Mission & Background
For over 20 years, Mission Capital has served and supported nonprofits to build a Central Texas community where all residents have access to opportunity and can thrive. Mission Capital believes a key piece of a healthy community fabric is an equitable and thriving nonprofit sector. Therefore, it equips and connects mission-driven leaders, organizations, and networks that are expanding opportunity and advancing equity through their work. Mission Capital’s work consists of four pillars: personal transformation, community cultivation, organizational resilience, and ecosystem collaborations. By leveraging its’ assets, Mission Capital is able to foster an integrated social sector that connects leaders from nonprofits, philanthropy, business, and government and multiplies their impact on social issues.
Founded in 2001 and previously known as Greenlights for Nonprofit Success, the organization established itself as a trusted resource for the nonprofit sector by providing capacity building services to thousands of nonprofit organizations. In 2014, Greenlights merged with Innovation+ (a Social Venture Partners affiliate), bringing together nonprofit experts who are passionate about strengthening the sector with a dynamic network of engaged philanthropists and business leaders. Reflective of this change, Greenlights became Mission Capital in 2015.
In 2018, Mission Capital came together with a conviction to center race equity in its’ work — to ask hard questions, practice humility, stumble at times, and continually evolve on a journey to be better for the nonprofit sector and Central Texas community. As a well-respected and highly visible convener at the center of the social sector, Mission Capital is now well positioned to drive broad and impactful change in the region. The staff and Board are excited for the next CEO to lead the organization’s efforts to expand opportunity through its’ programming, collaborations, and influence. Mission Capital is ready to center community, service, and equity in its next chapter so all Central Texans may rise together.
For more information on Mission Capital, please visit https://www.missioncapital.org/mission-vision.
The Opportunity
Mission Capital’s next Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will lead a dynamic and well-respected twenty-year-old nonprofit organization with a focus on accelerating collaborative, multi-sector approaches and solutions to social challenges facing Central Texas. The CEO has overall strategic, operational, and reputational responsibility for Mission Capital’s staff, programs, future strategy, community relationships and fulfillment of its mission.
Based in Austin, Texas, the CEO reports directly to the Mission Capital Board and leads a Leadership Team responsible for robust, multidisciplinary portfolios of work including Consulting, Leadership, & Learning; Community Learning & Membership; Collective Impact; and Internal Operations & Administration (finance, HR, and technology/infrastructure). Together with the Leadership Team, the CEO oversees a talented team of 15 professionals, a $1.4M annual budget, a nonprofit membership of 400+ member organizations, and consulting clients and collective impact stakeholders and philanthropic partners that amplify equity-centered social sector impact in the Central Texas five-county region.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Vision & Organizational Leadership
- Develop a bold yet adaptive vision to guide the Mission Capital’s strategic direction and impact on behalf of all Central Texans. Leverage the organization’s distinct assets, relationships, and sector influence in service of the mission.
- With the Board and staff, forge the vision into an actionable strategic plan that delivers equitable and measurable community impact and outcomes.
- Be responsible for external and internal organizational leadership to ensure Mission Capital meets its purpose and goals. Facilitates the implementation of all Board-approved and directed policies as well as the annual work plan.
- Maximize the time, talent, and investment of the Board of Directors. Lead Board member recruitment, training, development, and fundraising strategy. Ensure smooth operation of all Board and committee meetings and related events.
- Provide financial leadership through sound financial management practices with effective internal controls. Lead the preparation of an annual organizational budget that prioritizes revenue growth and financial sustainability.
- Model and develop strategies that ensure Mission Capital is living into, and constantly integrating diversity equity, inclusion, and belonging as organizational values and practices.
External Relations and Fundraising
- Serve as the public face and key spokesperson for Mission Capital, representing the organization with passion, credibility, and enthusiasm. Uphold the strong organizational brand, and clearly communicate its vision and value proposition.
- Build relationships with diverse community stakeholders (nonprofit, government, and business leaders, funders, individual donors, public officials, and advocacy groups) to advance initiatives and partnerships, and to increase earned and contributed revenue, to maximize community impact.
- Build and foster trusting, and collaborative relationships with funders, including foundations and corporate sponsors, to grow Mission Capital’s impact.
- Elevate Mission Capital’s position as a thought leader through community involvement, blog writing and local visibility.
- Lead Mission Capital as a partner and convener with regional, statewide, and national reach that provides a platform for effective collaboration with and between members, community partners, and affiliate organizations.
- Remain informed about, and responsive to, the diverse and changing needs of current and future members and the community.
- Model community leadership guided by equity principles, with high integrity, commitment, fortitude, and compassion.
Staff and Board Leadership
- Lead the staff and Board with vision and a spirit of collaboration, with an approach that prioritizes healthy team culture, shared decision-making, and transparency.
- Reinforce a culture of inclusion and belonging, empowerment, and accountability that enables the senior leadership team to perform at its best, bringing their lived experience, networks, and content expertise fully to bear.
- Support each program area and facilitate opportunities for staff professional development, growth, mentorship, and leadership.
- Drive excellence while inspiring staff to galvanize collective talent and efforts to take their work to the next level.
- Display humility, resilience, and create calm steadiness in managing a wide variety of internal and external activities, while continuing to lead Mission Capital to even greater heights.
