Pop Culture Collaborative: Chief Operating Officer
About the Pop Culture Collaborative: The Pop Culture Collaborative (“the Collaborative”) is a first-of-its-kind philanthropic resource and funder learning community working to unleash the power of pop culture to transform the narrative landscape in America. The Pop Culture Collaborative organizes and deploys financial and other resources to support the pop culture narrative change field—led by and centering Black and Indigenous peoples, people of color, immigrants and refugees, and Muslim peoples, especially those who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and/or disabled—to transform narrative oceans and build narrative power at scale. The Collaborative’s northstar is the creation of a pluralist nation— in which hundreds of millions of people will live in a society in which a true majority of Americans—including our leaders and icons—identify and/or behave as pluralists. The Collaborative invests in growing narrative infrastructure, immersion and leadership and forges partnerships between the social justice sector and the entertainment, advertising, and media industries.
With the vision and backing of a bold set of philanthropic investors (“Managing Partners”) and other donors, in 2016 the Collaborative began grantmaking to advance this vital work–and accelerate the impact of artists, social justice advocates, culture change strategists, tech innovators, academics, and others to affect change through entertainment and narratives in mass media. In just 7 years, the Collaborative has scaffolded, resourced, and nurtured the pop culture for social change field from the ground up, and tested a powerhouse set of narrative change focused grantmaking and field-building strategies.
For more about the Pop Culture Collaborative, visit www.popcollab.org.
Role Summary: In 2024, the Pop Culture Collaborative will formally embark on its next 7-year horizon, an audacious and visionary strategic plan to scale the organization’s internal infrastructure, including evolving its organizational strategy, operating budget, financial systems, grantmaking and investing capacity, staff size, administrative systems, and process culture, while also dramatically expanding resources to support the growth of the pop culture narrative change field. The Collaborative seeks an experienced and highly strategic leader to join its team, working closely with the CEO and other senior leaders and staff to navigate a process of exciting organizational change.
Role Scope: The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a key leadership role for the Collaborative. A thought partner and trusted advisor to the CEO and an integral member of the Leadership Team, the COO will be responsible for providing strategic oversight and/or management of all administrative and financial systems, infrastructure, and work streams that advance organizational growth, and support the Collaborative’s plans for scaling and future program expansion. In partnership with the Leadership, Operations, and Program Teams as well as external consultants, the COO will plan and oversee the teams implementing just and equitable strategies, systems, and business and operating practices to position the Collaborative for positive long-term organizational health and resilient infrastructure to support the organization’s mission and activities.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Leadership, Vision + Strategy
Collaborate with the CEO, Leadership Team, Board, and broader staff to help implement the 7-year strategic plan with a focus on operational and financial plans to drive and support future growth and expansion.
Provide forward-thinking and inspiring leadership across all operations and finance areas of the organization including oversight of the overall business operations and translation of the organization’s strategy into a shared vision, financial outlook, and programmatic action plan.
Successfully lead organizational change initiatives and serve as the key leader driving administrative and infrastructural strengthening and resilience, transparency, and continuous iteration and refinement of the organization’s policies, processes, and systems.
Develop and implement financial strategies, systems and plans that enhance the organization’s internal business structure and support its fundraising and goals for future growth and impact.
Oversee all management-level staff and consultants with day to day accountability for workflows related to Operations, Finance, IT, and People and Culture, including oversight of supervised staff’s professional development, program and budget planning, and wellbeing.
Organizational Performance
Oversee Director of People and Culture and team focused on talent management, recruiting, performance, employee development, compensation, and benefits.
Work with the Leadership Team to set organization-wide work plans and performance goals for staff
Work closely with the Leadership and Impact and Evaluation teams to develop analytic tools and metrics to support data-driven decision-making across the organization and implement all necessary operational enhancements.
Lead on-going design, development, and oversight of the organization’s program and departmental work plans in concert with Leadership Team and ensure that the necessary operating structure and resources are in place to ensure that programs and projects are implemented with quality, impact, and on deadline.
