President – The Howley Foundation

The Howley Foundation (HF), a
501(c)(3) charitable organization.

 

We are seeking an energetic and mission driven leader to serve
as President.  Any candidate is urged to carefully read the HF
Mission and Value Statement (included below).  Alignment with
the HF Mission and Values is vital to success in this position.

 

Location:  Cleveland,
Ohio.  The HF downtown Cleveland office. 

 

Report To:
 Chairman and Founder.  The candidate
will work closely with the part time but active Chairman and with
the HF Board of Directors (certain volunteer board members at times
handle significant projects for the HF).  The Chairman will
not be at the Cleveland office most of the time.

 

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Lead the day-to-day operations of the HF, ensuring compliance
  with goals and budgets.
• Develop, in conjunction with the Executive Directors, annual
  budget and plans for approval by the Board.
• Develop, with Executive Directors, new educational giving
  opportunities.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with high schools,
  universities, colleges, scholarship recipients, networks, and other
  stakeholders.
• Oversee the HF’s performance vs. budget, ensuring efficient
  resource allocation and responsible stewardship.
• Work with Executive Directors in a team oriented collaborative
  manner.
• Maintain a positive, energetic, upbeat results-oriented
  environment.
• Insist on data-driven grantmaking decisions and agreements with
  clear performance metrics by our grantees.
• Handle a certain number of project/educational institutions
  directly in order to share the workload and stay close to the
  practical realities of the HF mission.
• Comfortable working in a family-based
  organization/environment.
• Regularly promote the HF mission.
• Travel will be required.
• Fundraising is not required in this job in the foreseeable
  future; though, past experience could be helpful.

Direct Reports:

• Executive Director – Cleveland & Chief Administrative
  Officer (CAO)
• Executive Director – Philadelphia (located in
  Philadelphia)
• Five (5) full-time employees
• Various other support services (legal, accounting, tax, etc.)
  are provided on a part-time or shared basis

Annual Budget: 
The HF budget is between $25MM and $50MM per year. 

 

Characteristics:

• High-energy, smart, honest, self-motivated
• Mission-driven
• Catholic-school background a plus
• Analytical and metric driven
• Strong communication, presentation, and interpersonal
  skills
• Clear understanding of character development as a key part of
  academic excellence

Experience  

• Prefer 10+ years of increasing management responsibility or
  related professional experience.
• Understanding of the challenges faced by economically
  disadvantaged students
• Experience working with Catholic educational institutions is a
  plus
• Professional education & experience in a related area is a
  plus

Education: 
Bachelors and/or graduate degree in business or professional area
is preferred

Salary & Benefits:

• Starting salary range between $150k to $200k
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• SIMPLE IRA participation
• The opportunity to make a significant and lasting difference in
  the lives of young students
• A stimulating work environment with a passionate and
  mission-driven team

To Apply:  Please submit your
resume and cover letter outlining the reason for your interest in
this job opportunity by email to hr@howleyfoundation.org.

 

THE HOWLEY FOUNDATION – MISSION STATEMENT &
VALUES

 

A candidate should be familiar with and clearly aligned with the
following HF Mission and Values:

 

The HF Mission Statement

We believe that over the long-term, the best way to create
upward social and economic mobility and improve the lives of
economically disadvantaged people is to provide them with quality
educational opportunities.  We believe an educated population
is better able to deal rationally with a broad range of personal,
family, social, and political issues.

The Howley Foundation primarily makes contributions that improve
educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged students
with clear financial need – generally in urban areas. We believe a
high-quality education both increases academic learning and
provides a significant and demonstrable element of moral character
formation and personal responsibility. We support schools and
programs that meet both requirements. 

We have a bias to support schools and educational organizations
in the Cleveland and Philadelphia areas.  However, we will
also support programs and networks in other locations where the
concept has the potential to be both unusually and broadly
effective; have realistic opportunity to make a significant impact
in the community or country; or offer unique opportunities for our
target population. 

Our giving tends to be more heavily weighted (though not
exclusively) toward Catholic educational institutions.

The HF Values

Educational Values

We believe that access to a quality education is a vital part of
a stable democratic society and is often not available to the
economically disadvantaged.  We believe an education is the
primary way to escape the cycle of poverty for current and future
generations, as well as prepare to rationally deal with a broad
range of life issues.

We believe a high-quality education requires strong academic
learning as well as a significant and demonstrable element of moral
character formation and personal responsibility.  We only
support schools and programs that meet these
requirements. 

The Catholic school system has historically been the best
large-scale model for such an education and we would anticipate
significant continued support of Catholic schools.  However,
we believe that there are also various religious non-Catholic
and/or non-religious educational models that now or in the future
can also demonstrably meet these requirements for a high-quality
education as we define it above. 

Commitment to Effectiveness

We believe that philanthropy, especially in education, can be a
significant driver of improved access to quality education and
improve the performance of schools.  However, effective
giving, like effective investing, is hard, thoughtful, and
analytical work. 

Giving can only be effective if it is focused on organizations
and programs with a clear, simple, and focused mission;
quantifiable and measurable goals; and leadership capable of
maintaining the focus and achieving the goals.  This may
likely mean that a good concept will not be funded due to the lack
of effective management and/or clear measurable plans and
goals. 

We will invest our resources when we have a clear understanding
of what we are investing in, why we are making this investment, and
how we will measure success. We have a strong preference for
investing directly in students through academic programs and
scholarships.  However, we understand that high quality
schools, networks, or new schools at times need capital to expand,
continue their program competitively, or sustain their positions.
In select circumstances, we will consider capital dollars with a
clear rationale and target metric.  We are more likely to
consider capital investment for a school when we have a long
foundation or family history of involvement. 

In making close calls or difficult choices, we will focus on
situations that we know, and we can more likely measure the
outcomes clearly and regularly.  Outcomes have the highest
likelihood of success when there is clear accountability and good
management.  We are not afraid of risk but should be prepared
to recognize if a risk did not work and move on if the results are
not forthcoming in a reasonable time frame.

Openness to New Ideas and Concepts

We believe that the current methods of delivering effective
education to the economically disadvantaged are far from optimized.
 Nor is there one available effective formula.
 Therefore, the risk of taking on new ideas which meet the
Foundation’s mission and values and have a reasonable chance of
producing quality and measurable results, is often justified;
provided that we understand the risks and the potential for
measurable good that may result.