Executive Director

National Network of Abortions Funds Executive Director Position Profile Riverwalker Talent has been retained by National Network of Abortions Funds to lead this search. Job Type: Full-Time, Exempt | Remote | $243,728–$270,810 annually + benefits Title: Executive Director Supervised by: NNAF Board of Directors Chair Supervises: Managing Director, General Counsel, Communications Senior Director and Development Senior Director Status: Full-time, exempt, salaried. Union eligible position: No Compensation : $243,728-$270,810 (Step B to Step C) Salary level: Executive Location: Remote in the US To begin: March 2027 About the Organization The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) works to advance the movement for abortion access by investing in its member network of autonomous abortion funds. We aim to strengthen the network by sustainably resourcing abortion funds, amplifying the work of abortion funds across movements, and fortifying the interconnectedness of abortion funds. In so doing, we envision a world where every reproductive decision, including abortion, is fully accessible and free from shame, coercion, political interference, and criminalization. We also envision a world where abortion funds are connected to each other and move in partnership as they create and respond to their local conditions, resources, and communities. In this future, all people have the power and resources to care for and affirm their bodies, communities, and reproductive health, in all areas of their lives. We invite you to join us as NNAF's next Executive Director at a pivotal moment for the network. NNAF is comprised of a multi-racial, multi-religious, gender expansive staff of 75, located across the United States. We know how important it is to support our remote staff to maintain connection and cohesiveness as a team. To this end, we ensure weekly one-on-one supervision, face-to-face virtual staff meetings, quarterly in-person meetings, and more. Position Description The Executive Director (ED) is responsible for stewarding organizational stability, strategic alignment, and movement leadership at the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), particularly in response to the current political climate. Reporting directly to the Board of Directors - composed of current and former abortion fund activists and leaders in reproductive and cross-sector social justice - the Executive Director guides strategic decision-making that aligns with NNAF's mission and the evolving needs of network members. The ED role sits at a unique intersection: serving as the primary external voice and movement leader while maintaining genuine presence and connection with internal teams. The ED works closely with the Managing Director (MD) (who leads internal operations, culture, and day-to-day management) to ensure clear role delineation and coordinated strategy. This role requires someone who can balance bold external presence with humble curiosity about how the organization actually works, and who understands the complex power dynamics among staff, member funds, Board, funders, and movement partners. The role emphasizes building on existing organizational momentum, ensuring financial sustainability and values-aligned fundraising, and representing NNAF as a stable, visionary leader in the movement for abortion access and reproductive justice. The Executive Director serves as the primary spokesperson, representing NNAF publicly to media, donors, funders, and movement allies, while nurturing an internal culture that supports a dynamic, geographically dispersed, and diverse staff and network. Essential Job Functions Organizational Leadership: Living the Values (approximately 30% of the position) - Values in Practice: Ensure all internal operations and external initiatives consistently embody NNAF's foundational commitments to Reproductive Justice, racial justice, and access justice, embedding these values explicitly into strategic planning, organizational culture, daily work practices, external engagements, and the newly established strategic plan guiding NNAF's work. - Ensure the organization explicitly integrates and prioritizes Reproductive Justice, racial justice, and access justice in departmental planning, team management practices, decision-making and program implementation. - Leading and Supervising the Executive Team: Work closely with the Managing Director to maintain clear role delineation while intentionally building connections between external strategy, fundraising and communications, and member-facing and programmatic work. Collaborate across these areas to strengthen the organization’s relationships, programs, and overall strategy. - Directly supervise Senior Leaders (listed above), including performance management, mentoring, professional development, performance evaluations and personnel actions. - Support effective delegation and trust in strong functional leaders; provide genuine supervision and mentoring while respecting the expertise and authority of specialized teams. - Create clarity around decision rights, delegation, and organizational roles, balancing trust in teams’ judgment with strategic clarity about when to step in. - Uphold the collective bargaining agreement and model constructive labor-management relations in partnership with the Managing Director and Human Resources. Culture, Conflict and Complexity - Lead with curiosity first: Begin by understanding how the organization currently works - the relationships, the history, the culture - before making significant changes. - Steward a values-forward, leaderful organizational