Job Description

 

 

YWCA BELLINGHAM - CEO OPPORTUNITY

YWCA Bellingham is thrilled to announce we are seeking an experienced nonprofit leader to take our organization into its next phase of growth on our journey to eliminate racism and empower women! We seek a values-driven, hands-on, innovative, and courageous thought leader to build on our successful housing programs for

Location: Bellingham, Washington women, and deepen our racial justice work
Posting Date: September 1, 2023 internally and in the community.

Applications submitted by Our next CEO will enjoy a flexible work environment, a
October 2 at 5:00pm Pacific time collaborative and supportive staff team, an engaged board of will be given full consideration. directors, a diversity of revenue streams, and the opportunity
Early applications are strongly to “make their mark” on a century-old women’s organization encouraged. Consideration will be promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. given to applications as soon as they are received; initial phone screening YWCA Bellingham is a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all will begin in late-September. backgrounds and walks of life, and we strongly encourage you to
Salary: $95,000 - $115,000 per year apply if you are from a marginalized or underrepresented group.

We don’t believe in a “perfect” candidate. If you believe this is a role that you’ll be excited to work in each day, want to be a part of a supportive team culture, and are excited by the chance to lead an organization like ours into its next chapter of growth and impact, please apply!

THE ORGANIZATION
YWCA Bellingham is part of a national network of programs with the shared mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

Nationally, YWCA is the oldest and largest multicultural women’s organization in the world, encompassing more than 25 million members in 122 countries, including 2 million members at 300 local associations across the United States. Collectively we have been at the forefront of the most pressing social movements in our country – from voting rights to civil rights, affordable housing to pay equity, and violence prevention to health care reform. Today, the YWCA combines programming and advocacy in order to generate institutional change in three key areas: racial justice and civil rights, empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls, and health and safety of women and girls.

Locally, YWCA Bellingham is committed to fostering a compassionate and flexible culture that models our mission to empower women and eliminate racism. From the Board, to the staff, to our clients, we are dedicated to treating team members with dignity and grace. We are proud to be a learning organization that seeks to understand root causes and systemic solutions in all our work across Bellingham and Whatcom County.

YWCA Bellingham manifests its mission and living legacy with programs that offer women experiencing homelessness a safe home with intensive case management services that help them build and lead healthy lives. In 2021, we directed resources toward our commitment to racial justice with new programming to support ongoing anti-racism efforts in Whatcom County, and anticipate robust growth in this area in the coming years. That same year we also launched our successful social enterprise - The Y’s Buys Thrift Boutique - that supports our mission with diversified revenue for programs and operations.

ORGANIZATIONAL SNAPSHOT:
>FOUNDED IN 1907
>ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET ~$1M
>STAFF: 8.5 FTEs
>SERVICE CAPACITY: 150 WOMEN
>BOARD: 9 MEMBERS

PHYSICAL SITES
>Main building on North Forest Street, which serves as the organization’s administrative base, and residential home for more than 40 women/night
>New Garden Street Apartment with housing for 11 women (launching Fall 2023) located in downtown Interim Housing Program
>Y’s Buys Thrift Boutique, a social enterprise supporting our work

HOUSING PROGRAMS
>Emergency Ballroom Shelter (short-term)
>Interim Housing Program (temporary, targeted goal of 90 days)
>Permanent Supportive Housing (long-term)
>Senior Housing for 55+ (long-term)
>Winter Shelter (cold weather months, emergency shelter)
>Garden Street Apartments (permanent support housing - long term)

Racial Justice Programs - Whatcom County community reach
>Women of Color Speaker Series
>Stand Against Racism Challenge

Our staff team includes a Chief Finance Officer, Housing Program Director, Case Managers (3), Housing Program Assistant, Y’s Buys Manager, Y’s Buys Assistant Manager, an Office Manager, a Facilities Lead, and contractors for development and communications support.

