Associate Director, GreenLight Boston

About GreenLight Fund

Founded in Boston in 2004, GreenLight Fund addresses barriers to economic mobility for children, youth and families in high-poverty urban areas by creating local infrastructure and a consistent annual process to: 

• Identify critical needs and barriers for people experiencing poverty;
• Import innovative, entrepreneurial programs that can have a significant, measurable impact; and
• Galvanize local support to help programs reach and sustain impact in the city.

Currently, in addition to the founding site in Boston, GreenLight Fund now has sites in Philadelphia, the Bay Area, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Detroit, Kansas City, Atlanta, the Twin Cities, Baltimore, Newark and will soon launch in Chicago. 

Since our founding, GreenLight has launched and supported 37 innovative organizations in sites that reached more than 384,000 children and families last year. With a new strategic plan in place, GreenLight Fund is poised for continued growth, with a focus on deepening community impact, growing to new cities, building our learning capacity, building strategic partnerships, and centering equity in all that we do. 

To learn more about GreenLight Fund’s work, please visit http://greenlightfund.org/.

The Opportunity

GreenLight Boston is currently seeking a dynamic, passionate, and collaborative Associate Director. The Associate Director will work in collaboration with and serve as a thought partner to the Boston Senior Executive Director. The Associate Director will manage the day-to-day operations of the team, ensuring on-track progress on the site’s ambitious plans towards both programmatic and fundraising goals.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work at the intersection of social entrepreneurship and community need, and to build and support a portfolio of high performing nonprofits to confront the community’s most pressing challenges. 

Since its inception in 2004, GreenLight Fund Boston has directly invested $9.7 million across 13 social enterprises seeded in Boston. 

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following: 

Program Development and Management

• Support engagement of a community-wide Selection Advisory Council to advise on identifying high priority community needs in Boston and the vetting and selection of portfolio organizations that can powerfully address them 
• Project manage an annual selection process to identify organizations with potential to have a significant impact on community needs
• Conduct rigorous diligence and deep landscape analysis on prospective partner organizations
• Develop and implement engagement strategies to capture the voice of community members with lived experience navigating poverty in determining priority needs and solutions
• Coordinate with Senior Executive Director in delivering ongoing support to a portfolio of organizations via the Portfolio Advisory Council, a group of local leaders with expertise on growing and scaling companies and organizations

Team Operations and Planning

• Lead annual planning and goal setting process for team members
• Support the annual budgeting process and actively monitor site expenses to targets
• Organize quarterly convenings of Boston’s two advisory groups that help select new organizations and provide growth strategy support to portfolio organizations
• Manage and coach the Boston Associate in all aspects of the work

External Relations and Fundraising 

• Represent GreenLight Boston externally and build new relationships with community leaders, entrepreneurs, the private-sector investor community, philanthropic partners, government officials, and nonprofit and business leaders 
• Oversee launch events, including managing vendors in the planning and execution of GreenLight Boston’s two signature fundraising events: Emerald Evening and GreenLight’s Golf for Good
• Manage a fundraising calendar to support Senior ED and Board Chair’s fundraising activities, which includes stewardship of GreenLight Boston investors and event sponsors, and all stages of the fundraising cycle 
• Create a strategic communications plan to extend GreenLight Boston’s presence and brand in the community

Culture and More

• Participate actively in the GreenLight network of local and national staff to share best practices, knowledge of promising social innovation, and strategies to build the network and collaborate to find and support GreenLight organizations 
• Align site’s operations with Strategic Plan over the next 4 years to deepen community impact, grow to new cities, build out our learning capacity, build strategic partnerships and center equity in all that we do 
• Travel to GreenLight national meetings (hosted by a GreenLight site) and approximately three site visits per year (meetings and site visit locations will vary)
• Bring joy, intellect and positivity to your work and the team, along with a passion for investing in change in Boston

Candidate Profile

The Boston Associate Director will be an experienced, innovative, and collaborative manager with exceptional project management, communication and relationship-building skills. While no one candidate will possess every quality outlined for this position, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional qualifications and personal attributes: 

• Authentic passion for GreenLight’s mission and commitment to the Boston community 
• Proven commitment to bringing a racial equity lens to their work and deep understanding of how systems of oppression have affected communities experiencing poverty 
• 5-10 years of experience with a successful track record in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments holding positions of increasing responsibility 
• Experience building relationships in Boston’s philanthropic, nonprofit and/or business sectors, as well as knowledge of the critical social issues affecting low-income residents in the area 
• Creative, collaborative, entrepreneurial, and action-oriented with an eagerness to roll up one’s sleeves and work hands-on to manage towards site goals and success 
• Passion for and a demonstrated commitment to social entrepreneurship and social change 
• Demonstrated experience developing effective working relationships with people from a wide array of backgrounds and leading groups with a collegial and team-building approach
• Experience executing competing priorities with excellence
• Experience in managing events with more than 100 attendees
• Familiarity with various communications channels and mediums, including newsletters, social media, multimedia/video production, and traditional print
• Effective analytical skills; familiarity with due diligence and/or grant-making processes a plus
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and the ability to represent GreenLight Boston in an engaging and dynamic manner 
• Experience in writing and submitting grant proposals and reports a plus

Location

Candidates must be in the Greater Boston area. GreenLight is currently working remotely in response to the COVID-19 crisis and will transition to a hybrid work structure.  We will continue to monitor the situation and make updates accordingly.

Salary

The salary range for this position is $80,000 - $90,000, commensurate with skills and experience.

GreenLight offers a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k match, and generous PTO and parental leave, as well as short- and long-term disability, life insurance, FSA, EAP, remote work assistance, and professional development stipend. 

GreenLight Fund is committed to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion at every level of the organization. GreenLight Fund recognizes and appreciates the value of building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive work environment. GreenLight Fund takes pride in being an equal opportunity employer regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national or ethnic origin, physical or mental ability, race, region, sexual orientation or veteran status.

If you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at hr@greenlightfund.org