Director, Bay Area Funders Together to End Homelessness

Bay Area Funders Together to End Homelessness (BAFTEH) is a collaboration of Bay Area philanthropic organizations that work together to strategically research, support, and expand homelessness response and prevention efforts and housing justice in the region. BAFTEH is a new organization that is fiscally sponsored by Northern California Grantmakers (NCG).

Bay Area Funders Together to End Homelessness developed out of a series of conversations held in 2020 by funders concerned about the rapid growth of homelessness in the region who saw the need for greater collaboration and philanthropic leadership to address homelessness and housing justice at the scale needed in the Bay Area. As the network was forming, members expressed interest in moving from joint learning to taking bolder action together to increase the amount and effectiveness of funding in the region. This led BAFTEH to engage in a strategic planning process in 2023 to create a shared vision, goals, and structure for the network that could support collaborative action. Facilitation and infrastructure support for BAFTEH is provided by Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) and Funders Together to End Homelessness (FTEH).

Northern California Grantmakers: BAFTEH is fiscally sponsored by NCG. NCG provides benefits, payroll, and HR services for the Director; financial and grants management to support network activities; and helps engage new members with BAFTEH. NCG is a dynamic, growing membership organization that brings the philanthropic community together to shift resources, capital, and power back to historically marginalized communities, leading transformative change. Northern California has a rich cultural legacy and commitment to social justice. NCG’s membership is made up of stakeholders across philanthropy, including program officers, board members, donor trustees, movement organizers, communicators, visionaries, advocates, dreamers, and believers. For the past forty years, we have been working to gather, mobilize, and transform philanthropy. We believe in our collective power for good. Learn more about NCG at www.ncg.org.

Funders Together to End Homelessness (FTEH): BAFTEH is a Regional Network of Funders Together to End Homelessness. FTEH provides BAFTEH with thought partnership and its expertise in mobilizing philanthropy to use its voice, influence, and financial capital to end homelessness by creating and advancing lasting solutions that are grounded in racial and housing justice, driven by love and disruption, and centering people with lived expertise.

BAFTEH’s VISION, GOALS & ACTIVITIES

Bay Area Funders Together to End Homelessness is guided by the vision of homelessness ending in the Bay Area with safe and secure housing for all.

BAFTEH will engage in the following activities:

• Convening + Education: Engage and educate a broad set of funders across intersecting issue areas on justice, effective solutions, and systems-level work needed.

• Advocacy + Partnership: Track and share regional funding needs and gaps; identify opportunities to funding or engage in advocacy and policy efforts to advance systems-level change.

• Grantmaking: Create opportunities for members to support new ideas, promising models, and deeper systems-level efforts to advance housing justice. 

THE DIRECTOR POSITION

To realize the vision and goals outlined in its strategic planning process, BAFTEH is seeking a Director to engage, organize, and move philanthropy toward collaborative action to end homelessness in the Bay Area, facilitate services that support secure, safe housing for all, and provide currently and formerly unhoused people with the chance to thrive. This new leader will lead and facilitate BAFTEH’s network activities, building consensus, cooperation, and partnerships among diverse and committed funders; execute the organization’s strategic planning processes; define and implement action plans and accountability metrics; and translate BAFTEH’s value proposition into targeted actions that secure buy-in, expand membership, and amplify impact. 

The Director will report to and work closely with BAFTEH’s Advisory Council to develop and implement the overarching strategy and operational framework, ensuring alignment with and action toward the coalition’s mission and long-term objectives. The Director develops, oversees, and fundraises the annual operating budget of approximately $375,000. In collaboration with the Advisory Council, the Director will need to develop and execute a fundraising plan to achieve an annual goal of raising a minimum of $1 million ($375,000/year for the operating budget and $625,000/year for conferences, collaborations, and potential grantmaking). 

With BAFTEH poised to educate a broad range of funders, identify strategic funding gaps, and support innovative grantmaking, the Director will be at the forefront of helping to shape regional housing justice. By leading convenings and education, advocacy, partnership, and collaborative grantmaking, this leader will ensure that more funders across the Bay Area join forces, increase their investments, and pursue groundbreaking models that advance housing equity for all.

KEY STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:

WITHIN THE FIRST 12 MONTHS OF STARTING, THE DIRECTOR SHOULD PRIORITIZE THE FOLLOWING:

• Develop and refine the Strategic Direction: As an emerging funding collaborative, the group needs a clear, powerful strategy and a set of actionable priorities to attract new funders/members to drive collective impact. Using the All Home Regional Action Plan and other key frameworks to anchor and guide strategic choices, the Director will steward the group to make data-driven recommendations on strategic funding priorities, ensuring investments address the most critical gaps in homelessness and housing justice. 

