Team Read seeks a strategic, dynamic and highly relational leader to be our next Executive Director. Team Read believes that all kids deserve to be great readers, and teens should have access to a meaningful, paid first job. For the past 27 years, Team Read has paired 2nd and 3rd grade students who are struggling to read at grade level with trained, paid teen reading coaches to deliver a structured reading curriculum through one-on-one tutoring.  Due to these“Powerful Pairs,” Team Read students make measurable gains in reading proficiency, and teens develop essential skills to succeed in college, work, and life. 

As Team Read’s next Executive Director, you will help shape our future by championing our unique dual impact model and building capacity so we can grow.  We are particularly seeking candidates who:

• Are visionary and strategic leaders who can move the organization’s mission forward   and help us increase our impact.

• Can work across sectors to build strong partnerships with school districts and community supportersHave fluency and experience leading and operationalizing racial equity initiatives and efforts.

• Have experience with fundraising and resource development strategy, including comfort making direct asks for support.

• Have experience building and supporting inclusive and effective staff teams.

• Understand board governance, volunteer engagement, and nonprofit finance and operations.

Read the full announcement here. 

Salary Range: $130,000 - $150,000

Apply as soon as possible; interviewing will begin in mid-May.

Organizational Overview

Team Read’s mission is to propel young students to become inspired, joyful readers and teens to become impactful leaders, ready to succeed in school and life, building stronger communities for all. We envision equitable learning communities that nurture and celebrate the strengths of young readers and teen leaders, and where every student gets the support they need to thrive.

What we do:

We work to close education opportunity gaps through a unique cross-age, one-on-one tutoring program after school and during the summer.

A Dual Impact: 

• By fourth grade, reading is essential to learn and succeed academically. Our structured curriculum with one-on-one tutoring enables young students to develop essential reading skills for academic success. Each year, hundreds of children who are reading below grade level become confident, joyful readers by participating in Team Read.

• Teen participation in the workforce has steadily declined over the past decade, particularly for kids from low-income and minority communities. Team Read provides teens with the opportunity to gain valuable work skills and the satisfaction of changing the lives of children in their community, while also acquiring tangible benefits such as pay, college savings, or service hours.

Organization Snapshot:

Team Read has a staff of 8, an active Board of Directors with 16 members, and an annual operating budget of close to $1 million. Significant additional financial resources and talents are leveraged through partnerships with Seattle, Highline, Renton, and Tukwila Public Schools. Seattle Public Library also partners with us, focusing on select locations to enable us to serve more students.

For more information about Team Read, visit our website: https://www.teamread.org/ 

• 71% of students who started the year below grade level made one or more grade levels of reading growth after participating in the program.

• 100% of principals report Team Read is a high-quality program for their schools.

• 100% of site assistants and 85% of reading coaches indicated their roles helped them develop skills they can use in other work settings, now and in the future

Position Duties & Opportunities

As we reach the conclusion of our last strategic plan, Team Read is poised to take all of its success in reaching students and partnering with schools, to now determine the nature of our growth for the next five years. The Executive Director will have a rich opportunity to partner with the board and staff to further hone and clarify Team Read’s evolution and impact. As the key thought leader of the organization, the Executive Director will engage the board and community stakeholders in developing and delivering on the future goals of the organization.

We anticipate the Executive Director will spend their time on the following priorities:

• Serve as the “face” of the organization and Team Read’s most visible champion and spokesperson.

• Lead the Team Read staff and oversee all aspects of running an effective and efficient nonprofit organization. 

• Lead organizational capacity building, and continued investment in program development and infrastructure. 

• Develop and maintain positive partnerships designed to help Team Read deliver a high quality program.

• Collaborate with staff and the board in fundraising efforts by developing and implementing a diversified resource development and fundraising strategy.

• Oversee strategic communications and brand management 

Ideal Candidate Characteristics

We know that effective leaders can come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, and we are excited to meet people who see their skills, strengths, and values reflected in the qualifications for this role. We seek candidates who possess most of the following skills and aptitudes, and who are able to identify where they will need to further develop. We hope that our next Executive Director will:

• Be a strategic visionary and dynamic relationship-builder, who can articulate a compelling case for Team Read’s mission, and has the ability to lead sustainable scaling of our programs and impact by building partnerships and relationships that fuel our growth. The successful candidate will be a systems thinker who can navigate between the big picture and the day-to-day work to ensure advancement of strategic impact. 

