The Organization
Tides Foundation envisions a world of shared prosperity and social change founded on equality & human rights, healthy individuals & communities, a sustainable environment, and quality education for all. Tides works to accelerate the pace of social change by bringing together mission-aligned funders, changemakers and policies to solve society’s toughest problems.
Tides believes that to achieve shared prosperity and social justice, they must take collaborative and bold approaches to the work. This includes using a variety of vehicles to amplify and scale positive social impact including philanthropic giving and grantmaking, impact investing, fiscal sponsorship, collaborative workspaces, collective initiatives and advocacy services for policy change. Tides resources and expertise enable its partners to hit the ground running and drive change faster than they can on their own.
For more information on Tides Foundation, please visit tides.org.
Position Overview
The Opportunity
Tides Client Services (CS) Department interacts directly with Tides clients to provide strategic and management services to drive high impact, effective philanthropy and to scale promising social ventures. Tides offers comprehensive fiscal sponsorship and nonprofit management services that allow new ideas to get off the ground quickly and efficiently, and with less risk. Tides provides back-office infrastructure, financial management systems, and nonprofit management expertise, backed by experienced team members who share your values. The Director, Fiscal Sponsorship will be the primary leader for Tides ongoing engagement with existing and new fiscal sponsorship clients (what Tides calls Social Ventures) to improve, respond to, design, and scale clients’ strategic goals.
The Director’s responsibilities include:
· Serving in an organizational leadership role by developing, delivering and marketing a core and enhanced services model for Tides to offer fiscally sponsored clients.
· Leading a growing team of 8 Social Venture Advisors and Senior Advisors
· Leading fiscal sponsorship service delivery for a portfolio of approximately 200 social venture clients.
· Establishing Tides as an expert and connector in key social venture ecosystems and organizational expertise areas.
· Assisting with establishing and developing a robust pool of capacity building partners and services.
· Coordinating a cross-departmental engagement strategy for social venture client serving team members.
· Contributing to Tides’ communications, voice and influence activities.
The Director, Fiscal Sponsorship of Tides Foundation will be responsible for the following:
Client Service Delivery
- Oversee all service delivery to Tides’ social venture clients, ensuring all social venture clients receive the very best level of service from Tides.
- Personally deliver high-quality service to a small and strategic set of high touch client partners as part of a cross-functional team to support partners’ operational, capacity, and strategic needs.
- Resolve concerns raised by client partners or internal stakeholders in a timely and proactive manner. Provide support to other Advisors in resolving challenges and develop policy and procedural changes to mitigate future service challenges.
- In partnership with finance staff, provide accurate and timely financial statements to clients to inform client’s grantmaking and investment activities.
- Assess risk factors for clients’ activities, such as insurance, contracts, grants, advocacy, and lobbying, in conjunction with the Tides’ Legal, Risk Management and Compliance team.
- Oversee contracts and grant management for assigned personal client portfolio to ensure compliance.
- Conduct field research, client trainings, client onboarding, orientation as needed. Ensure strategies and capabilities of new clients are aligned with Tides’ objectives.
- Identify upcoming departures of social venture clients and assure effective client services and offboarding support throughout process.
Relationship Management & Growth
- Oversee all relationship management with Tides’ social venture clients, ensuring that all social venture clients have deep, trust-based, long-lasting relationships with Tides.
- Personally manage relationships with highly complex client partners that require experience navigating ambiguity, managing expectations, relationship management, and strategic advising.
- Ensure that Social Venture Advisors are thinking proactively about deepening engagements with social venture partners by identifying additional ways Tides can support these clients and connecting them with new opportunities within the Tides ecosystem of partners.
- Partner with Strategic Partnerships to develop a pipeline of specific new business opportunities and secure partners with these clients in order to achieve annual revenue goals.
- Develop and maintain broad external relations with desired clients in social venture ecosystems, organizational expertise areas, and issue areas; ensure strategies and capabilities of new clients are aligned with Tides’ objectives.
- Lead efforts to mine the Tides Client Network for prospective new clients, deeper engagement with current clients and enhanced services opportunities.
- Create a business development strategy and goals that meet the organizational vision and strategic plan.
Service Offering
- Serve as Tides’ in-house expert on the fiscal sponsorship model specifically and on non-profit management more broadly.
- Identify service improvements that enhance the client experience and internal operations.
