Executive Director
at Youth Speaks
The Organization
In a sentence: For 29 years, Youth Speaks has created spaces that challenge youth to amplify their voices as creators of societal change. In 2024 alone, we served 3,400 students in Bay Area schools, engaged 10 million people via social media, and convened a national festival with 1,000 youth from 21 cities.
The current landscape: Youth Speaks desires an executive director who can steward and evolve the organization’s role as a leader in the field and a commitment to high-quality and resonant youth programming and pedagogy. This leader will develop and implement Youth Speaks' next strategic plan to achieve financial sustainability within an increasingly competitive market, develop the organization’s leadership team, and maintain Youth Speaks’ artistic, youth-first culture.
A Snapshot of Some Youth Speaks Partners:
The Role
WHAT YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH
DEVELOP
a sustainable $4M annual fundraising strategy to support Youth Speaks’ growth.
BUILD
relationships with the Youth Speaks’ staff and stakeholders to foster a culture of artistic expression and youth focus.
LEAD
the creation and implementation of Youth Speaks’ next strategic plan that centers the organization as a national leader in arts-based social change.
GROW
Youth Speaks’ leadership capacity by hiring and developing talent to achieve ambitious organizational goals and reduce burnout.
A MONTH IN THE LIFE
WHEN/WHERE/HOW MUCH
Start date: August 2025
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Salary range: $200,000 - $220,000 plus benefits
POSITION REPORTS TO
The Youth Speaks Board of Directors
APPLICATION DEADLINE
April 28th, 2025 at 11:00 PT
INTERESTED AND READY TO TAKE NEXT STEPS? Offor helps organizations curate detailed, honest deep-dives on a role and an organization through our Frequently Asked Questions system.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
Executive Directors
Chief External Affairs Officers
Chief Development Officers
Executives with a background in youth development
Chief Executive Officers
Fundraisers with a strategic lens
Executives connected to the art world
Senior movement builders and cultural organizers committed to justice
“[The way] we engage and approach young people, and the power of their stories is incredibly unique because it was developed by a ragtag team of poets…It was really about working from a space of, what do we see that young people of color, particularly, and poor working communities of color do really well… So we flipped that on its head. Young people feel that intention and that subversion of power in very [deep] ways."
- Youth Speaks stakeholder
WHAT STAKEHOLDERS SAY
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Youth Speaks
Interim Co-Executive Director
Youth Speaks
Board Member
Youth Speaks
Board Member
Youth Speaks
Board Member
Youth Speaks
Board Member
Youth Speaks
Board Vice Chair
Youth Speaks
Board Co-Chair
Youth Speaks
Board Co-Chair
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