
• Improve systems rather than repeatedly working around them.

The strongest COO does not create organizational dependence.

The strongest COO creates organizational capability.

First-Year Priorities

The COO's first year should focus on strengthening MAP's operational foundation.

Priorities may include:

• Establishing an enterprise operations strategy.
• Clarifying PromiseOperations structure.
• Strengthening the Senior Director of Operations function.
• Mapping major organizational workflows.
• Establishing operational service standards.
• Clarifying ownership and decision rights.
• Building cross-functional operating protocols.
• Strengthening quarterly planning and execution.
• Developing operational dashboards.
• Establishing documentation standards.
• Reducing key-person dependencies.
• Strengthening business-continuity practices.
• Identifying recurring organizational bottlenecks.
• Simplifying unnecessary processes.
• Improving follow-through and escalation.
• Building a strong PromiseOperations leadership team.

The objective is not to redesign everything.

It is to identify what matters most and make it work reliably.

Qualifications

Strong candidates may come from nonprofit operations, corporate operations, business administration, organizational leadership, strategy and operations, program operations, project or portfolio management, consulting, organizational development, business transformation, or related fields.

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Senior operational leadership experience.
• Strong systems thinking.
• Excellent organizational judgment.
• Experience leading managers or multidisciplinary teams.
• Ability to translate strategy into execution.
• Strong project and portfolio management.
• Process-design and improvement experience.
• Cross-functional leadership ability.
• Comfort operating in complex organizations.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Ability to establish accountability without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Sound judgment around organizational risk.
• Experience developing leaders and teams.
• Strong follow-through.
• Alignment with MAP's mission and values.

Experience helping an organization build or mature its operating infrastructure is especially valuable.

What Success Looks Like

MAP knows who owns important work.

Decisions translate into action.

Leaders understand their authority.

Cross-divisional projects have clear ownership.

Operational requests have reliable pathways.

Important processes are documented.

Fewer responsibilities depend on one person remembering what happens next.

Problems surface earlier.

Leadership has greater visibility into execution.

Operational bottlenecks are identified and addressed.

PromiseOperations develops capable leaders.

The CEO spends less time resolving preventable operational confusion.

And MAP increasingly operates like an institution capable of carrying its mission for the long term.

Why This Role Matters

Organizations rarely fail because they lack ideas.

They struggle when responsibilities are unclear.

When decisions never become actions.

When everyone thought someone else owned the next step.

When important knowledge lives in one person's head.

When systems exist but no one follows them.

When growth creates complexity faster than the organization creates capacity.

MAP's mission deserves more than good intentions held together by extraordinary individual effort.

It deserves an institution.

The Chief Operating Officer helps build it.

Commitment

Approximately 5–10 hours per week with a minimum six-month commitment; 12 months is preferred for this executive leadership role.

The COO is expected to participate consistently in weekly Chiefs meetings, meet regularly with the CEO, maintain active communication with the Senior Director of Operations and PromiseOperations leadership, own division priorities, recruit and develop the team, surface risks early, and demonstrate reliable executive follow-through.

How to Apply

Interested candidates must apply directly through Idealist and submit:

• Resume or CV
• Cover letter

This is an unpaid volunteer executive leadership role requiring approximately 5–10 hours per week.

At this time, MAP volunteer opportunities are limited to individuals based in the United States due to legal, safeguarding, data-privacy, compliance, and programmatic requirements.

Build the systems. Clarify the ownership. Develop the leaders. Remove the barriers. Turn decisions into execution. Build an organization that does not depend on heroics to succeed—and make sure MAP has the operational strength to keep every promise it is capable of making.