• Possess solid nonprofit operations and financial management acumen, including managing organizational budgets, overseeing financial systems, ensuring 501c3 compliance, and guiding human resources and board relations effectively.

• Bring an excellent capacity building skill set to assess infrastructure needs, set priorities and oversee successful development of systems and staffing to sustain and support growth. 

• Bring strong fundraising and resource development skills, with the ability to anticipate future funding needs for growth and identify revenue streams that support those needs. The successful candidate will also bring demonstrated aptitude for successfully cultivating, soliciting, and strategically growing major gifts, private grants and government contracts.

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to racial equity, with the ability to use an equity analysis and lens to guide organizational decision-making, planning, capacity building and culture. Lived experience and/or identities that are reflective of the communities we serve is desired.

• Be an inclusive people manager who listens and leads with curiosity and humility to support a healthy, diverse, and effective team, with a focus on building trust and relationships to delegate ownership and support staff in doing their best work. 

• Ideally have some knowledge of local and national public education ecosystems.

Commitment to Equity 

Team Read values diversity, equity, and inclusion through everything we do.

Team Read is committed to growing educational equity and implementing anti-racist practices, through our programs and as an organization. We do this in partnering with and impacting school systems, by increasing access and opportunity for youth who are furthest from educational justice, and through the intentional selection of school partners and program participants. Our work is meant to equip, inspire, and educate our young people so they can change our world to become a just, equitable place for all. This means increasing justice and fairness within our own organization and within the larger system in which we play a part.

We seek to address educational inequities—particularly racial bias and discrimination—through quality out-of-school programming that helps to close learning gaps.  In this way, we ensure kids furthest from educational justice get the attention and instruction they need to read joyfully and well, and that their teen coaches acquire the skills they need to lead and succeed in life and work.

We work with schools and communities and students who disproportionately come from:

• Underrepresented groups, including African American/Black, Hispanic or Latina, Bi/ Multiracial, Native American/Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander;

• Low-income backgrounds, specifically free and/or reduced lunch eligible;

• Households where English is not the home language.

Team Read acknowledges and values the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender identity and expression, class, sexual orientation, ability, age, national origin, and religious/spiritual identities in our students, our staff, and our organizational leadership.

Compensation and Benefits

This is a full-time salaried position requiring a willingness to work some evenings and weekends. The expected salary range is between $130,000 - $150,000 depending on qualifications and experience. 

Team Read offers robust benefits. We offer very generous paid time off, including 80 hours of PTO in the first year of employment, 10 paid holidays, and an additional 10 paid days off during school breaks. We also provide 1 hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked.  Additional benefits include 100% premium coverage for employees on medical, dental and vision, and an opt-in Simple IRA with a 3% match. 

This is a hybrid role, expected to spend some time working from home, some time in the Team Read office, and some time visiting Team Read sites, partners and supporters. The Team Read office is located at the Seattle Public School District (SPS) headquarters, in the “SoDo” neighborhood of Seattle in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. This site offers the opportunity to be part of a larger community of people committed to public education and to work closely with SPS personnel who partner with Team Read.

How to Apply

Online applications only, please no email or paper submissions. You will be asked to upload a cover letter and resume. In your cover letter, please describe as specifically as you can how your experience, interests, and values are a fit with Team Read’s goals and mission as described in this announcement. 

Apply as soon as possible; interviewing will begin in mid-May. All applications will be acknowledged via an email receipt. Initial screening calls and virtual interviewing will begin in May and continue through June. 

Questions regarding this opportunity are welcomed and can be directed to: 

Sumi Bhat-Kincaid, Search Consultant, Clover Search Works 

email: sumi@cloversearchworks.com

cell: 206-604-9242

schedule a time to ask questions: https://calendly.com/sumanatsukara/teamread 

Posting Date: April 4, 2024