Executive Director

Job Opening: Executive Director of Vot-ER

 

The Organization:

 

Vot-ER is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare.

 

Healthcare professionals dedicate their careers to improving the health of their patients, yet 80% of health outcomes are determined beyond clinical walls. Vot-ER is bridging this gap in care with a groundbreaking prescription: civic engagement.

 

By integrating nonpartisan civic engagement into healthcare settings, we empower patients and providers to alleviate the underlying factors of health disparities. Together, we’re not just treating symptoms – we’re tackling root causes of public health outcomes and fostering a healthier, more equitable society.

 

Founded in 2020, Vot-ER is a nonpartisan nonprofit at the leading edge of the civic health movement. We are rapidly growing with over 900 participating sites and 50,000 healthcare professionals taking action inside their healthcare centers and clinics. A few of our partners include:

 

The Next Voting Frontier—Our Healthcare System

 

Voting is just one tool to advocate for what we care about—but it’s a powerful one. Research shows that our communities are healthier when more voters can participate in the democratic process. States with more inclusive voting policies and higher civic participation rates have better health outcomes.

The broad reach of our healthcare system, combined with the trusted role many doctors, nurses, and social workers hold in their communities, make healthcare an ideal arena for civic engagement to engage voters.

 

On the road to better health, every vote counts

 

Together, we can uplift our patients’ voices in shaping local, state, & federal health policy, through the power of their vote. 83% of adults will visit a health space in the next year. Research shows that voter registration and turnout, especially in local elections, has a direct impact on health and public investment in health. Here is how we come in:

 

• National Voter Registration Day: Institutions encourage voter registration among patients and healthcare staff in September through mass emails, texts, tabling events, and more.

• Badges & Resources: Healthcare professionals can simply wear their free badge backer, ask about voter registration, and have patients scan the QR code for effortless voter registration.

• Civic Health Month: August becomes a nationwide collective celebration, highlighting the link between voting and health, with over 300 institutions organizing events.

• Healthy Democracy Campaign: Graduate students compete in teams each fall to register voters on campus, promoting civic engagement among healthcare-related graduate students.

• Community Civic Engagement Program: This grant program funds and supports community health centers in implementing voter registration and education initiatives at the local level.

• Patient Voting: Our program ensures healthcare professionals are equipped to help hospitalized patients vote on Election Day with state-specific information and resources.

 

Downloadable PDF about Vot-ER can be found here.

 

The Role:

 

Location: This is a remote, full-time role. Vot-ER offers a flexible, remote work environment. We have core working hours of 12 pm to 5 pm eastern time, Monday through Friday. During those hours, all employees are expected to be available for meetings and collaboration.

 

Outside of those core hours, each employee sets their own schedule, while recognizing that due to the collaborative nature of the Vot-ER work and mission, employees will often arrange meetings outside of core Vot-ER hours.

 

Reports to: CEO, A Healthier Democracy and Board

 

Overview: The Executive Director will be a hands-on puzzle-solver, strategist and inspirational people leader who:

 

• Sets and communicates Vot-ER’s strategy and leads the team to achieve this strategy.

• Leads fundraising to ensure sustainability of Vot-ER.

• Sets the tone and guidelines for the culture at Vot-ER, supporting the team to embody that culture.

• Participates in day-to-day programming when appropriate, primarily focusing on external presentations and Vot-ER’s biggest partnerships.

 

Key Responsibilities:

 

Fundraising & Financial

 

• Lead and participate in fundraising efforts, funder relationship-building, grant writing, and other activities to secure financial support for Vot-ER

• Serve as the primary point of contact for Vot-ER’s major funders

• Partner with the A Healthier Democracy COO to create, monitor, and adjust Vot-ER’s budget, ensuring financial stability and responsible allocation of resources

• Enter into contracts for Vot-ER

• Miscellaneous financial operations

 

Leadership & Supervisory

 

The Executive Director is authorized to hire, train, evaluate, and terminate employees as necessary, while also fostering a positive work environment that encourages growth and development. This includes:

 

• Overseeing the Vot-ER team broadly, and the Executive Director’s direct reports specifically, to support Vot-ER’s strategy and culture.

• Alongside the People Operations team, help to craft job descriptions and support with recruiting, interviewing, and hiring for roles that directly report to the Executive Director.