The Board of Directors is very active through Development, Finance,
Racial Justice, and Executive committees and is heavily involved in two annual fundraising events: a Garden Tea in June and Leadership Breakfast in September.

THE OPPORTUNITY
YWCA Bellingham is entering a period of exciting growth and development as we embark on our next chapter with a new leader at the helm. We have a strong foundation for growth, with a healthy and committed staff team, board of directors, and organizational culture. Assets include our historic building (N. Forest Street), our social enterprise (Y’s Buys Thrift Boutique), and a strong and diversified revenue portfolio of government contracts, foundation grants, and community giving.

Over the past few years, our incredible staff, board, and community have achieved an impressive “turn-around” post-pandemic to put the YWCA Bellingham on solid ground. We are confident the organization is poised for an exciting period of expansion and greater impact in the years to come.

With the vision and leadership of our new CEO, the YWCA Bellingham will spearhead and support innovative community solutions that further our mission to empower women and eliminate racism in Whatcom County. We plan to launch a strategic planning process in 2024 that will chart a way forward in our commitment to accomplish key objectives in coming years.

Our new CEO will be front and center in these efforts:
Deepening our role as a community leader in the development and implementation of housing solutions in our community

Evaluating opportunities to meet growing needs pertinent to our mission, i.e. broadening our influence into nearby geographies, increasing services and programming in the housing and social services system, launching women’s empowerment programming, exploring more social enterprise ventures, developing more comprehensive advocacy for racial, gender, and disability justice

Advancing our commitment to racial justice internally through organizational operations, culture, and deployment of services, and ensuring similar progress externally through anti-racist programming that serves the wider community, and providing thought leadership in the community conversation around racial justice

Our new CEO will need to be a skilled and motivated thought leader who enjoys being a “builder,” and is drawn to this unique opportunity to bring their own passion and ideas to shape the future of our work.

THE ESSENTIALS
We seek a nonprofit professional who will embrace the uniqueness of the YWCA Bellingham, and by extension, the multi-faceted nature of this CEO opportunity. It calls for a combination of mission-focused vision and passion, high-level management skills, and some experience with and aptitude for day-to-day direct service. We seek a leader to grow our organization who will embrace the following opportunities:

Creating an actionable strategic plan Taking on a visible community leadership role in for long-term impact (in cooperation order to be a thought partner to other community with the board and staff) leaders, government entities, and nonprofit organizations working on similar issues

Managing and inspiring a Defining and operationalizing the“eliminating high-functioning staff team with racism” commitment within our mission and a service-focused culture programming

Exploring our potential for significant Building and implementing a robust development growth of programming and influence strategy to support the organization’s long-term within the low-income community impact, including a major donor program housing sector

In addition to identifying and operationalizing opportunities for growth, the CEO will be charged with managing all aspects of the organization’s operations. This includes overseeing, tracking, and reporting on government grants, hiring and managing staff, developing and implementing a fundraising plan, and as- needed facilities management of the organization’s buildings.

Our new CEO will need to balance both day to day, hands-on leadership serving our target population, as well as big picture visioning and planning for the next phase of growth and impact.

THE CANDIDATE
We seek a leader who possesses many of the following qualifications and who is able to identify where they will need to further develop. We anticipate the following attributes will be vital to the success of our next CEO:

A DEEP COMMITMENT TO DISMANTLING AN EXPERIENCED LEADER who will
SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION AND ADVANCING lead by example, demonstrate a passion
RACIAL JUSTICE with lived, work, and/or for the YWCA mission, and has a values- volunteer experience in leading through a based approach to meet staff, clients, lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion and community where they are with compassion, warmth, and understanding

A CONFIDENT AND SKILLED FUNDRAISER, AN EXPERIENCED OPERATIONS
who can successfully cultivate, secure, MANAGER who will provide skilled manage, and fulfill compliance requirements financial oversight, including strong as needed for a range of funding sources, familiarity with all the aspects of financial including government contracts, foundation policies & operations of a nonprofit grants, corporate sponsorships, and large gifts organization of similar budget & size from major donors

