Executive Director

We are seeking an Executive Director for our small, relatively new environmental nonprofit organization (currently in the process of changing its name from Mundo Iximch to Cultivating Sustainable Communities). Our all-volunteer board has run the nonprofit since its inception. We are now scaling up our work, and need a full-time Executive Director to manage the workload and advance the mission.

About Cultivating Sustainable Communities:

• Mission: To foster sustainable development that empowers individuals and institutions to manage resources in the short term so that natural assets remain available and reproducible in the long term.  
• Programs:
  • Our rural program working with Maya people in the rainforests of northern Guatemala and elsewhere. This program helps Maya villages create sustainable economies based on traditional crops from rainforest trees. It also helps villages achieve sustainability and independence though solar power, waterless sanitation and permaculture design.  
  • Our urban program works in Los Angeles. As with our rural program, we help residents achieve sustainability and energy independence. We also incubate Community Land Trusts to preserve affordable and environmentally sustainable housing. We are currently creating a Community Land Trust to run the Los Angeles Eco-Village in conjunction with a residents' cooperative. This Community Land Trust will be our main focus for the immediate future.

Executive Director Responsibilities:

• Nonprofit infrastructure:  
  • Report regularly to, and work with, the Board on budget and organization 
  • Comply with state and federal legal and tax requirements 
  • Work with other nonprofits and governmental agencies on joint projects 
  • Recruit, train and retain members of the Board of Directors 
  • Recruit, train and retain advisors 
  • Recruit and consult the Council of Advisors 
  • Maintain adequate insurance for the nonprofit's activities here and abroad 
  • Work with an accountant and the Board to create, maintain and evaluate a budget 
  • Maintain and improve the website 
  • In the long term, hire and manage other staff and outside contractors 
• Fundraising: money  
  • Report regularly to, and work with, the Board to raise funds 
  • Organize fundraising campaigns 
  • Write grants 
  • Cultivate donors 
  • Maintain relationships with, and create reports for, grantors and donors 
  • Develop the website as a fundraising tool 
• Programs:
  • Report regularly to, and work with, the Board to implement and evaluate programs  
  • Support the mission and work with the Board to develop programs that advance it  
  • Implement the organizational policies and priorities that the Board sets  
  • Communicate with supporters and the public about programs  
  • Develop content for the website

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Commitment to improving the environment and strengthening communities  
• Expertise in permaculture design and environmentally sustainable technologies  
• Experience in creating and maintaining a nonprofit organization structure  
• Success in building a donor base and soliciting donations  
• Success in cultivating grantors and writing grants  
• Expertise in international development and the rights of indigenous peoples  
• Fluency in Spanish and other languages spoken in greater Los Angeles and by Maya peoples  
• Experience in accounting and budgeting  
• Experience building coalitions with social-change, social-service and environmental entities  
• Experience working with governmental bodies and bureaucracies  
• Experience in creating affordable housing

Compensation:

Cultivating Sustainable Communities wants to offer a strong competitive salary and benefit package, and has a target starting salary of $60,000 annually. However, we are small and new, and we do not yet have $60,000. Raising one's own salary is part of the job of every Executive Director, but in the case of a start-up nonprofit, the Board and the Executive Director have a steeper hill to climb to do so.

Closing Date:  December 31, 2005 

To Apply:

Please send resumes, references and relevant work samples via email or postal mail to:

President Angel Orozco
Cultivating Sustainable Communities
117 Bimini Pl  #219
Los Angeles CA  90004-5900

Cultivating Sustainable Communities bases hiring and personnel decisions solely on the applicant's qualifications, and how well they match the organization's needs. We do not base such decisions on illegal or irrelevant criteria, including but not limited to: sex/sexual orientation/sexual identity, ethnicity/national origin/race, disabilities, spiritual beliefs or lack thereof, age, physical appearance, family/monetary assets/housing or lack thereof. We encourage qualified people to apply, wherever they fit into the above categories.