Executive Director

Summary

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment is seeking a dynamic and experienced leader to be our next Executive Director as we embark on an exciting new chapter after over 30 years of leadership by our co-founders. A long and consistent investor in environmental health and community grassroots leadership in communities on the West Coast, particularly in California, the Rose Foundation is looking for an executive who can both embrace its legacy and chart a path forward into the next decade.

Organizational Overview

Since its founding in 1992, the Rose Foundation has worked hard to bring voices from communities who are most vulnerable to environmental hazards to the forefront of the dialogue. We have built our programs around the principle that better decisions are made when the communities most affected are at the center of the decision-making process.

Our mission is to amplify community voices by making grants to community-based organizations, restoring natural resources, building capacity, and fostering the next generation of environmental leaders. We are dedicated to creating a sustainable future that empowers individuals and communities to advocate for their rights and the health of our planet.

Our grantmaking programs support community-based projects and organizations that are building long-term solutions that benefit people, the environment, and the economy. In 2024, the Foundation made approximately $8.3 million in grants. The Rose Foundation is not an endowed foundation.

The Foundation currently employs a talented team of 11 full- and part-time staff members (7 in the Bay Area, 2 in the Seattle area, 1 in CA), as well as an interim Executive Director. The current Board of Directors is comprised of eleven members who bring a wealth of experience in environmental grantmaking, environmental law, investment management, community stewardship and public health. The Foundation currently has overall assets of approximately $26 million and an annual operating budget of approximately $1.85 million. While our distributions change from year to year, approximately 75% of our expenditures in 2023 were funded from mitigation settlement grants.

The Foundation is at a crossroads in its journey, with a desire to continue to creatively leverage mitigation funding and other class action awards while recognizing that the federal legal environment may change and the challenge of being a non-endowed foundation with heavily restricted assets. Solidifying an aligned and appropriately resourced direction over the next few years is a key goal of the organization.

Programs & Activities

Core Programs

• • Mitigation Settlement Administration. The Foundation’s primary business model and unique niche as a third-party administrator allows us to leverage the money to mitigate the harm done to communities. Most of the Foundation’s grantmaking is funded through settlement agreements secured because of consumer protection and environmental enforcement litigation by nonprofit advocacy organizations, primarily in California and Washington state. Many Rose grant funds are advised by volunteer funding boards that we convene and support, who donate their time and expertise to help us find and support strategic, innovative, and effective organizations whose work closely fits the goals of each particular settlement agreement. Grantee funding board members include community leaders and stewards in impacted communities, scientists, and other issue experts.
  • Supportive Grantmaking. In addition to administering settlement agreements, the Rose Foundation administers several Donor Advised Funds and a Grassroots Fund (for which the Foundation fundraises) and serves as a fiscal sponsor for nine organizations.

Current Transition Process

For the past year, as part of the transition from leadership of the co-founders, the Rose Foundation has been clarifying its mission and sharpening our focus on our core program areas, which are obtaining and granting the net proceeds from litigation settlements and supportive regranting. In early 2025, this process has resulted in two formal clarifications of our programs. Additional strategic work of board and staff is underway to flesh out the changes necessary for our clarified mission and a new structure to support our New Voices Are Rising program’s most beneficial positioning for success.

Additional information about our programs can be found on our website: The Rose Foundation (Rosefdn.org)

The Position and Key Priorities

The Rose Foundation’s new leader will need to gain understanding of the organization’s internal dynamics and community needs, and build relationships and trust with the staff, board, and partners, to better understand the organization’s strengths and challenges. Building upon these foundational relationships, the new Executive Director will need to address the following key priorities in their first 18-24 months:

