Harlem Lacrosse works to provide opportunities, relationships, and experiences that activate the skills and traits to put youth on a path to success as students, athletes, and citizens.
Founded in 2011 in New York, Harlem Lacrosse has grown to five cities, 18 schools, and 40 programs as of Fall 2024. In addition to developing crucial athletic and social-emotional skills, our students consistently outperform their peers academically, passing their classes, graduating high school, and enrolling and persisting in college at a higher rate than other students in their schools. HL teams have won multiple city-wide championships, and many alumni go on to play lacrosse in college. A nationally recognized non-profit currently serving more than 1200 youth, Harlem Lacrosse places a full-time staff member at our school and community sites for each of our programs. More information about Harlem Lacrosse is available on our website,
www.harlemlacrosse.org.
Position Summary: Harlem Lacrosse seeks a full-time Executive Director in New York to manage the organization’s presence, team, and impact in New York. This position is an ideal opportunity for self-motivated, social entrepreneurs with general management experience, fundraising experience, a commitment to sports-based and academic youth programs, as well as having an appreciation for and an investment in the surrounding community of New York.
Harlem Lacrosse – New York serves more than 275 students in 10 school-based programs. The Executive Director role requires an experienced and dynamic approach to non-profit leadership. They will be responsible for driving and managing all aspects of the local Harlem Lacrosse programs, including staff management, broad program oversight in collaboration with a Managing Director, local collaborations and partnerships, and local fundraising of the roughly $1.5M annual budget. Reporting to the Chief Program Officer and serving on the organization’s Regional Leadership Team, which is composed of the Executive and Managing Directors in each Harlem Lacrosse city, the Executive Director will play an important role in this next phase of Harlem Lacrosse’s growth by reliably leading and managing within one of Harlem Lacrosse’s national geographies.
This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced manager and leader who is motivated by aggressive individual goals while also energized by a collaborative approach to national programming.
Responsibilities:
Fostering Local Relationships of Support – 50%
- Deeply understand the local context, history and community in which Harlem Lacrosse New York operates.
- Sustain the local program by raising the funds necessary to execute and deliver Harlem Lacrosse programs in New York.
- Solicit individual, corporate, and foundation gifts, and manage fundraising events.
- Collaborate with the Senior Director of Development and the CEO to develop and implement a strategic fundraising plan for the local geography, maximizing local opportunities around foundation, corporate and individual giving.
- Serve on the National Development Team, working in collaboration with Harlem Lacrosse’s centralized national Development office and in partnership with the other four Executive Directors at Harlem Lacrosse.
- Leverage and balance the time spent by the CEO and other organizational leaders on high-impact fundraising activities for the local market.
- Manage and grow a portfolio of donor relationships by building and maintaining strong, positive relationships with existing and prospective donors in the local geography.
- Develop strong reciprocal relationships with organizations and individuals within the New York community including Harlem Lacrosse families, peer organization leaders, education and municipal leaders, and other potential partners and supporters.
- Lead the local Advisory Board, leveraging their support for fundraising activities, partnership development and for programming support.
Staff and Program Management – 25%
- Set, communicate, and manage a clear vision and goals for the New York region that are linked to the national strategy and mission.
- Oversee the work of the Managing Director of Programs to ensure that all programs are consistently aligned to Harlem Lacrosse’s vision and model and perform at a high level.
- In collaboration with the Managing Director, manage a $1.5M budget ensuring that spending decisions are aligned with priorities and goals.
- Support the New York team to develop individually and organizationally as antiracist leaders.
- Have a consistent and overall awareness of programming events, student achievement and regional culture in order to assess how effectively we are meeting our mission.
- Support the collection of programmatic data to allow for rigorous measurement and evaluation of program outcomes.
- Maintain effective, collaborative relationships with school partners, including creating MOUs, setting expectations with school leadership, and managing issues and conflicts as they arise.
National Organizational Leadership – 15%
- Collaborate with the other Regional Leaders to ensure that organizational strategy and direction are consistently implemented across regions.
- Serve as a nexus point between the New York region and the National organization, contributing perspectives from your region to national strategy, and communicating the impact and import of national initiatives and decisions on the local context.
- Ensure that the New York team is aligned to national structures and decisions and is implementing national strategy.
- Maintain connection with leaders in other cities with a constant eye toward collaboration and connection. At Harlem Lacrosse, our cities operate as parts of a whole rather than as individual entities, and so a role of the leadership in each city is to ensure positive connection to others.
General Management – 10%
- Manage, oversee and be accountable for administrative records and reporting, such as timely use of data management systems, program management systems and other needs related to the successful management of a local program within a national infrastructure.
- Maintain consistent communication with the CEO, COO and CPrO as to the general health and wellbeing of the local program, including honest and realistic assessments of what’s working and where additional support could be helpful.
- Lead local risk management, ensuring that regional operations and programming are in line with laws, regulations, and best practices.
- Collaborate with the Chief Equity & Talent Officer to ensure talent strategies reflect the needs of the region and promote DEI best practices throughout the region’s programming and operations.
The Ideal Candidate:
The ideal candidate is an action-oriented professional who thrives in a hands-on work environment. They are a manager and leader, but also roll up their sleeves to get the job done, regardless of the task. As a manager, they leverage the skills and experience of the entire team and actively participate in delivering necessary outcomes rather than only delegating. They think creatively and collaboratively within the context of both the local market and the national program and are able to get people excited about a common goal. As a leader in an organization serving primarily youth of color, they are eager to help the organization hone its racial equity lens, and bring an understanding of culturally responsive programming, antiracist education, and personal identity development to this role. The ideal Executive Director candidate excels at building and sustaining relationships, setting and communicating a vision, and holding themselves and others to high expectations in service of enabling life-changing experiences for youth.
What you bring…
- 8+ years of demonstrated success building and leading a small organization or team in a fast-paced, direct-service, nonprofit organization.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to target a message to a variety of diverse stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to identify donors and cultivate relationships leading to substantial commitments from those donors.
- Track record in successfully and positively managing other people.
- Experience and expertise supporting youth programming, preferably in the field of mentoring, education, and/or sports-based youth development.
- Commitment to racial equity and excitement about demonstrating that commitment in the execution of this position.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required; advanced degree preferred.
What We Offer…
We invest in and support our team members at Harlem Lacrosse! We offer an extensive suite of benefits including, but not limited to:
- Comprehensive health coverage, including medical, dental and vision plans
- Access to One Medical, a 24/7 patient-focused primary care practice with highly qualified, board-certified physicians
- Receive access to online mental health therapy via a 1-year membership to Talkspace
- Flexible spending and health saving account options, 401k with match
- A $500 technology stipend for your home office; whatever you choose to buy is yours to keep!
- Parental leave policy to support your family planning journey
- Generous PTO policy, in addition to 12 paid holidays and a company-wide winter break during the holiday season.
This position is hybrid but must be located in the New York metro area. It will require regular (weekly) local travel within New York and some national travel (3-4 times per year) for organizational meetings and events.
Compensation: The hiring range for this position is between $110,000-$118,000 depending on qualifications and prior experience.
Note: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of the position. All employees may have other duties as assigned.
Harlem Lacrosse is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply. Diversity of opinions, experiences, and backgrounds is a key asset. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status. Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and BIPOC are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Harlem Lacrosse we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workspace, so if you are excited about this role but your previous experience may not align exactly with every qualification in the position description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles with our growing organization.
