San Miguel Executive Director position

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

San Miguel School- Chicago w w w.sanmiguelchicago.org Position: Executive Direc tor Repor ts to: Board of Direc tors Location: Chicago, Illinois

MISSION The mission of San Miguel School is to transform the lives of our students, their families and communities through education, by touching hearts and inspiring minds.

BACKGROUND San Miguel School Chicago (“the School”) is a middle school in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago that provides faith-based education to 6th – 8th graders. It was founded in a convent dining room in 1995 by two former Christian Brothers, Gordon Hannon and Ed Siderewicz, with 18 students, a staff of four and a $50,000 grant.

A few years later, San Miguel School moved across the street and occupied the fourth floor of the former St. Michael the Archangel parish school. San Miguel School remains in this location today.

San Miguel School only accepts students who are the most academically at-risk and economically disadvantaged. Many students enter the School one or more grade levels behind but graduate at or above grade level- improving 4-6 grade levels in just three years.

Other compelling data that reflects the success of the School includes: 782 total graduates; 97% middle school persistence rate; 100% enter high performing college prep high schools and 93% graduated high school and 92% entered college.

The success of the students comes from their hard work coupled

with a strong program model that includes small student to teacher ratio (1:10), extended school day and school year, strong focus on reading, and partnership with parents and families. The students also take pride in the school’s robust athletics program offerings of basketball, soccer, volleyball and softball. Throughout the year, there are multiple field trips offering the students the opportunity to not only see the city of Chicago, but also to be outside of the city for camping experiences and all 8th graders visit Washington D.C. And, most importantly, the School is faith-based and employs thoughtful behavioral management tools that are based on caring and concern for the whole child.

San Miguel School is governed by an 11-person Board of Directors comprised of business and civic leaders as well as the Christian Brothers Midwest- Superintendent of LaSallian Education. The operating budget is approximately $1.3M. Approximately 51% of the revenue is derived from individual donors, 33% from Foundations, and approximately 6% is derived from corporate support.

THE OPPORTUNITY After nearly 25 years of serving hundreds of students, graduates, and their families, the School takes pride in its model for urban education – helping students improve significantly in just three years and graduate high school at rates nearly TWICE that of their neighborhood peers.

Each year the School educates 90 students. All grades (6,7,8th) have 30 students with three teachers per classroom.

This allows for students to receive individualized attention and acknowledges that English is a second language for many of the students. There are 120 graduates who are served through the Graduate Program and over 1,400 members of the Back of the Yards neighborhood through the Community Center.

Last year, the San Miguel Community Center was opened and provides a range of programs including afterschool activities such as sports and drama as well as programming for adults including ESL, citizenship programs, and financial literacy. Providing a safe place is a great asset to the commu-

nity and is also one of the ways that families learn about the School as an option for their children.

Student recruitment is primarily a grassroots effort. There is currently a waiting list for 7th grade but continuing to build visibility to attract families to the school is an ongoing need. Because San Miguel School is a private, Catholic school there is a misperception by some that it will be unaffordable.

However, the School is primarily supported through philanthropic support from individual donors. Families are asked to pay what they can for tuition and most are able to afford 5% of the cost. Essentially all students are on scholarship.

Funds for the school come from multiple sources. The Board is key to the fundraising success of the School and will continue to be strong partners in fundraising efforts. There are currently about 375 active donors of which 48 are giving $5,000 or more annually. There is a direct mail program and a number of events including a monthly rummage sale, golf outings and

the Signature Event – SCHOOL ROCKS!,.

Resurrecting a program for donors to sponsor a student, implementing corporate sponsorship of a classroom or the School, as well as a stronger social media presence could be new funding strategies.

With considerable leadership from the Board, the School has moved through a challenging financial period and is now stabilized with funds in reserve. The new Executive Director will have the opportunity to create a strategy to grow funding that will allow the School to transform the lives of even more children and families. However, before growth can be considered, the initial focus for the new Executive Director will be to continue on the path of financial sustainability. This will include a review of staff compensation and benefits and budgeting for professional development opportunities.

Ideally, as the School moves to a stronger financial position, there will be opportunities to plan for growth. Adding a 5th grade class has been discussed as a first step towards expansion.

THE POSITION Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director is charged with building the base of philanthropic support and ensuring financial sustainability for San Miguel School. The Executive Director will embrace the diverse community served by the School and will ensure consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications; and will recommend timelines and resources needed to achieve the strategic goals. To that end, s/he will engage the Board of Directors and will build relationships of trust with individual and institutional funders, community leaders, and staff. The Executive Director is responsible for managing the $1.3M budget.

