Center Director, Audubon Center at Debs Park

The National Audubon Society is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. We work throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state, regional, national, and international programs, nature centers, and chapters have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. As a sentinel species, we recognize that the fate of birds is inextricably tied to the fate of us all.

Audubon has more than 700 staff working across the United States and seven countries in 17 state and regional offices, 41 nature centers, and 23 wildlife sanctuaries. Together as one Audubon, we aspire to alter the course of climate change and habitat loss, leading to healthier bird populations and reversing current trends in biodiversity loss.

Audubon is committed to a culture of workplace excellence, where our talented and diverse staff are deeply engaged, with a strong sense of belonging. The birds Audubon pledges to protect differ in color, size, behavior, geographical preference, and countless other ways. By honoring and celebrating the equally remarkable diversity of the human species, Audubon will bring new creativity, effectiveness, and leadership to our work throughout the hemisphere.

The Center Director at the Audubon Center at Debs Park will be a strategic visionary leader, fundraiser, and charismatic facilitator with the ability to work in partnership with key internal and external stakeholder groups. The Center Director will develop a compelling vision and execute against that vision, growing the Audubon Center at Debs Park into a center for conservation action with hemispheric impact for people and birds.

The Center Director will be responsible for all aspects of planning, developing, operating, and managing the Center, including alignment of the Center’s conservation, engagement, and education efforts with Audubon’s new strategic plan. The successful candidate will be an experienced community-builder, effective communicator, and change leader with the ability to work with a variety of stakeholders within the organization as well as with the community, policymakers, and funders.

Reporting to Audubon California’s Deputy Director, the Center Director will work to integrate the Center’s activities with other Audubon Centers and offices in California and across the Flyway to help deliver conservation impact at scale. The Center Director’s team includes two program staff and an operations and facilities manager.

Center Directors at Audubon are supported by the Audubon network team, their state conservation team, and the organizational capacity of the National Audubon Society. The core purpose for Audubon centers is threefold:

• Fostering conservation action at the personal and collective levels, for birds and the places they, and we all, need;
• Engaging and cultivating a diverse, cross-generational group of conservationists; and,
• Creating pathways to integrate community perspectives and issues with Audubon priorities.

Compensation:

$100,000 / year

Program Development & Implementation

• Provide dynamic, collaborative leadership for the Center’s mission, strategy, core program areas, and operating departments consistent with Audubon’s strategic plan. Ensure that communications, advocacy, and funding proposals align with the organization’s priorities while responding to and serving local priorities.
• Represent and raise the visibility of Debs Park externally to funders, partners, policymakers, and the public through donor meetings, tours, speaking with local and regional press, partner relationship cultivation, Advocacy Day leadership, and social media.
• Embody and communicate the Audubon Center at Debs Park’s identity as a center for conservation action, a place for recreation, learning, advocacy, and community through the above activities.
• Maintain and continue to grow partnerships with co-located organizations. Identify opportunities for coordinated fundraising, projects at the center and beyond, and leverage Audubon’s press and social media communications effectively to bring attention to these partnerships with community, policymakers, and funders.
• Oversee all operational aspects of the Center, including facility rentals, systems maintenance, and projects led by the Operations and Facility Manager.
• Oversee public programming led by the Program Manager, identifying and amplifying those flagship projects that will draw additional resources and partnerships to the center

Staff and Volunteer Management

• Preserve and cultivate a culture of workplace excellence: accountability, generosity, high standards, and a commitment to building a community of belonging.
• Attract and retain effective program staff, operational staff, and key volunteers. Role model mission and impact focus, confidence to work effectively to drive change, and respectful partnership.

Fundraising and Fiscal Management

• Maintain and expand relationships with existing institutional and individual funders
• Develop and execute revenue generation plan in partnership with development staff, building the pipeline of new institutional and individual funders
• Develop and monitor a three-year business plan for center, incorporating engagement, conservation, and revenue generation strategies into an actionable roadmap. Develop and monitor annual budgets that map to the business plan.

• 10+ years’ progressive leadership experience in multi-function nature centers, science museums, research centers, or field studies programs, to include staff, budget, and program management.
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field, such as environmental studies, biology, education, public administration, or other related field required. An equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.
• Proven success in fundraising, with experience with major donors, foundations, corporations, and/or government funders.
• Existing connections to the Los Angeles area community of NGOs and community-based organizations strongly desired. Experience working with the diversity of communities in Los Angeles strongly desired.
• Excellent leadership skills, including an engaging and energetic demeanor and the ability to inspire and motivate staff, volunteers, donors, and potential partners.
• Business acumen, with the ability to think strategically and creatively while managing multiple tasks, meet deadlines, work in a dynamic environment and effectively manage change.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ability to prepare and deliver presentations to diverse audiences and prepare proposals, reports, program summaries, newsletter articles, and other documents.
• Team-building skills and the ability to work collaboratively and build coalitions with partners, including other environmental organizations, government entities, and for-profit businesses.
• A passion for conservation, the mission of the National Audubon Society and the natural resources of California; working knowledge of wildlife conservation issues and ability to articulate them and inspire participation.
• Experience managing institutional growth and change within a decentralized organization highly desirable.
• Excellent organizational skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office Software.
• Willingness and ability to travel occasionally in the state and nationally, as required.
• Must have a valid Driver’s License.
• Bilingual in English & Spanish preferred.
• Willing to work occasionally outside of standard business hours to support events and meetings occurring on weekends, weekday mornings, and/or weeknights.

The National Audubon Society is a federal contractor and an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. We are committed to a policy of nondiscrimination, inclusion and equal opportunity and actively seek a diverse pool of candidates in this search.

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