- Deepen Tides’ expertise and knowledge management in specific fiscal sponsor ecosystems, organizational expertise areas, and issue areas.
- Establish and roll out a standardized engagement model for all Social Venture service team staff in Client Services and other Tides departments to:
- Market and deliver additional and expanded services to accelerate the growth and development of existing clients.
- Expand CS and Tides’ ability to deepening our understanding and expertise around new issue areas, geographies and approaches that are aligned with clients’ interests and impact strategies.
- Personally model and practice the curation and delivery of expertise to a set of clients around a relevant social venture organizational expertise area and/or innovative nonprofit management and acceleration approach.
- Partner with Client Services Directors, Strategic Partnerships and Marketing and Communications teams on new and existing client engagement models to ensure consistent and compelling service offerings and delivery and position Tides as a leader in the professional field of fiscal sponsorship, including by ensuring Tides has a visible thought leadership presence in the field, is present at appropriate conferences and events, etc.
Department and Organizational Leadership
- Supervise a growing Client Services Social Venture team of 8 to achieve organizational goals, mission and priorities while also helping staff to achieve clearly defined and quantifiable individual professional goals.
- Support the Chief Partnerships Officer with internal cross-functional initiatives that enhance the client experience, address broader client portfolio needs, or systemic change to client service delivery at Tides.
- Serve as a Primary Liaison for Client Services social venture services with Strategic Partnerships department.
- Serve as organizational expert on fiscal sponsorship, philanthropy, a specific issue area, and/or organizational development to accelerate impact of Tides and its partners.
- Lead department team building culture and activities. Build a culture of equity, inclusion, trust, transparency, and accountability.
- Serve as a member of the senior management team to drive progress on organizational culture, help set organizational goals, and advocate for client service throughout the organization.
- Develop matrix staffing approaches in partnership with all Tides departments, including Human Relations, and Finance teams, that accelerate success, growth and impact of social venture clients.
Candidate Profile
With the understanding that no one candidate will offer every desired skill and quality, the following provides an understanding of the ideal candidate profile and professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:
- 15+ years of relevant and applicable work experience in the field of fiscal sponsorship and non-profit management
- Knowledge and a minimum of 10 years of experience working in one or more of Tides’ social justice issue areas: Human Rights, Quality Education, Sustainable Environment, Healthy Individuals and Communities, and Economic Opportunity.
- Strong understanding of nonprofit intermediary/fiscal sponsorship sector and its role in strengthening social impact
- Established professional network in the field of fiscal sponsorship and non-profit management
- Experience working in a client services environment, with an understanding of how to provide excellent service and build strong relationships and networks
- Deep knowledge in fields of social innovation and social justice, including nonprofit fundraising, governance, and impact and evaluation
- Demonstrated ability to prioritize amongst multiple commitments and to drive multiple high profile and complex projects simultaneously in a challenging and fluid environment
- Ability to identify key influencers and market drivers that impact Tides’ introduction and expansion
- Ability to impact the sustainability of the organization by assessing and focusing program resources effectively and pricing services competitively
- Demonstrated ability to read and interpret contracts, analyze market trends, model potential solutions, interpret market research, and review technical data
- Strong personal alignment with Tides’ Vision, Mission and Approach
- Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills with a strong ability to facilitate collaborative problem-solving to reach solutions that benefit all parties.
- Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, different communication styles, and a wide range of diverse colleagues and client partners.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including public speaking, presentation development and diplomacy when speaking directly with clients
- B.S. or higher degree MBA preferred, or equivalent experience
Compensation & Benefits
Tides offers a competitive annual salary for this role commensurate with qualifications and experience. Tides also offers a generous benefits package including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, life and disability insurances, and confidential counseling and life balance resources designed to support the passion and energy they look for in team members.
How To Apply
Contact
Molly Brennan and Martens Roc have been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role please submit your materials here or email TidesFoundation@koyapartners.com. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Tides is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions.
Also pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we encourage and will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. For applicants with disabilities, reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.
About Koya Partners
Koya Partners, a part of the Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.
At Koya, we don’t just accept difference—we celebrate it, support it, and thrive on it for the benefit of our team, our clients, and the communities we serve.
Koya is an equal opportunity employer fully committed to creating an environment and team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, styles, and experiences. We encourage all to apply because we believe a diversity of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone. Koya does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, military status, veteran status, genetic information, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
For more information about Koya Partners, visit www.koyapartners.com.