Executive Director

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Over Zero, a fiscally sponsored project of Hopewell Fund, was created to prevent and address political and identity-based violence and underlying risk factors, including dangerous rhetoric and scapegoating, threats to democracy, and polarization. We have a particular focus on the role of communication as a powerful tool to either drive or counteract these dynamics. While predominantly U.S.-focused, we have roots in international peacebuilding and atrocity prevention work. We envision a world free from identity-based violence and other forms of political violence and group-targeted harm.

We are seeking a creative, experienced, and collaborative leader to serve as our next Executive Director. The Executive Director will work closely with Over Zero’s experienced and dedicated team to steward the organization at a critical moment in our growth and impact. The current moment calls for a leader who can maintain a focus on medium- and longer-term priorities while adapting strategically to a complex and evolving context, and who will maintain our momentum as we expand our reach. The Executive Director will manage a team of fifteen, guiding the organization through a dynamic time of change, risk, and opportunity. The ideal candidate will bring: a blend of emotional intelligence; strategic, analytical, and creative thinking; humility; a commitment to strong and healthy workplace cultures; and significant relevant senior nonprofit leadership experience.

This is a remote position based in the United States. The role requires regular travel in the U.S. for trainings, partner meetings, team retreats, and other convenings. The salary range for this position is $200,000 - $250,000 with a generous benefits package.

ABOUT OVER ZERO

Over Zero partners with community leaders, civil society, and researchers to prevent, resist, and rise above identity-based violence and other forms of political violence and group-targeted harm. While we have roots in international work, our dominant focus is on the United States. Our national and state-level work focuses on activating, empowering, and developing coordination capacity among organizations, communities, and cross-sector leaders, and supports a critical infrastructure positioned to address risks and flashpoints for violence and serve as a foundation for sustainable peace. Over Zero also plays a critical role in supporting the broader U.S. pro-democracy and violence prevention fields by providing training, advisory support, and tools and resources for action. We facilitate learning from and with other country contexts through case studies and direct exchange. Underpinning this work is a commitment to ensuring that research and practice continually inform one another to advance impact amid evolving risks.

Our Programs

Building state-level capacity to address acute risks and create longer-term resilience to identity-based and political violence. Over Zero builds capacity within states to anticipate, prevent, and respond to risks and instances of political and identity-based violence. We are focused on Arizona, Ohio, and Alabama at present. Our state-level work includes the Resilient States Project, a collaborative project with Search for Common Ground’s Common Ground-USA, as well as Alabama Leads, which supports the work of changemakers in Alabama. These programs build networks of leaders and support them to use their voices and platforms to effect positive change. Our state networks also serve as an important nexus between local and national-level violence prevention efforts. Over Zero’s state-level work is poised for significant deepening of impact and expansion.

Strengthening the capacity of civil society in the U.S. to address acute and longer-term risks for violence nationally and within states. We support diverse partners at national, state, regional, and local levels through training, advising, and tools and resources. Our tools and resources leverage insights from research and practice to better understand the relationship between communication and violence and position our partners to take action. Our partners span faith leaders, veterans’ groups, grassroots organizers, journalists, anti-hate organizations, and state coalitions. We also connect and support leaders across diverse geographic regions within the U.S. and globally to share tools, strategies, and lessons learned. At the field level, we help drive strategy and serve as a thought leader in identifying and developing effective approaches for violence prevention and response.

Our Values

Co-Creation: We embrace the diverse expertise, experiences, and perspectives of the individual organizations with whom we partner.

Discovery: We are a learning organization. We aspire to take bold risks in the service of learning and achieving impact.

Do no harm: We work to continually assess and mitigate risk to avoid causing unintentional harm.

Impact: In order to drive true change, we remain critical and objective when evaluating the impact of our interventions.

Wholeness: In all our interactions, both internal and external, we strive to embody a culture of respect, kindness, and an openness to one another’s whole selves.

THE OPPORTUNITY

This is a unique and exciting opportunity for a creative, experienced, and collaborative leader to take the helm of a dynamic, high-impact organization that is uniquely poised for critical impact in this moment—amidst significant and evolving threats of political and identity-based violence alongside democratic backsliding. As Over Zero’s Founder and Executive Director transitions out of Over Zero, the new Executive Director will have an opportunity to build on our reputation, impact, and strong relationships to steward the organization into and through our next chapter. They will work closely with a dedicated and talented team of fifteen and can expect to engage in the following:

Provide strategic vision and leadership. Over Zero is a highly adaptive and strategic organization. The new Executive Director will provide visionary leadership to strengthen our impact, building on the organization’s relationships, reputation, history, IP, and other assets. They will leverage existing strategies and assets in pursuit of our vision and our medium- and long-term goals, while also pivoting and adapting as needed to respond strategically and effectively to emergent external shifts and challenges. They will facilitate collaborative processes that combine insights from across the team to set a clear and compelling direction for the future, and they will have demonstrated capacity to lead teams with collaboration, compassion, and a commitment to assessing and mitigating risk and potential harm.

Support and nurture a cohesive, engaged, and impactful team. Our team is our greatest asset. The team at Over Zero is deeply committed to the ecosystem we serve and to nurturing a healthy and robust internal culture. The Executive Director will lead a team of fifteen and manage four team leads: Director of Place-Based Programs, Senior Director of Field Support and Strategy, Director of Operations, and Director of Knowledge and Learning.

