Executive Director (SHF)
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The Executive Director is the operational engine of the Sam Hubbard Foundation. If the Founder provides front-office leadership and a thirty-thousand-foot view, the Executive Director is the head coach responsible for execution on the field. This is a rare opportunity to lead a young, well-resourced nonprofit with strong brand equity, a beloved founder, and a clear path to multiyear growth.
Executive Director
Cincinnati, Ohio | Full-Time
$80,000–$90,000, commensurate with experience, plus a year-end discretionary bonus tied to organizational and fundraising goals. For an exceptional leader, we're open to discussing the right compensation package.
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
The Sam Hubbard Foundation (SHF) was founded to level the playing field for underserved children across the Greater Cincinnati tristate area. Through Hubbard’s Cupboard, our flagship program operated in deep partnership with Crayons and Beyond, we deliver classroom supplies, hygiene items, healthy snacks, dignity, and opportunity directly to teachers and students who need it most.
What started as one player’s commitment to his hometown has grown into a sustainable, mission-driven organization with meaningful corporate and private partnerships, a dedicated team, an engaged board, and a community that shows up. The next chapter is about scaling and establishing a vision for future systemic impact, and we are looking for the right leader to help us write it.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The Executive Director is the operational engine of the Sam Hubbard Foundation. If the Founder provides front-office leadership and a thirty-thousand-foot view, the Executive Director is the head coach responsible for execution on the field. This is a rare opportunity to lead a young, well-resourced nonprofit with strong brand equity, a beloved founder, and a clear path to multiyear growth.
A strong Executive Director enables the Founder to confidently step away when needed, knowing the organization is being led with confidence, effectiveness, and urgency.
The right candidate will run a sound, sustainable, and scalable organization. They will be equal parts strategist and operator, fundraiser and steward, builder and protector of culture. They will partner closely with the Founder, the Board of Directors, Crayons and Beyond, and a small but mighty staff to deliver measurable impact year after year.
WHAT YOU WILL OWN
This role touches every part of the nonprofit. Core areas of responsibility include:
Operations & Strategy
- Oversee all day-to-day operations of the Foundation.
- Lead execution of the strategic plan and align staff, board, and partners around organizational priorities.
- Help shape and execute the long-term vision in collaboration with the Founder, Board of Directors, and Crayons and Beyond.
- Monitor organizational performance and ensure the Foundation delivers measurable impact.
- The Sam Hubbard Foundation is an operating nonprofit, not a grantmaking entity. We focus on running our own community programs rather than funding outside organizations.
Fundraising & Donor Engagement
- Lead a diverse revenue strategy spanning major gifts, corporate partnerships, program revenue, and events.
- Personally cultivate and steward a portfolio of individual and major donors, owning the full lifecycle from discovery to ask to stewardship.
- Prepare donors for high-level engagement with the Founder and ensure those meetings are strategically planned and effectively used.
- Mobilize the board as an active extension of the fundraising engine.
People & Culture
- Supervise staff and contractors, set performance expectations, and ensure accountability with care.
- Protect the culture and values of the organization and foster a collaborative, mission-driven environment.
- Represent the Foundation at external events, community engagements, and meetings when attending jointly or the Founder is unavailable.
Finance & Governance
- Oversee financial stewardship, including budgeting, forecasting, and the responsible use of donor resources.
- Support the Board of Directors through reporting, strategic updates, and operational insight.
- Ensure organizational alignment across operations, communications, finance, and programming.
Program Leadership
- Manage program execution in close partnership with Crayons and Beyond and other strategic partners.
- Set program direction with the Program Director and ensure Hubbard’s Cupboard continues to grow in reach, quality, and impact.
WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR
We are looking for a player-coach. Someone who can sit across the table from a top donor in the morning, sweat a P&L line in the afternoon, and help unload a truck at a school visit that evening without ego or hesitation.
The candidate who will thrive in this seat is defined less by a resume bullet and more by a set of dispositions. We are explicitly looking for:
A steward of a strong culture. You are stepping into a small, tight, mission-driven team with a healthy culture and hard-earned trust. You understand that trust is the currency of a healthy nonprofit and that it is built in inches, not in announcements. You lead with vulnerability, you communicate on a steady cadence, and you protect psychological safety across staff and board.
A relationship-driven fundraiser. You are not a grant writer who occasionally meets a donor. You are a fundraiser who builds real relationships and is comfortable making the ask. You can walk us through the full lifecycle of a major gift, from the first listening session to the final close, and you know how to deploy a board strategically inside that process.
A respected voice in the sector. You bring credibility on day one. Your peers in the nonprofit and philanthropic community know your name, trust your work, and pick up the phone when you call. You have a real network, you have likely served on boards or led cross-sector collaborations, and you can represent SHF in rooms with leaders and policymakers from the moment you walk in.
A galvanizer, not an ego. Our success is inextricably linked to our partnership with Crayons and Beyond. You see that partnership as a strategic necessity, not a turf battle. You are fluent in “we” over “I,” you are comfortable sharing the limelight and the resources, and you protect collective impact even when it means letting someone else hold the microphone.
Strong additional qualifications include:
- Demonstrated operational leadership in a nonprofit, foundation, athletics, or mission-driven environment.
- The ability to productively coordinate and align others within the organization in a flexible work environment and give them tools to succeed.
- Financial acumen and the ability to own a budget, forecast confidently, and present clearly to a board.
- Exceptional communication skills and the presence to represent the Foundation publicly and one-on-one.
- Strategic patience paired with operational urgency. The ability to think in five-year horizons and still close out today’s tasks.
- Genuine alignment with the mission and the humility to lead a foundation that bears someone else’s name.
- Deep ties to or genuine enthusiasm for the Greater Cincinnati community.
YOUR FIRST 90 DAYS
We do not need a hero in this role. We need a learner first. The first 90 days are designed for listening: spending real time at the Cupboard, in classrooms, with the Founder, with the Board, with our partners at Crayons and Beyond, and with the staff who know this organization better than anyone. The candidate who earns trust quickly and is the one who shows up with questions before recommendations.
COMPENSATION
The salary range for this role is $80,000 to $90,000 annually, commensurate with experience, and for an exceptional leader we're open to discussing compensation with organizational and personal goals in mind. A year-end discretionary bonus is available, tied to organizational and fundraising goals set at the start of the year. Beyond compensation, this is a chance to lead an organization with national visibility, real authority, a powerful network, and a board that wants you to win.
WHY THIS ROLE
- Real authority. The Executive Director runs this organization.
- The chance to shape the long-term legacy of a foundation that is still defining its ceiling.
- A platform with national visibility, anchored by a credible, engaged Founder.
- A high-functioning partnership with Crayons and Beyond and a flagship program that already delivers measurable impact.
- A supportive board, advisory council, network and community that believes in the work.
HOW TO APPLY
Please fill out the form in this link. It will require you to answer a few basic questions, in addition to submitting a resume and cover letter:
In your cover letter: Tell us why this mission resonates with you, and one story that illustrates how you partner across organizational lines or execute a strategic vision. This is a confidential inbox. This process will be handled with confidentiality and discretion.
All other inquiries may be sent to Jobs@samhubbardfoundation.com.
The Sam Hubbard Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome candidates of all backgrounds and experiences who are ready to do meaningful work alongside a team that takes the mission seriously.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vEqmmQk7fUNCkvcH7TXlHzGDJc-T4rrBAC4rDDKA1RQ/edit
More about the Sam Hubbard Foundation: https://www.samhubbardfoundation.com/
Thank you to our sponsors and partners
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