McCormack+Kristel Tapped by TransForm to Find New Leader
October 11, 2019 – The economic strength of the non-profit field has increased in recent years and it is now the third largest employer in the U.S. Nearly two million non-profit organizations employ 10.7 million people and produce revenue in excess of $1.9 trillion. This has certainly kept search firms busy. Just recently, executive search firm McCormack+Kristel was selected by TransForm to lead its search for a new executive director.
Key duties and responsibilities include partnering with the development team to execute the fundraising plan with an emphasis on shared fundraising responsibilities among staff, providing training as appropriate. They will nurture the newly formed institutional fundraising team and identify when additional capacity is needed. Another important duty will be to develop relationships with new and existing donors and funders.
In addition, the executive director will partner with finance and operations to ensure compliance with state and federal requirements, monitoring of the annual budget, and timely internal reporting and forecasting, and ensure that adequate funds are available to permit TransForm to carry out its work. They will also maintain working knowledge of trends in the mobility justice sector, community needs, and funding opportunities in order to strategically guide and support the organization as a whole.
Professional Requirements
The search firm says that the successful candidate (or candidates) must have an understanding of and a passion for urban/transportation/regional planning, land use, low-income housing, or environmental policy, ideally through an affiliation with a non-profit, a government agency, or a private sector organization.
The acquisition and management of foundation and government grants is a critical responsibility of the executive director, in collaboration with the TransForm team. Experience winning public and private sector funding, developing a major donor program, soliciting and closing gifts of six figures, and competency in balancing and creating numerous funding sources will be a key qualifier in our evaluation process. Ideally, the selected candidate(s) will have a sustained track-record of raising at least $3 million annually as well as familiarity with the San Francisco Bay Area and experience in the California legislative and regulatory environment.
Why Recruiters Fixate On Fundraising Skills
With companies being pressured to find leaders who can play a major role in fundraising, recruiters are scurrying to find talented candidates to satisfy the demand. Pure fundraising will need to pick up more of the burden for sustaining organizations and their missions.
TransForm promotes walkable communities with excellent transportation choices to connect people of all incomes to opportunity, keep California affordable, and help solve our climate crisis. With diverse partners we engage communities in planning, run innovative programs and win policy change at the local, regional and state levels. TransForm was founded in 1997 by Bay Area environmental and social justice groups that recognized the region was at a critical point in time.
Veteran Search Consultants
McCormack+Kristel was started in 1993 as McCormack & Associates with the mission of recruiting senior leadership for the many research, advocacy and human services organizations growing exponentially in response to AIDS pandemic. Diversity recruiting has long been on the firm’s agenda. With the advent of effective treatments for HIV/AIDS, and the diminishing needs of many of these organizations, the firm broadened its client base into areas like social justice; healthcare; women’s issues; higher education; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender; civil rights and more.
Three years ago, founding partner Joe McCormack formed a new business partnership with Michelle Kristel, a former non-profit executive and an associate with the firm since 2013. The firm has offices in New York City and Palm Springs, CA.
McCormack+Kristel clients have included the ACLU, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Planned Parenthood, SAGE and the Tides Foundation, among others.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