culture that balances autonomy with clear guardrails, and that supports generative (rather than conflict-avoidant) engagement. - Respond with clarity and thoughtfulness to organizational conflicts, unexpected events, and/or crises (both internal to the organization and external). Set tone and strategy for how the organization manages these issues. - Understand and navigate the complex ecosystem of NNAF: the relationships and power dynamics among staff, member funds, Board, funders, and movement partners. Develop and apply strong relationship mapping and communication strategies. Direction, Strategy and Stewardship - Provide Organizational Leadership: Alongside Executive and Directors teams, develop, advance, and communicate goals and priorities to all levels, ensuring clarity in decision-making, and setting the stage for collaboration across all organizational axes. - Participate in the oversight and evaluation of the Strategic Plan, and implement fiscal strategy, ensuring the organization is financially healthy, compliant, and positioned for sustainability. - Support the continuation and refinement of organizational strategy and structure that has already been established, informed by ongoing feedback from staff, member funds, and Board. - Ensure this strategy remains grounded in NNAF's values and responsive to the network's needs. Fundraising (approximately 30% of the position) - Serve as NNAF's "face for fundraising", boldly articulating NNAF/fund members' theory of change and resource organizing strategy. - Maintain a personal portfolio of 8-10 major individual donors and 6-8 institutional funders at a six-figure giving level and above. - In close partnership with the Development team, sustain and deepen relationships with major individual and institutional donors, ensuring continued confidence and financial support. - Maintain that trust through transparency, reliability and clear communication. - In tandem with the Development team, create a pipeline for cultivating additional sustainable sources of support for NNAF’s role as a funding intermediary for member funds. - Lead principal gift cultivation + stewardship strategy in close partnership with the Development Senior Director and Development team. - Ensure organizational financial stability and build sustainable, values-aligned fundraising momentum. - Develop and communicate clear financial forecasting and multi-year funding strategies. - Ensure budget decisions and financial communications are grounded in NNAF's values and the ability to clearly explain the "why" behind financial priorities and spending decisions to staff, Board and funders. - Ensure ongoing grassroots fundraising efforts remain aligned with and reflective of NNAF's economic and racial justice commitments, prioritizing stability and continuity. Movement-Level Strategy (approximately 25% of the position) - In partnership with Executive team and Senior Leaders, participate in and lead movement-level strategy around abortion access that lifts up the voice, power, and impact of abortion funds, guided by NNAF's values of compassion, autonomy, interdependence, and trust. - Serve as a passionate and visible spokesperson for abortion access, and work with the Communications Senior Director to build a robust media presence. - In collaboration with abortion funds, movement allies, coalition partners, and research partners, create coordinated campaigns and long-range, responsive strategies to political attacks on reproductive freedom. - Represent NNAF publicly, ensuring organizational visibility, credibility, and stability by engaging proactively in media interviews, public speaking opportunities, and external communications focused on abortion access and Reproductive justice. - Build and maintain cross-movement relationships and partnerships with peer organization leadership; ensure these relationships belong to NNAF as an institution. Board Management (approximately 10% of the position) - Support Board governance capacity, decision-making, and strategic direction, prioritizing organizational stability, strategic vision, and effective movement leadership. - Support Board leadership with thoughtful recruitment support. - Advise toward retention efforts for stability aligned with NNAF's values and leadership priorities. - Provide timely, clear, and accurate financial and programmatic reports, maintaining transparent record-keeping practices. Shared Responsibilities (approximately 5% of the position) - Actively participate in required convenings, summits, retreats, and staff meetings, and participate in required virtual staff communications. - Update professional knowledge by participating in educational opportunities approved by NNAF, maintaining networks, and participating in professional organizations as relevant to your role. - Perform duties required of all staff to support smooth internal operations such as submitting timesheets. - Meet performance benchmarks set by the Board and undertake responsibilities as assigned, supporting overall organizational health and movement leadership. Travel Expectations - The Executive Director should strategically prioritize travel engagements essential for sustaining organizational visibility, stability, fundraising, and effective movement-level strategy. - For other travel opportunities—particularly those benefiting from specialized expertise, local influence, or deep movement relationships—the Executive Director will proactively coordinate with Board and Executive Team (ET) members to determine the most strategic representation. - This approach will allow the Executive Director to