Vice President of Collective Action, K12 & Youth Development

Position Overview 

The Vice President of Collective Action, K12 & Youth Development (VPCA) is responsible for leading all aspects of APA’s work in its ‘Aligning K12 Education and Youth Development’ issue area. This includes both ensuring membership in the Alliance Community leads to significant organizational improvement for participating organizations and uniting them in powerful collective action. The VPCA is responsible for (1) the identification and execution of collective action initiatives, (2) management of the 75+ member organizations working in this issue area, and (3) the growth of members and programming in this issue area over time. This position reports to APA’s CEO and works directly with the CEOs and executive teams of the leading national education and youth development nonprofits in the country.  

  

About Our Alliance Community  

APA runs a community for the CEOs and executive teams of the leading nonprofits in the US (see members). APA’s work focuses on three interconnected issue areas that shape opportunity and mobility for the next generation: aligning K12 education and youth development, reimagining postsecondary to workforce pathways, and increasing civic and democratic engagement. Our community currently includes 150 member organizations and 750 executive leaders. These organizations serve 32M young people annually and control $2B in annual spending. The average member organization is spending 80-100 hours in Alliance programming each year. APA provides the infrastructure and stewardship necessary for our member organizations to increase their impact and grow their reach, to effectively navigate new dynamics that arise in the field, and to launch collective action initiatives that address field-wide challenges too complex for any single organization to take on alone. For a complete overview of our work, see here.  

 

About This Issue Area: Aligning K12 Education and Youth Development  

The challenges in K12 education are complex and interconnected, including the decline in academic achievement, changes in federal policy and funding, the emergence of AI, teacher shortages, debates over content and curricula, and the need for schools to support rising youth mental health challenges and other non-academic issues impacting students’ lives. These academic and social-emotional challenges have become the norm for a generation of students. Without larger attempts to build better systems, the disruption of these last five years will translate into the “new normal” for US education. Educators and schools cannot be expected to tackle these challenges alone. Youth development organizations are already meeting urgent student needs and generating impressive outcomes for young people. The aspiration of bringing these leading nonprofit providers and schools into deeper collaboration with one another is to build more holistic supports for students, to improve outcomes, to create new efficiencies in resource-constrained environments, and to develop new models for learning that can be scaled across the country. Our Alliance Community includes a unique combination of the nation’s leading K12 education nonprofits, youth development nonprofits, and school networks. The VPCA will lead these organizations in designing new solutions to the most urgent challenges we face in schools today.  

 

Responsibilities 

Below are the responsibilities in the VPCA role.  

 

Community Growth and Retention 

The VPCA is responsible for bringing new organizations into our Alliance Community and ensuring strong retention of our current member organizations.  

• Analyze our current membership and create a strategic recruitment plan to ensure our Alliance community includes a critical mass of the organizations we need to meet our goals in this issue area.  

• Partner with APA’s VP of Alliance Community to recruit new member organizations into the community and ensure their successful onboarding.  

• Lead the renewal process for organizations in this issue area, ensuring high rates of member retention, and that our community stays together and gets better over time.  

 

Understanding Member Needs to Drive Programming & Ensuring High Engagement 

The VPCA serves as the point person for all members in this issue area, working directly with their CEO's and executive teams.  

• Through regular engagement with our members, deeply understand the evolving needs of these organizations, identifying both which needs are most consistent across the network and which ones have the greatest chance of improving student outcomes.  

• Use your understanding of member needs to inform new program design in our Alliance community, translating current pain points into concrete programming.  

• Recruit strategic partners and subject matter experts to drive new Alliance programming.  

• Analyze member engagement data, identify the least engaged organizations, understand the dynamics that drive this low engagement, and build customized plans to improve engagement for these organizations over time.  

 

Annual Convening  

APA will begin convening the member organizations in this issue area annually. The VPAC will lead all aspects of planning and execution for that annual convening. This includes:  

• Lead all aspects of logistical and strategic planning for the convening each year. 

• Ensure strong attendance among members.  

• Creation customized annual agendas for these convenings that both (1) respond to the most urgent and important needs facing our member organizations and (2) facilitate new collective action ideation.  

• Lead convening facilitation, along with other APA team members and external experts recruited by the VPCA.  

