Executive Director

The Children's Room (Positively Partners)

Job Description

The Children’s Room (TCR) is the largest independent non-profit in Massachusetts solely dedicated to supporting grieving children, teens, and families. Since 1993, the organization has provided free services to families from over 80 communities across Boston through peer support groups and related services. The Children’s Room was founded on the belief that every child, teen, and family grieving a death deserves a safe, supportive, and understanding environment.

Today’s TCR serves approximately 1100 children, families and professionals with an annual operating budget of $1.3MM and a staff of 13. Since COVID’s emergence in 2020, TCR pivoted to providing all programs virtually while also strengthening school support services as needed to best support children and families. With health, safety, and equity in mind moving forward, TCR programming will be delivered in-person, virtually, and/or as a hybrid.

About the Position

As TCR prepares for our next stage of growth in line with a three year strategic plan, we seek an Executive Director with strategic acumen, exceptional team management skills, and a collaborative and strengths-based approach. You will be successful in this role if you can nurture a culture of teamwork, strengthen our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, plan and support implementation of our fundraising strategy, and predict and problem-solve gaps to position the organization for growth. An ideal candidate is a results-driven leader with demonstrated competence for guiding and managing an organization of similar size, complexity and trajectory.

As Executive Director, you will be responsible for overall strategic and operational leadership of the organization, including managing TCR staff, Board of Directors, programming, communications and marketing, financial management and development. You will steward a path for programmatic and operational growth towards a goal of significantly increasing the reach of our combined services, inclusive of expansion to communities across greater Boston.

This role reports to TCR’s Board of Directors. The Executive Director will directly manage the Director of Philanthropy, the Clinical Director, the Operations Manager, and the Marketing and Communications Manager.

Responsibilities

As the Executive Director, you will be responsible for the following threads of work:

Organizational Leadership and Program Stewardship

  • Work closely with the staff, Board and key stakeholders to align outcomes with strategic goals

  • Support and foster a culture that embraces a thoughtful, inclusive, anti-bias culture of teamwork, transparency, and acknowledgment of diverse, lived experiences in our staff and served communities

  • Collaborate with Board and leadership team to drive the organization’s economic model and sustainability strategies

  • Promote ongoing success of core services, including using data to drive decisions and fostering a spirit of continuous improvement

  • Enhance and maintain TCR’s systems and infrastructure, including team management and budgetary oversight

  • Maintain official records and ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations

  • Oversee management of TCR's house and grounds in Arlington, MA


Fundraising and Partnership Development

  • Cultivate and steward critical relationships to achieve TCR’s goals for programmatic and geographic scale

  • Execute ambitious but achievable annual and long-term plans for revenue generation and partnership creation

  • Effectively engage the Board of Directors to provide ongoing support and engagement in the areas of community partnerships and resource development

  • Strengthen program effectiveness by fostering relationships with TCR partners, collaborators, volunteers, staff, donors, community organizations, and program participants

  • Provide funders and partners with data, reports, and information to feel confident that their contributions are being deployed in a cost-effective and results-driven manner

  • Maintain a working knowledge of significant developments and trends and build TCR as a sought-after resource in the fields of grief support for children, teens and families


Qualifications & Experience

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. We want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. This said, we are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate the majority of the qualifications and experiences listed below:

As Executive Director, you will be a strategic and dedicated champion of TCR. Energetic and enterprising, successful candidates will demonstrate deeply held respect for and understanding of the power of our programming, even if their primary professional background is in another field.


  • Progressive development and management experience gained in mission-driven organizations

  • Ability to build sustainable and productive partnerships with nonprofits, businesses, academic, and health care institutions. Comfortable and capable of speaking to these constituents and other stakeholders about the impact of TCR’s model

  • Ability as a key storyteller of our work and mission to compel others to action

  • Desire to play a key role in achieving an ambitious vision requiring cultural responsiveness, bold thinking, and comfort with pivots to harness opportunity to strategically advance our work

  • A proven track record and passion for nonprofit fundraising that is demonstrated in a commitment to maintaining current funders, a zest for cultivating new donors, an ability to generate new revenue streams, and a history of successfully taking organizations to the next level of sustained philanthropic support

  • Self-motivated and inspirational problem solver with demonstrated ability to coach, manage, and develop high performing, diverse teams to achieve strategic objectives

  • Intellectual depth, maturity, and the ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues, Board members, external partners, and direct reports

  • Strong analytical skills and use of data to drive fundraising and partnership decisions and forecasting

Compensation & Benefits

This is an outstanding opportunity to contribute to and lead a non-profit supporting the lives of young people and families. Salary range for the role is $130,000-$140,000 and is commensurate with lived and professional experience. Comprehensive benefits include health and dental insurance, employer-paid MA PFML contributions, retirement savings, generous Paid Time Off, and paid professional development. Employee-paid optional AFLAC insurances available.

Making the Decision to Apply

To apply to this position, please prepare a resume and cover letter to the attention of The Children’s Room Transition and Search Committee. For confidential inquiries or for assistance in completing the application, please contact Senior Consultant Keisha Pierce at kpierce@positivelypartners.org.

Due to COVID-19, our offices are currently closed until further notice and all responsibilities will be conducted remotely. Once we can safely return to the workplace, there is the expectation of regular time onsite at our headquarters in Arlington, MA. All TCR employees are required to be fully vaccinated (two shots and a booster).

Timeline & Hiring Process

We will review and respond to all applications received. While subject to change, candidates elected to advance will progress through a process that includes initial conversations with Positively Partners, interviews with members of the Transition and Search Committee and, for finalists, an opportunity to meet key stakeholders including Board and staff. Anticipated start date is Spring 2022.

The Children’s Room does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability in admission or access to or employment in its programs or activities.