• Formalize the Group’s Infrastructure, including Membership Structure: Increasing the size and the diversity of funders/members is essential to amplify the group’s reach and ensure long-term sustainability. The Director will compose a formal process and membership structures (e.g., dues, tiers, benefits) that encourage broader stakeholder involvement and drive ongoing financial support. Furthermore, a targeted recruitment strategy is necessary to onboard new funders/members. The Director will continue strengthening and solidifying relationships with existing funders/members through individualized outreach, ensuring each funder’s priorities and concerns are heard and integrated and helping funders/members connect with each other when there are shared funding priorities.

• Create a Shared Learning Agenda: Housing justice solutions necessitate innovative thinking and collective knowledge. The Director will drive the group's shift from “learning mode” to tangible action—potentially coordinating multi-funder grant-making practices, pilot projects, and advocacy efforts that advance housing justice. Thus, curating a meaningful programming curriculum that covers policy trends, impactful issue areas, emerging funding and programmatic best practices, and success stories featuring expert speakers and peer learning sessions will be essential to inspire thought leadership and solidify the group's position as an authority in the field.

• Establish Strategic Partnerships & Promote Systemic Change: Achieving genuine transformation in homelessness and housing justice necessitates collaboration across sectors by bridging philanthropic, public, and private entities. The Director will conduct a regional scan of public and private initiatives to identify gaps and opportunities for collaborative funding around strategic investments in homelessness and housing. The Director will cultivate alliances with government bodies, nonprofits, and philanthropic organizations to identify crucial funding gaps that philanthropy can fill to enhance systems-level impact. Through their power mapping endeavors, they will lead the group’s advocacy strategy and agenda, outlining the approach to policy advocacy and shaping the public narrative in alignment with the Regional Action Plan's priorities while examining how collective influence can mold regional objectives. Investigate the feasibility and requirements for creating a pooled fund to drive investments in initiatives that individual funders might be reluctant to pursue independently as one approach to harnessing the collective strength of the consortium to spark innovation.

• Grow the Membership and Funding base for Year 2: To secure future funding, the Director must refine and communicate the group’s unique value— explaining why funders/members should join and how the potential of pooled resources can drive more significant housing justice solutions.
   

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Leadership

• Execute BAFTEH’s periodic strategic planning process, action plan, and accountability metrics.
• Staff and collaborate with the BAFTEH Advisory Council to plan network priorities, meeting agendas, and programming.
• Build and maintain pathways for input from local experts from nonprofits, the public sector, and people with lived experience.
• Seed and strengthen funder alignment with BAFTEH strategic plan.
• Keep abreast of homelessness and housing politics and news in the Bay Area and nationally.

Resource Coordination and Expansion

• Coordinate funder resources to implement activities aligned with the BAFTEH strategic plan.
• Encourage greater coordination between public and private funding resources at the city, county, and regional levels.
• Subject to the determination of the BAFTEH steering committee, stand up and administer a pooled fund.

Fundraising and Membership Development

• Plan and execute fundraising efforts to secure the annual budget; manage grant requirements and reports as needed.
• Engage and recruit funders/members to BAFTEH and support the network's ongoing membership growth.
• Maintain, develop, and nurture relationships with a diverse range of individuals in philanthropy, bridging cultural and ideological differences to unite members for a common cause.

Advocacy and Influence

• Lead the formation of an advocacy agenda that aligns with and complements the priorities of the Regional Action Plan.
• Build and strengthen regional relationships with people with lived expertise and public sector and nonprofit leaders who are working to prevent and end homelessness.
• Advocate for expanding funding opportunities at the state and city levels to increase services available for preventing and ending homelessness.
• Represent BAFTEH in the California Homelessness and Housing Policy Network, the national Funders Together to End Homelessness body, and other regional and statewide tables and networks addressing homelessness.
• Develop and execute programming on issues related to housing and homelessness for Bay Area philanthropy according to the strategic plan and emerging events.

Finances and General Administration

• Develop and monitor the network’s budget in partnership with the Advisory Committee and work with NCG to produce financial reports.
• Work with NCG to process, acknowledge, track, and account for the revenue and expenses of this initiative.
• Organize BAFTEH meetings, including maintaining mailing lists, securing space, drafting and distributing agendas, and other materials, and providing summary notes as appropriate to participants.
• Attend and actively participate in required meetings and take on other tasks pertaining to supporting BAFTEH as requested and appropriate.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

BAFTEH seeks an experienced, visionary leader and equity-focused Director to lead its convening and educational efforts, advocacy, partnership-building, and collaborative grantmaking. The ideal candidate is fluent in housing justice and homelessness, with a proven ability to cultivate relationships, organize, and mobilize diverse funders around bold yet practical solutions. They should possess an entrepreneurial spirit and the motivation to drive transformative change—pushing the boundaries of traditional philanthropy while anchoring every initiative in racial equity and empowering individuals with lived experience. By orchestrating impactful convenings, forming strategic regional partnerships, and facilitating actionable investments, this leader will guide BAFTEH in leveraging resources, influencing policy, and advancing housing justice at a systemic level.