• Lead post-convening evaluation and continuous improvement efforts.  

 

Collective Action Ideation & Vetting  

The VPCA is responsible for identifying and vetting new ideas for collective action initiatives annually. This includes:  

• Design and implementation of an annual process to engage Alliance member organizations in the identification of ideas for new collective action initiatives.  

• Testing ideas that come from our membership with external experts to understand relevant field dynamics, the viability of the idea, and key design considerations.    

• Running a process with both Alliance members and APA leadership to prioritize and select a short list of ideas each year that have the greatest potential for scaled impact. These are the collective action initiatives the VPCA will then attempt to launch.  

 

Collective Action Initiative Design 

Once new ideas are identified, the VPCA is responsible for designing these collaborations into actionable initiatives, including strong theory of action, intended outcomes, and defined member and field benefit. This includes:   

• Comprehensive initiative design. 

• Creation of concept papers used to explore the ideas with funders, external experts, and Alliance members organizations.  

• Development of multi-year budgets and operating plans.  

• Identifying and recruiting strategic partners, when necessary, to execute the initiative.  

• Recruiting a ‘critical mass’ of member organizations who would participate in the initiative, if launched. 

 

Collective Action Fundraising  

Once new ideas are crafted into compelling initiatives and we have reached a critical mass of member organizations who would participate in the initiative when launched, the VPCA is responsible for securing the funding needed to launch the work. Once funding is secured, the VPCA contributes to sustaining those funding relationships. The VPCA works in partnership with APA’s VP Development to:  

• Identifying the funders most aligned to each initiative.  

• Crafting and conducting outreach to funders.  

• Managing the exploration process with potential investors, supporting the development of proposals and grant agreements, and securing the anchor funding we need to launch each initiative.  

• Once funding is secured, the VPCA is responsible for supporting reporting and stewardship for funders.  

 

Collective Action Initiative Launch & Management  

Once our collective action initiatives are funded, the VPCA is responsible for successfully launching each initiative and ensuring they achieve their intended outcomes. The VPCA should expect to manage 3-5 large-scale initiatives at any given time.  This launch and management work includes:  

• Creating the staffing plan and operating model unique to each initiative. 

• Hiring and management of the team responsible for implementation. 

• Proactive communication on progress to Alliance members, APA leadership, and funders.   

• Iterative program design to respond to challenges, take advantage of opportunities, drive continuous improvement, and ensure increasing sustainability over time.  

 

Experience and Competences  

The VPCA should have deep experience leading in national nonprofit organizations, combined with intimate knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing schools and school leaders.  

• Field-recognized leader with 10+ years of senior leadership experience in national nonprofit organizations and/or school systems.  

• Deep knowledge of the field, funders, research, policy landscape, and experts in these issue areas and the ability to utilize that knowledge to inform our work and priorities.  

• A robust network of experts, operators, and funders in this issue area. The ability to activate this network to meet APA’s strategic priorities.   

• Deep experience in program design, continuous improvement, and program evaluation. Able to design all aspects of APA’s new collective action initiatives, ensuring both strong design and execution.  

• Ability to set a compelling vision, to inspire the top leaders in the sector to rally around that vision, to align metrics, and to steer toward results.   

• Experience raising funds and sustaining funding relationships.  

• Experience facilitating convenings with senior-level leaders, ensuring effective collaboration, engagement, and consensus-building among diverse stakeholders.  

• Experienced manager and leader, ability to work cross-functionally, strong action-orientation and accountability for results; effective in rapidly growing and evolving environments.  

• Effective written and verbal communication, including translating complex issues to multiple audiences internally and externally. 

• A leader in building and nurturing positive culture, ability to adapt and persist through challenges, and an adaptive learner.  

 

Location, Compensation, & Benefits 

• APA is searching for the best talent regardless of location, as such please note that APA’s team is largely remote and location is flexible within the United States.  

• Salary and benefits will be competitive and commensurate with experience with a range of $180,000 - $195,000. 

• Regular travel is required for this role.  

• America’s Promise Alliance offers a generous benefits package that extends beyond health care coverage to help provide team members with a work-life balance that includes professional development, retirement savings, self-managed vacation, and more.