Executive Director

Organization Background

The Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice seeks a passionate, committed and energetic Executive Director to lead the organization in its next phase of growth and development. The Executive Director (ED) will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for Massachusetts Appleseed’s staff, programs, expansion, and execution of its mission.

Massachusetts Appleseed is a non-profit organization driven by a mission to promote equal rights and opportunities for Massachusetts residents by developing and advocating for systemic solutions to social justice issues. We are part of a binational network of 19 justice centers across the United States and Mexico working together to reduce poverty, combat discrimination, and invigorate democracy. While each center carries out its own work, there are meaningful opportunities, learning, and synergy as the Appleseed Network.

Our projects seek systems-level change so all Massachusetts families and youth can exercise their legal rights, build pathways out of poverty and crisis, and thrive. We accomplish this through multiple strategies, including policy analysis and research, coalition building, education and training, community organizing, and advocacy. For over thirty years, Massachusetts Appleseed has successfully produced powerful solutions to our state’s most pervasive problems and operates as a critical resource for direct service counterparts.

We focus on three primary policy areas:

• Access to Justice: Eliminating the many systemic barriers within Massachusetts’ legal systems and various administrative agencies that deny justice to thousands of residents each year, guaranteeing language access, and reforming the courts and administrative tribunals to make them more “user friendly” to people who cannot afford an attorney. We are particularly interested in how technology can be used to achieve these goals.
• Educational Justice: Protecting students’ rights, promoting racial equity, and advocating for policy change to keep all students in class where they are safe, supported, and available for learning, with a particular focus on the disparate impact of school discipline policies on students of color, also known as the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
• Youth Homelessness: Providing policy recommendations, easing systemic barriers, and developing legal resources to help youth experiencing homelessness build safe, stable futures.

Massachusetts Appleseed is committed to fostering the leadership and elevating the voices of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, low-income people, immigrants, young people who were formerly involved in the child welfare system, young people who were formerly involved in the criminal justice system, people with disabilities, and people living in the many intersections of these experiences. We encourage people from these communities and those with experience outside traditional career paths to apply.

Key Responsibilities of the Executive Director

Leadership and Management

• Recruit and manage an effective and cohesive staff team, fostering a collaborative, transparent, and inclusive work environment.
• Work closely with the Board of Directors to define and communicate the organization’s vision and direction. Support the Board of Directors, including meeting preparation and management, and engaging Board members in increasing community support and development initiatives. Foster board involvement with strategic direction, fundraising, and financial oversight efforts.
• Work with staff, the Board of Directors, and other key stakeholders to align Massachusetts Appleseed’s programmatic work with its strategic vision.

Fundraising and Financial Sustainability

• Provide leadership in developing a diverse and comprehensive fundraising strategy, raising at least $500,000 annually
• Oversee and participate in fundraising efforts, including grant writing and reporting, donor cultivation, and fundraising events.

Program Development

• Craft, plan and execute new programmatic/policy initiatives, including:
• Gathering from the community program ideas and priorities for Appleseed’s attention;
• Developing and implementing effective, pragmatic project plans to effect change; overseeing and editing draft legislation, research and white papers, advocacy statements;
• Establishing evaluative criteria for each project and measuring success.
• Develop and maintain strong and impactful working partnerships and coalitions that engage community partners, law firms, academic institutions, and other groups and companies interested in supporting and being part of Massachusetts Appleseed’s mission and programs.
• Act as primary spokesperson for the organization, including advocating at the local and state levels of government for programs and initiatives related to social justice.
• Evaluate program’s accomplishments based on results-driven targets.

Financial Management

• Working closely with the bookkeeper and treasurer, develop and manage budgets, implement financial management systems and controls, and ensure accurate and transparent audited financial statements.

Minimum Requirements

• Minimum of 5 years results-driven leadership and operational/management experience, particularly in the community and non-profit sector.
• Track record in community engagement, coalition building, legislative advocacy, and policy research.
• Demonstrated experience fostering an organizational culture that is inclusive, engaging and transparent, and collaborative.
• Demonstrated experience in and commitment to social justice.
• Proven development and fundraising experience with foundations, corporations, and individuals.
• Demonstrated/track record in building strong partnership and effective coalitions.
• Demonstrated experience with strategic planning and implementation.
• Exceptional oral and written communications skills.

Desired Skills and Attributes

• Graduate degree in a field related to nonprofit management, public policy, or law is preferred, but not required.
• Demonstrated experience with public policy and advocacy at state level.
• Demonstrated skills in consensus and community-building initiatives.
• Successful experience maintaining and growing an active and engaged Board.
• Well developed understanding of the use and value of technology in non-profit operations

Equal Opportunity Notice

Massachusetts Appleseed is an Equal Opportunity Employer, is committed to diversity in its workforce, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, military status or any other status protected by applicable law.