Executive Director Position

Legacy LA seeks a visionary and strategic leader who can ‘dream big’ with the Legacy LA community, and can translate that vision to new funding opportunities to grow and deepen the impact of the organization. The ideal candidate will be an empathetic, social justice leader who is representative of the community, and thrives off being present and connected with youth, community and staff. This person can demonstrate knowledge, skills and ability to successfully build relationships and engage diverse stakeholders including youth, community, civic leaders, partner organizations, and philanthropic leaders; as well as manage multiple program areas or initiatives. The ideal candidate is a well-respected, seasoned leader in the non-profit field, and has deep knowledge of youth and community development. Their experience will include advocacy work in these fields and a strong understanding of the political landscape impacting Boyle Heights. This person should be able to demonstrate their experience going above and beyond to work with a dynamic team of staff, including the capacity to oversee conflict resolution practices and staff development, while modeling transparency in building healthy organization culture. The successful candidate will be solutions and results-oriented, and able to strategize and implement new programs. 

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the ED will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for Legacy LA’s staff, programs, expansion, financial development, and execution of its mission.

Responsibilities 

Leadership & Management

• Ensure ongoing programmatic excellence, rigorous program evaluation, and consistent quality of finance administration, fundraising, communications, and operation systems.
• Actively engage and energize Legacy LA’s staff, volunteers, board members, alumni, partner organizations, and funders. 
• Develop, maintain, and support a strong board of directors; serve as ex-officio of each committee, seek and build board involvement with strategic direction for both ongoing organizational health.
• Work with the Board Chair (and other board leaders) to oversee and support Board functions, including planning meeting agendas, retreats, committee meetings, committee reports, etc.
• Collaborate with the director team to produce and distribute a comprehensive quarterly Executive Report for the Board, covering significant progress, challenges, program, community and financial updates.
• Lead, coach, develop, and retain Legacy LA’s high-performance director team, and lead a team of 56 staff.
• Ensure effective systems to track progress, and regularly evaluate program components, so as to measure successes that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and the community.

Fundraising & Financial Management

• Demonstrated success in managing operating expenses of at least $2M annually.
• Expand revenue generating and fundraising activities to support existing program operations and expansion.
• Deepen and refine all aspects of communications—from web presence to external relations with the goal of creating a stronger brand. 
• Build external presence and relationships to garner new opportunities.
• In collaboration with the director team, develop an annual organizational budget, as well as longer term organizational development goals and costs to be funded and implemented.
• With the board finance committee, ensure proper oversight of Legacy LA’s budgeting and finance management, audits, assets and liabilities.
• With the Grant Director and Board of Directors, develop and implement a comprehensive fund development strategy and annual fundraising goals, while leveraging existing revenue streams for growth and new opportunities for funding to support Legacy LA’s programs and services.
• Cultivate relationships with foundations, corporations, donors and prospects.

Community Engagement & Advocacy

• Initiates, develops, and maintains cooperative relationships with key stakeholders, including government officials, youth and resident leaders, nonprofit organizations, corporate executives, foundation leaders and board members, and philanthropists.
• Oversees and participates in a robust communications strategy, bringing awareness to Legacy LA, engaging donors and partners, and increasing overall reach in the community
• Serves as a spokesperson for Legacy LA with the media and at public events.
• Acts as an advocate, within both public and private sectors, for services and resources for the Boyle Heights community and Legacy LA., while maintaining healthy, strategic relationships with external partners.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION:

Bachelor’s degree, with a major in a related field. 

EXPERIENCE:

At least 5 years of professional experience in progressive leadership and non-profit management

CORE COMPETENCIES:

The ED will be thoroughly committed to Legacy LA’s mission. All candidates should have proven leadership, coaching and relationship management experience. Concrete demonstrable experience and other qualifications include: 

• Empathetic leader who lives Legacy’s values of integrity, community, and dreams big
• Able to point to examples of having developed and operationalized strategies that have taken an organization to the next stage of growth, including fundraising skills to grow resources and success forming strong community partnerships.
• Excellent communication skills, and experience with public speaking and networking skills as a passionate and persuasive communicator 
• Organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage, and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget.
• Action-oriented, adaptable, and innovative approach to planning. 
• Passion, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed.
• Interpersonal skills with cultural competency and deep understanding of the strengths and issues impacting the Boyle Heights community.
• A flexible team player with a strong work ethic, able to work flexible hours when needed including some evenings and weekends.

LICENSES AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS: 

Possession of a valid California Class C Driver License. Use of an automobile may be required for this position.

Insurance Requirement: Evidence of adequate insurance for a motor vehicle that meets or exceeds the California legal liability insurance requirement and continued insurability.

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

• Bilingual Spanish/English speaker, strongly preferred, or some baseline of verbal competency with commitment to grow Spanish communication skills
• Understands and models trauma informed strategies, restorative practice, and can support staff and community wellness
• Familiarity working with government partnerships and contracts ie. GRYD
• Experience with facilitation skills and campaign experience
• Master’s degree in related field ie. youth development, education, social work, non-profit management, policy