• Oversees VP of Partnerships & Organizing, Chief HR Officer, and the Senior Director of Special Projects, as well as the Fundraising and Marketing functions.

• Give regular feedback to direct reports and timely performance evaluations and discussions around progress to goals.

• Handles discipline and termination of direct reports in accordance with Vot-ER policy.

• Identify how to fill gaps when there are openings on the team.

• Support broadly with talent recruitment and projecting Vot-ER’s brand to potential talent.

• Anything else that needs to be done related to culture and HR that best fits within the Executive Director’s role.

 

Strategy and Culture

 

• Keep the CEO of A Healthier Democracy and Board informed of Vot-ER’s progress, challenges, and opportunities, while also seeking their guidance and support

• Create, update, and execute strategic plans in line with Vot-ER’s mission, vision, and goals, including crafting both bottoms-up, top-down, and stakeholder engagement strategies to incorporate the broadest possible range of perspectives

• Break the Vot-ER strategy into 1-year and quarterly planning periods, and reflecting that strategy throughout all aspects of the organization including programmatic decisions, organizational structure, overall narrative, internal communications, goal setting, policy agenda, & budget

• Help to set and maintain a respectful and high-performing culture

• Lead relevant strategic projects that cut across the organization

• Lead strategic projects that build towards Horizons 2 and 3 in our Strategic Plan (e.g. mergers, exploring new policy areas)

• Oversee the assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of Vot-ER’s initiatives, making necessary adjustments to improve outcomes

• Initiate and implement changes to improve the overall performance and effectiveness of Vot-ER, keeping it adaptable and responsive to the evolving needs of its constituents

 

External Presence

 

• Act as the primary spokesperson and ambassador for the organization, representing its interests and goals to the public, media, partners, and other stakeholders

• Initiate, negotiate, and maintain relationships with external partners, donors, and other organizations to advance Vot-ER’s mission

• Build and cultivate the community of Vot-ER advisors and convene them to get input on Vot-ER strategy and programs

• Serve as the decision maker and messenger on important rapid response or crisis situations

 

The Leader

 

The successful candidate will be a mission-aligned, strategic, agile, inspirational leader who possesses a majority of the following professional and personal attributes and competencies:

 

Experience:

 

• At least 5 years of leadership experience with increasing responsibility, including leading and mentoring cross-functional, high-performing senior teams

• Prior leadership experience in democracy, health, or both

• Experience successfully fundraising and crafting/managing organizational budgets

• Well-networked with a track record of successful fundraising and building long-term, multi-year relationships with funders, particularly in the healthcare, democracy and civic engagement spaces

• Experience launching innovative programs and initiatives

• Media savvy and experienced presenting to external audiences both in-person and online, including to senior leaders of partner organizations, funders, state and federal officials, and volunteers

• Experience managing politically-complex stakeholder relationships

 

Skills/Characteristics:

 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Nonpartisan and politically astute; highly-tuned diplomacy skills and the ability to assess/navigate complex and often fast-paced external dynamics, including in a campaign and coalition environment

• Relationship-builder and nurturer, both internally and externally

• Strong analytical and puzzle-solving skills

• Drive to seek what can be improved and offer ways to fix any potential roadblocks

• Curious and eager to learn; comfortable admitting what you don’t know and recognizing that feedback is part of the learning process

• Strong supervisory and leadership skills

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively to gain trust and give respect to others through honesty, integrity, kindness, empathy, and authenticity

• Ability to prioritize tasks and to delegate them when appropriate

• Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail and demonstrated ability to prioritize time to meet deadlines for multiple projects

• Nimble, agile, innovative; able to function well in a fast-paced and, at times, intense environment

• Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines.

• Demonstrated commitment to racial equity and inclusion

• A technologically savvy early-adopter, who seeks to leverage technology for ease of communication, efficiency and impact

• Ability to use spreadsheets effectively for budget creation and management.

• Proficient with Google Apps suite or related software

 

Travel:

 

• Ability to travel approximately four times per year, within the US

 

Compensation:

 

• Vot-ER offers competitive compensation, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment.

• For this position, the base salary range is $155,000 to $170,000. Internal equity considerations and the average salary of the peer range will be reviewed before making a final offer.