The following qualifications serve as a guide to the ideal experiences and knowledge the Director should bring. However, NCG encourages candidates to submit their applications even if they do not meet all of the requirements stated below. Applicants should feel free to identify additional relevant experience or transferrable skills that would contribute to their effectiveness in this role.

KEY AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Demonstrated Organizational Experience: 

• Leadership and management experiences with organizations of $500,000 to $1 million in size; fundraising experience that exceeds $ 1 million per year; and executive leadership experience of a minimum of 5 years that includes working closely with advisory Boards and organizational Boards. '

Entrepreneurial Leadership: 

• A proactive self-manager with experience in launching or scaling initiatives—capable of designing pilot programs, testing innovations, measuring results, and refining approaches for broader implementation.
• Skilled at thriving in ambiguity and swiftly adjusting to evolving priorities.

Coalition & Membership Management: 

• Proven ability to unify diverse funders around shared goals and collective grantmaking strategies.
•  Experienced in building multi-sector alliances that lead to strategic and critical mutually beneficial partnerships.

Housing Justice & Homelessness: 

• Working knowledge in continuum-of-care models, policy frameworks, and best practices for addressing homelessness and housing justice. 
• Familiar with local (Bay Area) government structures, nonprofit ecosystems, and service provider networks.

Philanthropy & Funding Insights:

• Experience in foundations, donor collaboratives, or philanthropic strategies with the success of increasing funding and cultivating investor relationships for housing justice funding.
• Demonstrated ability to engage funders effectively and communicate the ROI of social impact investments.

Systems Thinking & Policy Fluency: 

• Adept at seeing the “big picture,” mapping regional funding gaps, and identifying policy advocacy opportunities. 
• Comfortable navigating local politics, leveraging government partnerships, and developing narrative and public opinion campaigns that encourage systems-level investments and impact.

KEY ATTRIBUTES

Facilitative & Collaborative Leader: 

• Expert in coordinating diverse stakeholders and fostering effective collaborations—bringing together funders, nonprofits, and government bodies around a shared vision. 
• Demonstrated ability to harmonize differing agendas, mediate conflicts, and guide groups toward consensus.

Network Builder & Trusted Representative: 

• A credible, authentic face of the organization who earns trust through expertise, integrity, and a genuine commitment to homelessness and housing justice.
• Proven ability to work with people who have different ideological perspectives and forms enduring relationships across philanthropic, governmental, and community sectors.

Values-Driven & Equity-Centered:

• Anchors all decisions in racial equity and enrolls/elevates the voices of people with lived experience in priority setting.
• Holds the group accountable to inclusive practices and equitable outcomes.

Inspirational & Bold Communicator: 

• Conveys a compelling vision that motivates funders to invest, innovate, and take strategic risks. 
• Comfortable challenging norms to inspire innovative, high-impact strategies.

Action-Oriented & Decisive:

•  Demonstrated ability to move a group beyond planning, leveraging convenings and educational efforts to drive funders toward tangible initiatives and results.
• Champions collaborative grantmaking and advocacy efforts that produce measurable shifts in the region’s housing landscape.

Persistent & Resilient: 

• Maintains momentum amid complex systemic challenges, ensuring BAFTEH’s efforts stay on track.
• Balances urgency with patience, acknowledging the complexity of systemic change in housing and homelessness.
   

COMPENSATION, BENEFITS, AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

The salary range for this position is $180,000 - $200,000, commensurate with experience. NCG provides competitive benefits to its fiscally sponsored projects’ employees, including:

• Health, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Vacation, Sick, and Holiday pay
• 403b Voluntary Plan
• Short and Long-Term Disability
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Discretionary Staff Development and Wellness Funds

This position is full-time (37.5 hours/week) and works in close collaboration with funders, providers, and public sector officials. The role requires regular travel throughout the Bay Area and occasional travel out of state. The role will also be accountable to the homeless services funding community at large, to nonprofit partners, and to individuals with lived expertise who both contribute to and benefit from related services.

Racial equity, belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion are baked into everything NCG does. They encourage applicants from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, various gender expressions, ages, sexual orientations, and physical abilities to bring their lived experiences alongside their professional selves.

For health and safety, NCG requires all employees to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination. If you receive an offer and are unable to get vaccinated for religious or medical reasons, you may request a reasonable accommodation.

HOW TO APPLY

The BAFTEH Director search is being conducted on a state-wide basis by The Byers Group. First consideration will be given to applications received by March 28, 2025. To apply for this outstanding opportunity, please electronically submit your resume and letter of interest to The Byers Group at [email protected]. 

The letter of interest should outline your interest in the role and your relevant accomplishments. Please provide two examples of why you would be a strong candidate and the key attributes you would bring to this position. The position will remain open until filled.