Chief People & Human Resources Officer (Volunteer)

Chief People & Human Resources Officer (Volunteer)

PromisePeople | People Strategy, Human Resources, Culture & Volunteer Experience

Organization: Mentor A Promise (MAP)

Division: PromisePeople

Location: Fully Remote — United States

Type: Volunteer Executive Leadership Role

Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Minimum Commitment: 6 months

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Leads: PromisePeople / Human Resources

Works Closely With: Executive Team, Chiefs, Directors, Managers, Team Leads, PromiseTrust, PromiseShield, PromiseRise, PromiseTeach, and leaders across MAP

About Mentor A Promise

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

Behind every program, partnership, publication, technology project, workshop, and youth experience are people choosing to contribute their time, expertise, creativity, and leadership to the mission.

PromisePeople exists to ensure those people are recruited thoughtfully, welcomed intentionally, supported consistently, developed meaningfully, and treated with dignity throughout their MAP experience.

About PromisePeople

PromisePeople is MAP's people and human resources division.

The division supports the complete people lifecycle:

Plan → Attract → Recruit → Select → Onboard → Engage → Develop → Support → Recognize → Retain → Transition

PromisePeople oversees and supports areas including:

• Human resources
• People strategy
• Talent acquisition
• Volunteer recruitment
• Onboarding and offboarding
• People operations
• Volunteer experience
• Organizational culture
• Leadership development
• Performance and accountability
• Workforce planning
• Organizational design
• Recognition and retention
• People policies and practices

The goal is not simply to fill positions.

It is to build an organization where talented people can do meaningful work together.

Role Overview

The Chief People & Human Resources Officer serves as MAP's senior executive leader for people strategy and human resources.

This role leads PromisePeople and helps shape how MAP attracts, selects, develops, supports, manages, retains, and transitions volunteers and organizational leaders.

The Chief People & Human Resources Officer operates at the intersection of:

People → HR → Culture → Leadership → Systems → Organizational Capacity → Mission

This is not simply an administrative HR role.

MAP is looking for a leader capable of building the people infrastructure required for a growing, multidisciplinary nonprofit organization.

People & HR Strategy

Develop and lead MAP's organization-wide people and human resources strategy.

Translate organizational priorities into thoughtful approaches to:

• Workforce planning
• Talent acquisition
• Volunteer management
• Organizational structure
• Leadership development
• Engagement
• Retention
• Succession
• Culture
• People operations

Help leadership move beyond asking:

“Who do we need?”

toward:

“What capability does MAP need, and how should we build it?”

Lead PromisePeople

Provide executive leadership for MAP's human resources and people functions.

Establish clear priorities, responsibilities, workflows, service standards, documentation, and accountability.

Lead and develop HR directors, managers, coordinators, recruiters, onboarding contributors, and other PromisePeople volunteers as the division grows.

Build systems that remain effective beyond any individual leader.

Talent Acquisition & Recruitment

Develop a strong recruitment strategy capable of attracting exceptional volunteers across MAP's many disciplines.

Partner with organizational leaders on:

• Workforce needs
• Role development
• Job descriptions
• Idealist postings
• Candidate sourcing
• Application review
• Interview processes
• Candidate evaluation
• Selection
• Candidate communication

Help ensure applications receive timely attention and candidates experience MAP as organized, responsive, and respectful.

Recruitment is not simply about filling vacancies.

It is about finding people who can contribute meaningfully and thrive within MAP.

Onboarding & Integration

Create an onboarding experience that moves beyond account activation and paperwork.

New team members should understand:

Mission → Division → Role → Leadership → Expectations → Systems → Culture → Support → Contribution

Ensure appropriate coordination around accounts, organizational resources, required documentation, safeguarding, privacy, confidentiality, policies, reporting structures, and team integration.

A person's first weeks at MAP should increase clarity—not confusion.

Volunteer Experience & Engagement

Build systems for understanding and continuously improving the volunteer experience.

Explore questions such as:

Why do people join MAP?

