Community Financial Education Foundation (CFEF)

For Americans in communities across the country seeking to improve their personal financial health and achieve financial security for themselves and their families, there is hope.  The Community Financial Education Foundation (CFEF) helps to empower people to make informed financial decisions in their daily lives and plan for long-term financial goals by providing them with access to education, tools, and resources. With their flagship, web based financial education program, MyStartingPoint, CFEF helps individuals assess their financial capabilities, identify personal financial goals, and customize a financial wellness plan that is unique to each participant.

Opportunity

The next Executive Director will bolster CFEF’s ability to expand its outreach by building strategic partnerships with key stakeholders that have a vested interest in financial literacy, such as within the financial, education, nonprofit and governmental communities. CFEF continues to demonstrate leadership in the financial education community as reflected not only in the financial education programs it develops but also through innovative approaches to implement these programs. Leveraging technologies such as MyStartingPoint, CFEF has the ability to generate highly informative data, performance metrics, and a measurable ROI for participants and partners. Unlike most providers of financial education , CFEF uses technology to provide measurable results demonstrating that its users are developing better habits in saving, investing and protecting their finances. As importantly, these learning objectives are aligned with the core competencies in financial education as established by the U.S. Department of Treasury. From a development perspective, MyStartingPoint creates unique opportunities for CFEF to engage with a wider range of partners, sponsors, and other stakeholders in meaningful and substantive ways.

CFEF’s budget is approximately $500,000 with strong opportunities for growth. As such, the primary objective of the ED will be to develop a diverse set of funders to build a sustainable revenue stream and to broaden the reach of the programs it provides. Several key fundraising opportunities currently exist that may be capitalized upon and expanded immediately. They include relationships with grant-based organizations, corporations, and institutions that provide fee-for-service subscriptions to license MyStartingPoint under private label.

Current Situation

CFEF is a two-person operation with potential for staff growth. The position can be performed either as a remote working opportunity or within a shared office space environment. Administrative support functions such as marketing, IT and accounting are fully supported by members of the board.

Branding is a slight challenge for this organization, as some of the board members are representatives of the online consumer lending community which has faced some controversy in recent years. The ED may need to diffuse any misperceptions about the connection with this industry to show that the board’s mission is clear – to make a positive impact on the financial capabilities of all Americans. Accordingly, the intent is to diversify the board to include members across all sectors of the financial community as well as other relevant industries.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will share a passion for helping improve the well-being of individuals while being an ‘entrepreneur in a nonprofit skin’ — a driver of innovation and strategic partnerships. The ED should a confident, results-driven leader, a successful fundraiser, strong in organizational development and able to quantitatively measure success. Given the focus on technology in this role, this person should have strong technical aptitude.

Requirements

• Bachelors degree; Masters in Nonprofit Administration preferred
• Minimum 7-10 years nonprofit experience – this is an ideal role for a rising #2 executive
• Demonstrated success fundraising using grant writing, corporate solicitations, and other development techniques
• Outstanding relationship builder and “connector” of people and services – a true networker and strategic partnership builder
• Strong operational and budget management skills, able to maximize resources and streamline infrastructures

Compensation: commensurate with budget size

For Immediate Consideration: This is a retained search. Email cover letter, resume and salary expectations to Shira Harrington, President, Purposeful Hire, Inc. at shira@purposefulhire.com.