maintain internal organizational focus and stability during the leadership transition period. Performance Expectations & Support The following framework supports the ED in success and helps the organization identify early whether this role and person are well-matched: Onboarding & Support Structure (First 30-60 days) - Robust onboarding process with clear orientation to organizational history, relationships, culture, and power dynamics. - Assigned Board mentor(s) for strategic thought partnership and support. - Regular check-ins with Board Chair and relevant Board committees. - Introduction to key movement partners, funders, and member fund leaders. - 90-Day Checkpoint ED and Board assess alignment on priorities, working style, and role fit. Opportunity to recalibrate expectations, working relationships or role as needed. - 12-Month Evaluation: Formal evaluation of progress on strategic priorities and relationship-building. Feedback on working relationships with ET, Board, staff, and movement partners. Benchmarks Benchmark 1: Learning, Relationship-Building, and Early Priorities (Within the first 90 days) - Build a deep understanding of NNAF's history, culture, and complex ecosystem through listening and relationship-building with staff, member funds, Board, funders, and movement partners. - Begin mapping key relationships, and engage in early stage strategy development. - Become grounded in NNAF's financial picture. With the Managing Director, the Development Senior Director, and finance leadership, review the current budget, revenue outlook, and fundraising plans, and meet with key institutional funders and major donors. - Identify early priorities, risks, and gaps that will shape a multi-year financial forecast and fundraising strategy, developed together with teams. - Begin to identify and communicate early priorities to the Executive team and Senior Leaders, staff, and Board, grounded in NNAF's strategic plan and its foundational commitments to Reproductive justice, racial justice, and access justice. - Work with the Executive team and Senior Leaders to ensure clear role delineation and coordinated strategy across external and internal functions. - Participate in hiring for open Executive Team roles. Benchmark 2: Movement Presence, Member Fund Relationships, and Organizational Momentum (Within the first 180 days) - Build spokesperson presence and engage in media opportunities; ensure NNAF is visibly connected to Reproductive justice and abortion access strategy. - Strengthen relationships with member funds through regular engagement, clear communication, and responsiveness. - Ensure member funds feel heard and supported by NNAF. - Take ownership of NNAF's top 15 institutional funder and major donor relationships through the transition. - With the Development Senior Director, develop a plan to deepen institutional giving and begin cultivating a pipeline of five and six figure prospects. - Ensure cross-departmental coordination around shared strategy, particularly connecting comms, member services, and fundraising. - Reduce silos; improve clarity about decision-making and roles. - In partnership with the Development Senior Director, finance leadership, and relevant teams, develop and communicate a clear financial forecast and multi-year fundraising strategy. - Ensure the Board and staff understand the "why" behind financial priorities. - Building on early priorities, develop and communicate clear organizational goals and priorities to the Executive team and Senior Leaders, staff, and Board. Benchmark 3: Values-Aligned Culture, Effective Conflict Management, and Movement Leadership (Within the first 12 months) - Demonstrate ability to navigate conflict with graciousness and boundaries. - Address conflict avoidance where it exists; model and invite generative engagement. - Set tone and strategy for how the organization manages external and internal challenges. - Ensure consistency between stated values and daily actions. - Establish strong media presence and be recognized as a visible, credible leader within Reproductive justice and abortion access movements. - Deliver quarterly financial updates to the Board that make the revenue outlook and its risks legible, including a clear plan for any anticipated shortfall. - Regular feedback loops with Board, staff, and member funds to refine strategy and ensure organizational responsiveness. Benchmark 4: Responsibilities (Ongoing) - Submit all baseline work accurately and on time every cycle. Baseline work includes bill.com (monthly) submissions or submitting reimbursements within 30 days of expenses, work planning (keeping your own annual and quarterly work plan updated and participating in maintaining your department's), Slack and email communication (daily), timesheets in ADP (bi-weekly), participating in all staff meetings and department meetings, and consistently working core hours. What We Need From You: Qualifications The qualifications (skills, experiences, and qualities) below describe what the team needs in its next Executive Director. The skills are non-negotiable, but we recognize they can be developed through many different paths and experiences. If you bring what is described here and you are excited about this work, we want to hear from you. Tell us how your experience, wherever you gained it, prepares you to lead NNAF. Skills & Experiences - Leadership and Organizational Management: 15+ years of leadership in mission-driven organizations, with a proven track record managing institutional growth and change and navigating complex stakeholder ecosystems. - Experience managing and developing