What makes their experience meaningful?

Where do they encounter unnecessary friction?

What support helps them succeed?

Why do strong contributors stay?

Why do they leave?

Use feedback and organizational learning to strengthen the experience.

Culture & Belonging

Partner with executive leadership to intentionally shape MAP's organizational culture.

Promote an environment characterized by:

• Respect
• Accountability
• Collaboration
• Inclusion
• Reliability
• Communication
• Learning
• Professionalism
• Belonging
• Mission alignment

Culture is not what an organization says about itself.

Culture is what people repeatedly experience.

Performance, Accountability & Support

Develop fair and practical approaches for establishing expectations, providing feedback, supporting improvement, addressing participation concerns, and recognizing strong contributions.

Help leaders distinguish among:

Unclear Expectations → Training Need → Support Need → Performance Concern → Conduct Concern → Role Misalignment

Different challenges require different responses.

The goal is to combine accountability with thoughtful people leadership.

Leadership Development

Partner with PromiseRise, PromiseTeach, and executive leadership to identify and develop emerging leaders.

Create opportunities for volunteers to strengthen skills in:

• People leadership
• Communication
• Delegation
• Coaching
• Feedback
• Accountability
• Conflict navigation
• Decision-making
• Team development
• Organizational leadership

MAP should not need to search externally every time a leadership opportunity emerges.

A strong people strategy develops talent from within.

Organizational Design & Workforce Planning

Partner with the CEO and Executive Team as MAP's organizational structure evolves.

Evaluate:

Strategy → Capabilities → Functions → Teams → Roles → Reporting Relationships → People

Help identify unclear ownership, capability gaps, duplicated functions, leadership needs, succession risks, and opportunities to strengthen organizational effectiveness.

Growth should create greater capability—not unnecessary complexity.

People Operations

Strengthen the operational infrastructure supporting MAP's workforce.

Help establish consistent processes for:

• Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Volunteer records
• Role changes
• Promotions
• Leadership appointments
• Participation tracking
• Training requirements
• Organizational directories
• Offboarding
• Access coordination
• Knowledge transfer

People operations should make the organization easier to navigate.

People Policies & HR Practices

Partner with PromiseTrust and appropriate professional advisors to develop, review, communicate, and operationalize people-related policies and practices.

Areas may include professional conduct, volunteer expectations, confidentiality, remote collaboration, conflicts of interest, participation, complaints, accessibility, performance, safeguarding, role transitions, and offboarding.

The Chief People & Human Resources Officer helps operationalize appropriate HR practices while qualified legal professionals advise on legal requirements.

Safeguarding & Youth-Serving Workforce

Because MAP serves children and youth, safeguarding must be embedded throughout the people lifecycle.

Collaborate with appropriate leadership on screening, background checks where required, onboarding, safeguarding training, professional boundaries, authorized communications, confidentiality, and youth-facing role requirements.

Recruitment should never move faster than safeguarding.

People Data & Insights

Develop responsible approaches to understanding MAP's workforce.

Potential measures may include:

• Recruitment activity
• Application response times
• Vacancies
• Time to fill
• Onboarding completion
• Volunteer participation
• Retention
• Leadership vacancies
• Internal advancement
• Training participation
• Engagement feedback
• Offboarding trends

Partner with PromiseMeasure and PromiseShield where appropriate to ensure people information is useful, proportionate, protected, and handled responsibly.

Employee & Volunteer Relations

Provide senior people leadership for complex organizational and volunteer matters.

Support leaders in navigating communication breakdowns, interpersonal challenges, role ambiguity, participation concerns, performance issues, conduct concerns, and other people-related situations.

Exercise discretion, consistency, empathy, and sound judgment.

Recognize when matters require escalation to the CEO, PromiseTrust, safeguarding leadership, privacy leadership, or other appropriate professionals.

Recognition & Retention

Develop meaningful approaches to recognizing contributions and retaining exceptional volunteers.

Recognition should not depend solely on promotions or titles.