A VISIBLE AND VISIONARY THOUGHT AN EXPERIENCED HOUSING AND/LEADER with a future-oriented “builder” OR SOCIAL SERVICES PROVIDER skillset, who thinks and acts strategically to who understands property or facilities deepen impact, develops partnerships and management and the complex needs of external relationships, and takes special the vulnerable populations we serve pride and satisfaction in being the “face” of YWCA Bellingham

YWCA Bellingham is committed to fostering a just, compassionate, and flexible culture that models our mission to empower women and eliminate racism. From the Board, to the staff, to our clients, we are dedicated to treating team members with dignity and grace.

Our new CEO should embrace and demonstrate, through word and deed, a passion for and commitment to compassionate leadership, whether amongst our staff and clientele, or the greater community.

COMPENSATION ANDBENEFITS
This is a full-time salaried position requiring a willingness to work some evenings and weekends and occasionally travel. The expected salary range is between $95,000 - $115,000 per year depending on qualifications and experience.

YWCA Bellingham offers a competitive benefits package including medical coverage at a low premium for employees and a retirement match after three months of employment. We offer flexible work schedules that can include partial remote work, and generous paid time off, including 15 vacation days in years 0-3, 12 days of sick leave, and 13 holidays. The
CEO is expected to live in the service region of YWCA Bellingham.

YWCA Bellingham is located in the heart of Bellingham, WA in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Bellingham is a vibrant coastal city just 90 miles north of Seattle and 50 miles south of Vancouver, B.C.
It offers easy access to Mount Baker, the San Juan Islands, and the Puget Sound. The city is filled with magnificent scenery, a culture of outdoor recreation, and educational opportunities.

COMMITMENT TO EQUITY
YWCA’s commitment to racial justice and civil After much internal work and post pandemic rights runs deep. Since the 1800s, Black and stabilization, the YWCA Bellingham is in a healthy Native women have been providing leadership and stable state, and ready to turn full attention in YWCA’s national movement and, because of to our racial justice vision under the shared the leadership of women of color, in 1946 YWCA leadership of our Board and incoming CEO. We began working for full integration throughout anticipate a need to deepen our understanding the organization. Today, we remain committed of white supremacy and systemic oppression, to ensuring that everyone is afforded equal conduct organizational and sectoral assessments, protection under the law, and our intersectional evaluate the needs of our community and our mission to eliminate racism and empower women opportunity to amplify and influence local demands that we show up to advocate against movement work, and navigate the organizational the oppression that many groups and individuals changes needed to maximize our long term endure, including through recognizing the impact. We are eager and ready to step into interconnected experiences of discrimination this work, knowing full well that it requires and disadvantage that women face from their commitment on an individual and institutional overlapping identities. Too often, stereotypes, level, over time. It is the work we are called biases, and racial power dynamics are embedded to do for our own liberation and the liberation of in our laws and public policies. all people.

HOW TO APPLY
Apply here: https://cloversearchworks.hire.trakstar.com/jobs/fk0xkts

Online applications only, please no email or paper submissions. You will be asked to upload a cover letter and resume. In your cover letter, please describe as specifically as you can how your experience, interests, and values are a fit with YWCA Bellingham’s goals, mission, and vision for the future as described in this announcement.

Applications received by October 2, 2023 at 5pm Pacific time will be given full consideration; early applications are strongly encouraged!
All applications will be acknowledged via an email receipt. Consideration will be given to applications as soon as they are received; initial phone screening will begin in late-September. Due to the nature of our work, we will be conducting a background check as a final step in the hiring process.

Questions regarding this opportunity are welcomed and can be directed to:

Cathy Lehman, YWCA Bellingham Board President catherinelehman@gmail.com 360-224-8877

Clover Search Works is honored to be partnering with YWCA Bellingham in this search.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $95,000.00 - $115,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Bellingham, WA 98225: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person

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