Working closely with the Leadership Team and staff, lead in the design and implementation of a Process Culture Plan incorporating existing and newly articulated values, decision-making processes and workflow processes.
Oversee staff leaders working to develop and iterate the Employee Handbook and other organizational policy documents.
Provide a high-level of support to inform decisions the organization makes regarding financial and legal risks including developing and maintaining risk management, contingency, and succession plans. Engage with legal counsel as needed on contracts and employment matters, policies, compliance and other pertinent legal issues.
Supervise and work closely with the Operations and other team(s) developing the organization’s technology and cybersecurity strategies and the activities of its external IT consulting firms to ensure that the organization has access to the appropriate technology infrastructure and resources to effectively support, advance, and secure its operations.
Financial Oversight
Serve as the primary in-house leader of the Collaborative’s strategic visioning and planning processes as they relate to business modeling, growth, and resilience.
Select and oversee a financial consultant to develop, execute, and communicate all policies, practices, and business processes that support the organization’s short and long-term financial health.
Oversee annual budgeting process and corresponding program plan.
In collaboration with the CEO, Board, and financial consultant, oversee all organizational assets including its philanthropic funds, and in the future, investment capital.
Lead research, recommendations, and execution of a likely phased transition to become a multi-entity organization to support values alignment and resource management flexibility in alignment with planned organizational growth.
Oversee a financial consultant’s management of the financial and budget reporting systems and processes, financial models, expense and revenue forecasting and the necessary controls to effectively manage budget, treasury and cash management issues.
Oversee relationships and services provided by the organization’s finance consultants.
SKILLS AND EXPERTISE
The ideal candidate for the role of Chief Operating Officer will have:
A minimum of fifteen (15) years progressively responsible organizational, operations, and/or administrative leadership experience of which at least seven (7) were in a senior leadership or C-suite level role overseeing enterprise-wide business development, strategic planning, operations, administrative, and finance functions for a substantial nonprofit organization, foundation, social impact enterprise, or pop culture company of similar size, scope, and complexity as the Collaborative.
A proven successful track record of managing complex organizational scaling processes, and building “best-in-class” administrative and financial systems to support organizational effectiveness and impact.
Experience reporting operations, infrastructural, and financial performance to a Board and partnering with HR and operations teams to manage operations, financial systems and/or grant making practices.
Experience using personnel, program, and financial data, metrics, and key performance indicators to assess organizational performance and track outcomes.
Professional understanding of social justice-focused narrative and culture change strategy and/or strategic communications, pop culture, and/or mass audience activations
Experience working in partnership with or within social justice, philanthropy, entertainment, or other related industry.
Strong writing and verbal communication skills
Strong project and team management skills
Strong facilitation, interpersonal, and emotional intelligence skills
A passion for pop culture and narrative change
Bachelor’s degree in related field required. MBA, MPA or comparable expertise preferred=
LOCATION/TRAVEL
The Pop Culture Collaborative is a small team that operates remotely, with staff working from home offices or coworking spaces all around the country. While this role is also remote, it may require moderate travel (30%). LA- or NYC-based preferred, but not required.
COMPENSATION
This is an outstanding opportunity for a highly motivated leader to assume a pivotal role in the evolution of a fast-growing, highly effective organization.
The Pop Culture Collaborative offers employees a competitive compensation and benefits package that reflects its core values and commitment to its staff. The salary range for this senior leadership role is $235,000 - $245,000 plus a robust benefits package that includes health, vision, dental and life insurance, pension plan including matching employer contribution, a
four-day work week, four weeks of paid time off plus three weeks of office closures per year, and all federal and religious holidays.
The Pop Culture Collaborative is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc. (RPA), an equal opportunity employer. For more information, visit https://popcollab.org/.
READY TO APPLY?
To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume and 2 professional references to careers@hookandfasten.com with the subject line: PCC - Chief Operating Officer. If you require alternate accommodations to apply, please inquire at careers@hookandfasten.com. All applications and inquiries are kept confidential.