- Model and nurture an organizational culture of deep trust and belonging, excellence, authenticity, courageous leadership, and mutual accountability.
- Support Mission Capital staff and team as they center equity in relationships, work, and decision-making, by supporting their internal learning and capacity to be “equity-equipped” at a personal, interpersonal, organizational, and systems level.
- Build strong relationships with Board members. Support Board governance, and strategically deploying their strengths in support of fundraising, fiduciary oversight, community relations, and the strategic institutional advancement of Mission Capital’s work.
- Embrace and exemplify Mission Capital’s core values of Courage, People First, Shared Leadership and Inclusive Systems, Self-Awareness and Growth, Accountability, Transparency in all interactions with staff and Board.
Race, Equity, and Belonging
- In alignment with Mission Capital’s strategic plan, actively participate in the building of a “race, equity, & belonging (REB)” culture across all Mission Capital departments and teams.
- Work with the Inclusion Council and participate in internal race, equity, and belonging activities such as collective equity work sessions and affinity groups to embed and center race equity in both internal and external programming.
- Apply a race equity lens and embed equity in all essential job duties and responsibilities.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a mission-driven leader, committed to serving all Central Texans and aligned to racial equity in theory and practice. The next CEO is an optimistic visionary who motivates others and is excited about the possibility of advancing opportunity and equity in the Central Texas community.
The CEO is comfortable at the intersection of the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors; and has a demonstrated track record of collaborating with a diverse array of stakeholders. They combine an entrepreneurial mindset with a systems perspective and ability to coalesce human, financial, and social capital to drive towards measurable and equitable impact throughout Central Texas.
The ideal candidate is an organizational steward of brand and understands their role in growing and upholding the strong reputation of Mission Capital as a trusted partner and community asset. They are a skilled assessor of strategic opportunities that can thoughtfully grow Mission Capital’s impact, while balancing new initiatives against current organizational commitments and priorities. This leader is confident and articulate, and aware of social sector trends, yet humble in recognizing that there is no one who understands the issues more intimately than community partners
The next CEO is an exceptional communicator with the interpersonal skills necessary to be an effective and inspiring leader and advocate. They are a leader with high emotional intelligence and diplomacy. A leader of leaders and an effective networker and influencer, they have impeccable relationship-building skills and can engage with community partners and leaders, as well as Board and staff. The ideal candidate brings a leadership style that is open, approachable, and inclusive.
The ideal candidate brings lived or learned experience leading people and organizations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are a leader who understands and values equity as an organizational operating principle and is committed to continued learning on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s and master’s degree is preferred.
- An experienced senior executive leader from a dynamic social sector organization, preferably as a CEO or Executive Director role.
- Multi-sector and/or cross sector (nonprofit, private, government) experience is preferred, along with community engagement experience (as demonstrated by noteworthy leadership roles on community boards, committees, or task forces).
- A believer in the power of collective impact. (At Mission Capital defined as a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems level change.)
- Proven experience in network building with diverse constituencies (philanthropists/funders, nonprofits, business, government, community organizations, and leaders at all levels).
- Experience with business development, client services, relationship management, and running a revenue generating professional services operation, along with the financial acumen to oversee a complex P&L is preferred.
- A high level of comfort engaging in courageous conversations and organizational practices centering racial equity.
- Demonstrated ability to manage high performing teams and rapid organizational growth in an entrepreneurial environment.
Mission Capital’s EEO Statement
As an equal opportunity employer, Mission Capital is committed to a diverse, multicultural work environment. Mission Capital does not discriminate in employment on the basis of age, race, creed, gender, religion, marital status, veteran’s status, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation.
Compensation
This is a full-time position. The national target salary for this position is $160,000 to $170,000. Mission Capital also provides a comprehensive benefits package. Mission Capital strives for a people-first work culture where wellbeing and work-life balance are both individualized and normalized. As such, the Leadership Team is committed to upholding the Mission Capital Wellbeing Principles and all staff create strategies for self-care and work-life balance, both individually and as a collective.
All Mission Capital staff receive:
- Flexible hours and work schedules to create work-life balance & prioritize self-care.
- Personal Time Off (PTO) from work for vacation & sick leave. New full-time employees within their first 2 years of employment accrue 19 days per year. Part-time employees accrue PTO on a prorated basis.
- Approximately 19 paid holidays per year which this year includes Summer Break from July 3rd – 7th and Winter Break from December 22nd to December 29th.
- Summer Friday’s – from May 26th to September 1st, where the Mission Capital office closes at noon.
- Designated Quiet Fridays and Quiet Weeks for quiet focus time with no internal or external meetings.
- Robust benefits packages, available in varying levels for full-time and part-time staff, as well as professional development opportunities.
- A one-time remote stipend to set up your virtual workspace.
- After seven years of service, all staff qualify for a paid sabbatical
To Be Considered
Please submit your resume and cover letter expressing your interest in the position and fit for the role via the “Become a Candidate” button.
GoodCitizen has been exclusively retained by Mission Capital to lead this search. For questions, please contact:
Kevin Bryant
Managing Partner
Direct: 213.647.0119
kevin@goodcitizen.com
Mollie Smith
Engagement Manager
Direct: 206.462.6190
mollie@goodcitizen.com
Kourtlynn Washington
Search Coordinator
Direct: 213.634.5794
kourtlynn@goodcitizen.com