The Executive Director will be responsible for raising funds to advance the mission and programs, and for managing resources to achieve program outcomes and sustainability. This includes creating and sustaining relationships with major donors and funders. S/he provides leadership and direction for meeting annual and long-term fundraising goals including both revenue goals and donor retention and growth goals. The successful

candidate will help develop appropriate system-wide policies and practices for the effective coordination of development activities.

In collaboration with the Board of Directors, the Executive Director will work to understand strategic priorities of the organization and set appropriate revenue goals to achieve those priorities. The Executive Director will oversee engagement initiatives which create awareness and build constituent support for the School. This includes developing strategies to strengthen relationships by increasing understanding of the effectiveness of programs amongst high – level funders including corporate partners and new and existing individual and institutional donors.

With strong communications skills, the Executive Director will be the face of the organization with community members, partners, funders, and the media. The person in this position will oversee all strategic communications resulting in a consistent and compelling message using traditional and new technologies. The successful candidate will be responsible for promoting and enhancing the visibility of the School and will work

with the Principal and educational leadership to develop language and messaging for fundraising special initiatives. S/he will develop public relations strategies as needed, as well as internal stakeholder communication, social media efforts, major print and electronic publications (annual report, end of year donor reports, etc.).

The School is led by the senior leadership team which is comprised of the Executive Director, Principal, Vice Principal, Intervention Specialist and Director of the Community Center. This team meets weekly to discuss emerging issues and strate-

gic direction. With the Senior Leadership team, the Executive Director ensures ongoing programmatic excellence. The Executive Director directly oversees the administrative functions of the School specifically, development, marketing and communications, finance and human resources as well as the Director of the Community Center. The Principal of the School ultimately reports to the Executive Director although the operations of the School, including curriculum development and all classroom activities are the purview of the Principal.

CORE COMPETENCIES Leadership - translate vision into effective action and an ability to see opportunities for strategic initiatives.

Strategic Management - enhance and lead a productive and sustainable organization.

External Relations - have knowledge of the community served by

San Miguel School and represent the School to funders, media, and the community.

Development - coordinate, cultivate, solicit, and steward plans for donors; advance and manage a strategic annual and multi-year fundraising plan.

CANDIDATE PROFILE The Board of Directors is seeking a confident leader with an unwavering commitment to ensuring an inclusive culture and will embrace the mission of the School. Successful relationship building and management are critical competencies to fulfilling the stated objectives for this position. A track record of professional accomplishments that demonstrates inclusive and collaborative leadership, superior performance, and the ability to articulate and build consensus around major initiatives, is imperative. The ability to partner with the Board and senior leadership to identify funders, strategically guide opportunities to engage and establish new relationships, and to build a robust pipeline that supports annual and long-term fundraising goals is needed.

Proven ability to recognize and act on revenue generating opportunities that may be innovative or non-traditional would be highly valued. The ideal candidate will have experience soliciting principal and major gifts and will bring familiarity with the range of tools available to secure major gifts including planned giving. Someone

who actively seeks out new prospect or donor relationships, who likes the cultivation and stewardship process, and who can successfully close gift opportunities is needed.

An understanding of business principles applied to a nonprofit enterprise, including a background of good budget management, is necessary.

The person we seek will be an innovative marketer who will continue to grow visibility for the School. S/he will possess the ability to create and direct an integrated communications function. As a team leader and team builder who can earn the respect and acceptance of senior-level management, the candidate of choice must demonstrate superb communication skills (written and oral) and be comfortable as the spokesperson for the School via presentations in both large assemblies as well as one-onone meetings. Someone who has experience working with Chicago media outlets is highly desirable.

S/he must provide evidence of a management style that emphasizes consen-

sus building, participative management, high ethical standards, collegiality and effective teamwork. The qualified candidate will be someone who strives for excellence in all facets of service. The wability to give clear, effective, empathetic, sensitive and consistent leadership with good attention to detail is a must. Creativity, integrity, and excellent judgment, a sense of urgency, a balance between analytical and intuitive skills and a willingness to “roll up the sleeves� to get the job done is also sought. A spirit of inquisitiveness, flexibility, an ability to think strategically and a strong work ethic are essential. Demonstrated willingness to participate in the life of the School at all levels is required.

An undergraduate degree from a fouryear college or university, or equivalent, with at least five years of senior management experience is required. Master’s degree would be ideal. Evidence of continuing professional education is desired. Fluency in Spanish would be a plus.

H O W T O A P P LY Applications and nominations are being received by Rhyan Zweifler, President of Noetic Search.

Please click here to submit a current resume and cover letter. For more information, please see our website at www.noeticexsearch.com or the San Miguel School website at www.sanmiguelchicago.org.

San Miguel School-Chicago is an Equal Opportunity Employer