Executive Director - Nat'l Assoc of Nonprofits, Washington DC

Executive Director
Washington, DC
NCNA, a national umbrella of 43 state associations representing a network of over 20,000 nonprofits and the convener of the Nonprofit Congress, is in leadership transition. We seek a highly motivated individual who has successful association leadership experience along with the knowledge, skills, talent, commitment, and vision to advance the nonprofit sector and our association movement. The successful candidate will be working with an active membership, an engaged national board, and a talented staff that are fully committed to growth goals.
Send cover letter, resume, and a list of three references to Doug Sauer, chair of the Search Committee at dsauer@ncna.org by April 28, 2008. NCNA is an equal opportunity employer.

NCNA Background, Vision & Strategic Position

Background

The National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) is dedicated to advancing the vital role and capacity of the nonprofit sector in civil society. NCNA supports and gives voice to state and regional associations of nonprofits and develops their capacity to support community based organizations. State associations of nonprofits have emerged as important infrastructure support organizations for the nonprofit sector at both the state and local level. What began as a disparate coalition of 11 states in 1989 has evolved into a burgeoning movement of 43 state and regional associations that collectively represent more than 20,000 nonprofit organizations.

In carrying out is mission, NCNA works to:

Create, strengthen and expand regional and statewide associations of nonprofits so that they can more effectively serve their members and achieve their mission and improve nonprofit accountability.
Strengthen and expand NCNA’s role as a national leader and voice for the statewide nonprofit associations in areas such as advocacy, capacity building, accountability and networks through its work on the Nonprofit Congress.
Serve as the hub for statewide associations to obtain information, be alerted to the latest policy developments and trends in technical assistance, group purchasing, and peer to peer learning.

NCNA has met the diverse needs of their members through publications, conferences, peer mentoring opportunities, grant programs, newsletters, and national demonstration and research projects.

To expand resources available to members and put our values into practice through modeling thoughtful collaboration, NCNA has often partnered with the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, OMB Watch, BoardSource, Foundation Center, Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, Independent Sector and Alliance for Justice.

Our Vision and Strategic Position

As we enter our 20th year of vibrant, high energy work, NCNA is at an exciting and critical juncture. Our ever-changing environment leads to a new outlook and clarity of purpose. We see a national landscape of dynamic political and societal trends against a backdrop of an economic recession, fragmented sector representation, increased public and regulatory scrutiny and demands, and dwindling support from national sources for capacity building work and national infrastructure organizations.

A strategic plan is in place to address these challenges, and generating the necessary resources is clearly an absolute priority for NCNA. But with these challenges come opportunity and new possibilities for mission and resource growth for NCNA and our member state associations. As we plan our transition, we seek an executive director who will lead NCNA to achieve the following objectives:

Assume a significantly stronger leadership position in recognition, voice and influence among stakeholders and policymakers as the representative voice of the small-to-midsize community-based nonprofit, which is the heart and soul of the sector.
Measurably increase our financial sustainability and that of our member state associations.
Grow the member network of our state associations to over 40,000 nonprofits.
Develop substantive collaborations and possibly restructure relations with colleague organizations.

In directly facing our challenges, NCNA is in the midst of changing its business model and profile as a national leader for the sector. We believe we are uniquely positioned in this new era of advocacy and service. Building on the lessons learned and our greatest strength, the state associations, we have embarked within the past two years on a number of new substantive strategic directions, which have included, but are not limited to:

Adopting a federated dues model and considering a proposed name change to The National Council of Nonprofits.
Revising our member categories to strengthen the national—state—local nonprofit linkage and enable participation of nonprofits in states where no association currently exists.
Increasing our emphasis on earned revenue strategies through product and service delivery to our member network.
Annualizing the Nonprofit Congress National Meeting and strengthening its brand recognition to NCNA.
Leading the advocacy effort for federal legislation of a national capacity building initiative.
Demonstrating willingness to explore, and assume the risks associated with, merger and other forms of restructuring.

Executive Director Candidate Responsibilities, Qualifications, Characteristics & Compensation

The National Council of Nonprofit Associations has vast promise, and the next Executive Director is expected to help define and fulfill it. The ideal candidate will not only be highly qualified as a manager and administrator but will also be able to create, communicate, and unify others externally around a new strategic vision for NCNA; create and execute an integrated and diversified revenue generation effort; and successfully strengthen our network’s linkage and integration of its grassroots national—state—local triad infrastructure.

Responsibilities

As chief administrative officer, our new executive director will excel in shaping and achieving our vision and providing strategic direction. The successful candidate will assume the responsibilities and duties customary to the position of an association executive, including, but not limited to: providing professional support and guidance to the board of directors; overseeing all operations in accordance with board policy, directions and applicable laws and regulations; engaging, mobilizing and developing membership; developing quality and responsive services; coordinating the annual operating plan and budget; hiring, supervising, evaluating and releasing staff; assessing and reporting on organizational performance; developing corporate, foundation and earned revenue resource generation sources; planning conferences; promoting a positive public image of the organization; and serving as the public spokesperson and representative.


Qualifications & Candidate Characteristics

While no one person will embody all of the qualities desired, the following professional and personal characteristics are what we are looking for in a new executive director:

Have at least five years of successful senior level management experience and performance, including time as an executive director, in a nonprofit association of comparable complexity and structure, preferably at the national level.
Possess an outstanding record of accomplishments as a strategic thinker and practitioner in the field of nonprofit governance, national and/or state policy, advocacy, and technical assistance.
Have a demonstrated record of operations and capacity building.
Be an entrepreneurial thinker with the ability to develop and execute association product/services and service offerings.
Evidence of cultivating donors, writing operations & capacity building grants, and receiving funds at the national level.
Evidence of a strong ability to organize, mobilize and provide the professional support and guidance necessary to support a membership-elected Board of Directors comprised of leaders in the sector.
Successful experience in recruiting, supervising, motivating, developing and retaining a diverse and talented staff.
Possess strong written and oral communication skills and an ability to handle complex, technically challenging material.
Have extensive experience in public speaking and working with print and electronic media.
Possess a nurturing and optimistic personality, strong interpersonal skills and a capacity to work effectively with a wide variety of people and personalities.
Strongly value an approach that stresses customer service, both internally and externally.
Be a self-starter who takes on responsibility and accountability for results and successes while engaging, managing, directing, and mentoring members of a larger team.

Compensation

The starting salary for the position will be commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate.

To Apply

Send cover letter, resume, and a list of three references to Doug Sauer, chair of the search committee, at dsauer@ncna.org by April 28, 2008. NCNA is an equal opportunity employer.