Our positive and inclusive workplace culture is rooted in our core values and cultivates creativity, open-mindedness, collaboration, integrity, humility, and joy. The Executive Director will sustain and amplify this culture, leading our high-performing team to achieve shared goals. They will inspire and motivate team members by actively listening to and understanding their needs, aspirations, and challenges. They will strengthen policies and practices to align with Over Zero’s values and co-create a sustainable direction for the future. The new Executive Director will also work to continually strengthen workflows and internal operations to ensure effective collaboration and sufficient bandwidth to sustain the organization and amplify our impact.

Sustain and strengthen fundraising capacity. The next Executive Director will be an experienced fundraiser, with a track record of successful donor stewardship and strategic fundraising efforts. Over Zero currently enjoys strong support from a dedicated cadre of institutional funders that is rooted in our deep and authentic engagement with them on strategy and broader efforts to strengthen the field, including advocating for broad funding strategies (rather than simply fundraising for ourselves). The new Executive Director will build on these robust and significant relationships, listening deeply and speaking persuasively to a wide range of funders. They will also lead the organization to identify and secure new sources of support and revenue that align with and advance our mission.

Steward finances. The Executive Director will ensure the long-term fiscal health of the organization. They will have a deep understanding of nonprofit financial operations and will work closely with team leadership and Hopewell to nimbly and strategically manage the organization’s financial health and budgeting in a complex, evolving environment.

Manage organizational governance. The Executive Director will manage the relationship with Over Zero’s fiscal sponsor, Hopewell Fund and ensure compliance with its policies. They should be able to anticipate risks, scenario plan, and assess and implement operational options for risk mitigation in an evolving operational environment. Finally, Over Zero also has an Advisory Board, comprised of three members who are passionate about our mission, vision, and values. The new Executive Director will further build out this Advisory Board to ensure that the body is able to inform and amplify Over Zero’s impact and steward the project’s resources responsibly.

Be an exceptional ambassador and network builder. Over Zero has become a leading voice in the pro-democracy and violence prevention fields. As the primary spokesperson for Over Zero, the new Executive Director will be a credible and persuasive ambassador for our organization and our work. They will be highly collaborative and will strategically and intentionally cultivate strong relationships with relevant partners. Further, they will engage with diverse partners across sectors, worldviews, ideologies, orientations and entry points to this work.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

The Executive Director will be a creative, experienced, and collaborative leader with a passion for Over Zero’s work and a commitment to preventing and addressing identity-based and political violence and other forms of group-targeted harm. They will be passionate about engaging leaders and communities in the U.S. at this critical moment. While no one will embody all the qualifications enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:

• A visionary and inspiring leader – At least six years of senior leadership experience and a record of executive leadership in a non-profit organization. Some experience in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, atrocity prevention, or democracy. Additional areas of relevant experience might include community organizing with diverse coalitions and partnerships, human-centered design, non-violence, conflict studies, and strategic communications. Understanding of non-democratic and closed civil society environments is a plus.
• Demonstrated commitment to Over Zero’s mission, vision, and core values – Unwavering commitment to reducing, preventing, and addressing identity-based and political violence and other forms of group-targeted harm.
• An experienced highly collaborative, adaptive, and strategic leader – Demonstrated internal and external success as a collaborator with exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills. Experience developing an aligned and strategic direction for the future. Demonstrated effectiveness at facilitating and incorporating insights from a broad and diverse team. Proven strategist and creative thinker with strong analytical prowess. Experience navigating emergent issues and challenges while maintaining fealty to medium- and longer-term priorities. Practical and strategic implementer who knows how to make hard calls and trade-offs, and how to pivot strategically while keeping the big picture in mind. Prior experience leading teams in an all-remote setting is a plus.
• Demonstrated operational savvy – Ability to develop systems, policies, and practices that allow for growth and scale. Comfort doing so in an evolving context. Ability to assess and mitigate operational risks. Experience managing budgets of at least $3 million and supervising teams of at least ten to fifteen employees. Experience growing a team is a plus.
• Comfort and capacity leading in an evolving context – Ability to lead and pivot strategy and operations in an evolving context, including assessing and navigating risk. Proven experience doing so in either an international or U.S. context is a plus.
• A compassionate and effective leader of teams – Demonstrated commitment to fostering a healthy organizational culture built on collaboration and trust. Ability to unite teams in pursuit of a shared vision and goals, and to establish and ensure streamlined workflows and meaningful and effective mutual accountability throughout the team.
• An exceptional communicator and effective network builder – Ability to build resilient relationships and mutual trust with diverse partners and audiences, with demonstrated cultural dexterity to work with a wide range of groups. Experience building networks and a track record of fostering leveraged, strategic collaborations and partnerships.
• A skilled fundraiser with a strong development track record – Demonstrated ability to build long term fundraising plans and cultivate strong, sustained donor relationships to ensure sustainability and growth.
• A strategic and disciplined financial leader – Strong financial acumen and experience required. Must have demonstrated ability to develop, manage, and oversee nonprofit budgets responsibly and transparently to ensure organizational sustainability and impact.
• Experience in effective organizational governance – Experience partnering with governing/advisory boards and/or fiscal sponsors to ensure strategic oversight, secure guidance, and plan for current and future needs. Leadership experience within fiscally sponsored organizations is a plus.
• Intellectual curiosity and humility – Demonstrated capacity to hold beliefs and views lightly and a willingness to move one’s stake when faced with data, experience, insight, and wisdom that might support alternative perspectives or approaches. Inquisitiveness and openness to learning from diverse sources, experiences, and perspectives. Flexibility, adaptability, and creativity. An active, energized learner who embraces innovative approaches to challenges.

Preferred, but not required:

• While experience working in the U.S. context is required, relevant international experience is a significant plus.