• Complete Strategic Plan to Implement Changes to Sharpen the Mission: The new Executive Director will play a leadership role in the strategic planning process to ensure that program offerings align with the organization's updated core mission of obtaining and granting the net proceeds from litigation settlements and supportive regranting. This involves assessing current programs to identify sustainable priorities and eliminating initiatives that drain resources without sufficient strategic alignment.
• Organizational Restructuring: Based on the strategic planning process and the movement to structure the New Voices Are Rising program to best position it for the future, the new Executive Director should initiate a thoughtful and collaborative restructuring process to best align staff and resources with organizational objectives, including spreading staff leadership below the Executive Director level. The Executive Director will need to manage the process in a transparent, well-communicated way to promote stability and trust.
• Staff Development & Organizational Culture: Build on the past year’s progress under the interim Executive Director, continue to support staff development, leadership mentoring, and create an environment where staff feel valued, encouraged, and empowered to contribute effectively and lead in their own areas of expertise.
• Revenue Development, Funding Diversification & Relationship Building: Expand revenue opportunities with a primary emphasis on leveraging settlement opportunities and maintaining existing income streams to support sustainability. A key element of this process is engaging with key foundations, strengthening connections across the sector, developing relationships, and enhancing the organization’s public profile to promote the Foundation’s unique core competencies. Adapting to changing funding environments is also a high priority.
• Financial Management: Ensure the organization is run on a balanced budget. Continue the current initiatives to enhance financial oversight and improve budget tracking, budget transparency, and identify additional potential expense reductions. Focus necessary resources to attract and manage settlements. The Executive Director must ensure effective systems are in place to manage revenue streams and analyze spending patterns to ensure resources align with strategic goals.
• Board Development: The new Executive Director will have the opportunity to work with a core of board members to install new members in 2025 and beyond. Many board members who have served for many years with the founders will roll off the Board in 2025-2026. Board members who will remain are eager for increased engagement under a new strategic plan, expanding membership, and improving governance practices. The Executive Director will work to build a stronger relationship between the board and staff to create a cohesive leadership structure.

Essential Skills and Attributes

The Rose Foundation is seeking a leader with keen judgment and sensitivity to this important developmental moment for the Foundation as it transitions from a period under the long-time leadership of its founding Executive Director and founding Board Chair. Expertise in environmental law, consumer protection, environmental stewardship and justice, and grassroots leadership are desired; however, the Executive Director does not need to be an expert in all relevant areas. Compelling candidates will bring some experience and interest in one or more program areas and demonstrate rigor and flexibility to work across diverse content and strategic domains. The ideal candidate will have the following skills and attributes:

• Five Years’ Senior Management Experience in the Nonprofit and/or Philanthropic Sectors including experience managing diverse teams and organizational structures, working collaboratively and productively with a Board of Directors, and ability to identify and maximize team strengths to align talent with the organization’s goals.
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ): The new Executive Director will be an emotionally mature leader with a track record of trust-building, relationship-building and collaboration with Board and staff members, including team building and appropriate delegation. Is approachable, humble, and inclusive; has a sense of humor.
• Excellent Communication Skills to serve as the face of the organization; articulate, clear messenger, good listener; strong facilitation skills. Has a successful track record of relationship building with state and local government and diverse community groups.
• Financial Management Acumen that includes demonstrated experience managing budgets, balance sheets and financial operations, financial reporting and development of relevant reports and presentations.
• Change Management Experience demonstrating making/facilitating tough decisions such as restructuring and creating more efficiencies while building team cohesion, in a lean-resource environment.
• Demonstrated Fundraising & Business Development Skills in attracting and engaging high net worth donors and securing contracts and large foundation grants.
• Experience in the Public Interest Law Sector. A background in environmental or other community legal work, activism, public policy, advocacy, and experience working with environmental groups at the community level are beneficial.
• Cultural Competency & Community Engagement. Has experience and understanding of environmental justice, stewardship, conservation, community, and intersectional issues. Has a track record of grassroots activism and advocacy, including with diverse communities.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Hybrid/onsite, located in the Oakland/Greater SF Bay Area. Candidates who reside in the Bay Area will be given high priority, although the Foundation will entertain applicants from outside the Bay Area, with sufficiently deep knowledge of the area and ability to travel regularly to represent the organization in the Bay Area.
• Occasional travel within CA and PNW grantmaking regions.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on actual or perceived characteristics, including but not limited to age, marital or familial status, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability (including Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome [AIDS] or AIDS-Related Complex [ARC], or military status.