Executive Director

Background: 

San Antonio Students Succeed (SASS) is a new group of parents, teachers, school leaders and alumni who believe we can help shape the policies that impact our kids and our public education system. We strive to increase access to high-quality educational experiences for San Antonio children.

In order to accomplish this, SASS is seeking to hire an entrepreneurial, connected, energetic, strategic, problem-solving leader to serve as the Founding Executive Director.  The Executive Director will be responsible for establishing SASS as an independent organization to pursue an advocacy agenda to ensure that all students in San Antonio have access to a high-quality education

Position Description:

The Executive Director will provide leadership and vision for the new organization; develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders; build and lead a strong team of organizers and communicators; and drive greater civic participation for our community of students, alumni, and families. 

The Executive Director will be an important member of the community, representing San Antonio Students Succeed externally and working closely with community partners, including school leaders, other nonprofit organizations, and elected officials. The Executive Director will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for SASS’s staff, programs, expansion, and execution of its mission. Funding is secured for two years as the organization gets off the ground. Beyond the inception period, the Executive Director will share responsibility with the Board of Trustees for securing additional funding to continue sustaining and scaling SASS’s impact.

Responsibilities:

Organizational Leadership and Development

• Develop and cultivate the mission, vision, values, strategic vision, and brand identity of San Antonio Students Succeed.
• Grow, manage, and support an excellent and diverse team of organizers and communicators; create systems and processes to encourage collaboration, efficiency and results.
• Oversee SASS’s key operational functions, including finance, accounting, legal, and HR, laying strong foundations that ensure smooth and organized processes that sustain and optimize the organization’s functioning over time.
• Develop and execute a fundraising plan that will enable the organization to fully realize its strategic vision with the financial resources on hand.
• Innovate and expand local fundraising activities, with a strong focus on diversifying our current funding base, particularly by cultivating new individual and grassroots donors, exploring earned revenue opportunities, and stewarding relationships with existing partners.

Advocacy, Organizing, and Communications

• Evaluate opportunities within the local landscape for families to influence critical decisions at the district and state levels.
• Develop and execute a voter registration and mobilization strategy to ensure that school families and other student-centered stakeholders are able to fully realize their electoral influence.
• Execute strategic advocacy campaigns that enable meaningful policy change aligned to student and family priorities.
• Recruit and develop candidates for office who will fight for quality education for students
• Work to elect high quality candidates to office
• Sustain an effective communications strategy that enhances partnerships and grows a robust grassroots network.
• Serve as a knowledgeable spokesperson and strategic communicator for the organization, crafting, editing and conveying messages aligned with our mission and participating in courageous thought partnership that navigates challenging conversations, shifts thinking, and generates buy-in for high-quality educational options.

Relationships and Coalition Building

• Establish, build trust with, and maintain relationships with other nonprofit organizations, school leaders, candidates for office, elected officials, corporations, schools, media, and donors aligned with SASS’s advocacy strategy and theory of change.
• Develop and implement a robust, scalable stakeholder engagement strategy geared towards establishing an ongoing dialogue, creating clear feedback loops, and facilitating collaboration with community partners.
• Develop and implement strategies for engaging, supporting, and mobilizing our community of charter school families, and for ensuring that families are equipped to drive the issues that matter for their children. 

   

Minimum Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience within government relations, education policy, campaign organizing, and/or advocacy space.
• Deep passion for educational justice and urgency to dramatically improve outcomes for children, especially for our most vulnerable.
• Experience working with underrepresented and/or historically marginalized communities, particularly in political, electoral, and organizing settings.
• Significant leadership experience of an organization, region and/or large program/campaign, including success managing high-performing teams by setting clear, well-defined goals, cultivating strong team relationships,and leveraging accountability and support structures to drive desired outcomes
• Political savvy with a demonstrated track record of effectively navigating complex power dynamics, building coalitions, and managing or working on electoral campaigns that have led to meaningful community impact.
• Demonstrated success deploying marketing, public relations, and fundraising initiatives with the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate storyteller with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary communications skills.
• Strong entrepreneurial orientation, with experience developing an organization or program from scratch, including building key strategies, systems, processes and teams from the ground up.
• Demonstrated career commitment to equity, anti-racism, and community-driven change
• Experience working with a Board of Trustees with the ability to cultivate existing Board member relationships and to develop prospective Board directors.

Nice to have:

• Experience working with schools and/or organizations in the school quality advocacy space.
• Experience engaging and maintaining relationships with grant-making organizations and/or individual donors.
• Pre-existing relationships with San Antonio decision-makers and experience with local politics.
• Spanish-language proficiency.
• Field and community organizing experience

The salary for this position is $200,000.  SASS provides a comprehensive benefits package and opportunities for meaningful advancement for all team members.

SASS is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law.

Application Process:

Submit your application at this link. Note that in place of a cover letter, we ask for short responses to four key questions.