CEO

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Spark the Journey

Spark the Journey (Spark) is a nonprofit that provides mentorship and a community of support for young adults to chart their own paths to achieving college and career success. Its unique mentorship approach fosters lasting relationships between mentors and mentees as young adults pursue education, career path, and personal goals–with a community of support behind them.

Founded in 1993 as Capital Partners for Education, the rebrand to Spark the Journey now reflects an expanded strategy to address income inequality. Outgoing CEO Khari Brown has led Spark the Journey since 2001, guiding a talented team in partnership with a strong, committed board and donor community. Now a nationally recognized best-in-class mentoring program, Spark was awarded $2M from Mackenzie Scott’s Yield Giving fund in 2024.

With nearly 400 mentees from seven Washington, DC high schools, Spark’s participants are three times more likely to complete college. More than 85% report meeting their GPA targets, participate in career readiness activities, and rate their mentorships as meeting or exceeding expectations. Learn more at sparkthejourney.org.

Leadership Overview

The next CEO will be an inspirational and experienced leader who champions educational and career attainment to close the opportunity gap and uplift entire communities. The CEO will bring a blend of experience across strategy, change management, and fundraising to develop and lead a sustainable plan that elevates Spark’s profile while expanding its reach to more students.

The CEO will lead a 20+ person team, with a leadership style deeply invested in championing the mission, developing talent, and empowering staff. As Spark grows, the CEO will ensure it has operational infrastructure to support its ambition and maturity. With a budget of over $3M, Spark is well-positioned to sustain its growth and achievements. An agile and eager fundraiser, the CEO will build on and diversify Spark’s committed base of support.

The CEO should bring a balanced approach as a visionary and operational executive. Key responsibilities include:

Strategic Leadership and Governance

• Champion Spark’s mission and impact to donors, partners, public officials, and media.
• Communicate a clear vision and lead strategy to expand Spark’s reach and identify complementary collaborations to advance participants’ long-term success.
• Lead and mentor a diverse, skilled, and values-driven team.
• Collaborate with the board to maintain good governance practices.
• With the board, recruit other high-profile members to replenish and augment membership.

Fundraising and Revenue Development

• With the Board and development team, direct annual and long-term development plans that cultivate support from major donors, individuals, foundations, and corporate sponsors.
• Steward and solicit major gifts.
• Grow Spark’s recurring revenue, including cultivating new major donors and testing the feasibility of new earned revenue models.

Programs and Partnerships

• With the programs department, implement research based strategies, foster new partnerships and alliances.
• Oversee a sustainable and youth-centered growth strategy that expands Spark’s effective mentoring model and increases the numbers of participants and mentors served.
• Ensure data evaluation processes measure and improve program effectiveness.

Management & Administration

• Ensure Spark is a great place to work by setting a positive workplace culture and inspiring vision for personal and organizational growth among Spark staff.
• Oversee Spark’s financial health, including monitoring revenue and expenses and forecasting multi-year projections that provide a foundation for programmatic strategy.
• Ensure Spark maintains policies, procedures, and technology to facilitate effective workflow, decision-making, and communication across departments.

Experience, Skills and Qualities

The most competitive applicants will likely have many, if not all, of the following attributes:

• Record of Leadership. 10+ years of increasing managerial and supervisory responsibility.
• Passion for mission. Committed to youth mentorship for college and career success.
• Strategic Leadership. Connects ideas and plans with actions.
• Powerful spokesperson. Passionate and effective elevation of Spark’s mission and impact.
• Emotional intelligence. Leads ambitiously with compassion and empathy.
• Fundraising acumen. Success with fundraising efforts, including strategizing and soliciting support through partnerships, foundations, corporations, governments, and individuals.
• Skilled supervisor. Strong record of hiring, mentoring, motivating, and managing staff performance; delegates and distributes decision-making effectively.
• Financial acumen. Strong understanding of organizational finance, including nonprofit accounting, budgeting, cash flow, and tax reporting.
• Governance experience. Work or service with nonprofit or for-profit boards.
• Content area expertise. Knowledge of issues, trends and policies affecting high school, college, and career readiness, youth development, and economic advancement.
• Local ties are considered a plus. Personal or professional connections to youth, education, workforce development, fundraising, or related fields in Washington, DC or region.

Compensation

The budgeted compensation, inclusive of salary and bonus, is up to $275,000. Spark also offers a competitive benefits package that includes health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement contributions, and generous paid leave.

Location

Spark the Journey’s offices are located in Washington, DC and this role requires the CEO’s presence at the DC office, at meetings with donors and partners, and presence at events.

Application Process

Spark the Journey has retained Good Insight, a national executive search firm serving nonprofits, to conduct this search. See the full executive profile and application information at www.good-insight.org/careers. Resume reviews begin immediately. For best consideration, apply by mid-March 2025. Early applications are encouraged due to the pace of the search.

Spark the Journey is an equal opportunity employer.