People should understand that their contribution is seen, valued, and connected to the mission.

Offboarding & Transitions

Create professional processes for departures and role transitions.

Coordinate appropriate:

Communication → Knowledge Transfer → Documentation → Access Changes → Organizational Property → Exit Feedback → Closure

How an organization welcomes people matters.

How it says goodbye matters too.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an experienced people leader who combines strategic HR expertise with genuine care for people and strong operational judgment.

This opportunity may be especially attractive to:

• Chief People Officers
• Chief Human Resources Officers
• Vice Presidents of Human Resources
• Vice Presidents of People
• Directors of People
• Senior HR leaders
• People Operations leaders
• Organizational-development professionals
• Talent leaders
• HR consultants
• Retired HR or people executives seeking meaningful social-impact leadership

You understand that being people-centered does not mean avoiding difficult conversations.

You also understand that accountability does not require abandoning empathy.

Exceptional people leadership requires both.

Qualifications

Strong candidates should bring substantial experience across several areas of people or HR leadership, including:

• Human resources
• People strategy
• HR operations
• Talent acquisition
• Organizational development
• Workforce planning
• Volunteer management
• Leadership development
• Organizational design
• Performance management
• Culture and engagement
• HR policies
• Change management

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Strong executive judgment
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills
• Ability to advise senior leaders
• Ability to build and improve people systems
• Strong discretion and confidentiality
• Ability to navigate sensitive situations
• Strategic and operational thinking
• Ability to balance empathy and accountability
• Strong organizational and follow-through skills
• Commitment to safeguarding
• Alignment with MAP's mission and values
• Residence in the United States

Senior HR or people leadership experience is strongly preferred.

What Success Looks Like

PromisePeople operates with a clear strategy.

MAP attracts stronger candidates.

Applications receive timely attention.

Candidates experience professional communication.

New volunteers receive consistent onboarding.

People understand their roles and reporting relationships.

Managers receive better support leading teams.

Emerging leaders are identified and developed.

People policies become clearer and more consistent.

Volunteer engagement and retention become increasingly intentional.

Safeguarding is embedded throughout people processes.

Leadership transitions are better planned.

Organizational structure becomes clearer as MAP grows.

Departures are handled professionally.

And MAP increasingly becomes an organization where exceptional people want to join, contribute, develop, lead, and stay.

What You'll Gain

This is an opportunity to help shape the people infrastructure of a growing, multidisciplinary nonprofit.

The Chief People & Human Resources Officer will have meaningful executive responsibility across people strategy, HR, culture, talent, volunteer experience, leadership development, organizational design, and organizational capacity.

For an experienced HR or people executive, this is an opportunity to bring years of professional knowledge to a mission where stronger people systems ultimately create stronger opportunities for young people.

Why This Role Matters

Every MAP initiative ultimately depends on people.

People mentor.

People teach.

People create.

People recruit.

People build partnerships.

People solve problems.

People lead teams.

People make difficult decisions.

And people determine whether an organization's mission becomes something experienced in the real world.

The Chief People & Human Resources Officer helps MAP find those people, prepare them, support them, develop them, and build the organizational environment in which they can do their best work.

Volunteer Commitment

This is an unpaid volunteer executive leadership position requiring approximately 5–10 hours per week with a minimum six-month commitment.

Consistent leadership, discretion, communication, collaboration, and reliable follow-through are essential.

Volunteers should provide at least two weeks' notice when ending their service whenever possible.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply directly through Idealist and submit:

• A current résumé
• A cover letter describing their interest in people leadership, human resources, and Mentor A Promise

Candidates should highlight relevant senior experience in human resources, people strategy, talent management, organizational development, people operations, organizational design, volunteer management, leadership development, or related areas.

We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate how they have built, transformed, or significantly improved people systems—not simply administered them.

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.

Find exceptional people. Build exceptional systems. Develop future leaders. Create a culture where care and accountability strengthen one another. And help MAP become an organization where talented people can contribute, grow, belong, and do work that matters.