Founded in 2014 to address an urgent need for more comprehensive support for qualified families to navigate the SNAP (food stamps) benefits system, mRelief is a tech nonprofit 501(c)3, that provides an easy-to-use platform through web and text messaging that helps people sign up for SNAP benefits. The organization's core mission is to transform access to social services for the inherent dignity of all people. To date, mRelief has connected more than 1,403,366 families to critical social services and unlocked an estimated $1.2 billion in food benefits.
In Fall 2023, mRelief was awarded a Google.org Social Impact Fund grant to build a personalized AI chatbot assistant–accessible via text messaging–to help navigate the SNAP application process, reducing barriers like confusing eligibility information and tedious application forms. After developing the AI integration with SNAP, we will expand to create the same solutions for WIC. In both, we will combine ethical automation with human compassion. The timing of this innovation is crucial given some states have reported staffing shortages between 20-25 percent for key personnel tasked with answering questions of applicants and users. Our intention is that the next Executive Director will be a proven sales leader with experience in repeatable sales with government agencies. This leader will lead the scale of mRelief's chatbot with states and counties across the US.
Driven by core values of empathy, privacy, accessibility, and delivery, the mRelief team seeks to realize a dream to change the status quo of the SNAP benefit process and to ensure that anyone can access the safety net without it contributing to the already stressful circumstance of poverty. mRelief continues to grow as a key support for families to enroll in SNAP benefits through partnerships with community-based organizations across the United States using its custom CRM Johnnie to increase outreach to individuals and families who likely qualify for SNAP benefits.
mRelief has built an easy-to-use platform on web, text messaging, for families to find out if they qualify and enroll in food stamps. Through its eligibility screener, anyone in 53 states and territories can find out if they're likely eligible for SNAP via web or text. Users are then empowered to choose whether to apply on their own through a simplified application or utilize assistance from one of mRelief's local community partners. mRelief's platform assists users with guided follow up to navigate the often-confusing process of adding required documents and tracking their case as it moves through next steps in the SNAP system.
With support from Google.org, the Families and Workers Fund, Y Combinator, the Walmart Foundation, and AARP Foundation, and others, mRelief has successfully established partnerships with local organizations, including Share our Strength and the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
For more information on mRelief, please visit www.mrelief.com.
The Opportunity
As mRelief enters its next chapter, the organization seeks an exceptional Executive Director to lead/co-lead and scale the organization to even greater levels of impact. This is an opportunity for a visionary leader to build upon mRelief's mission and values to forge a strategic path forward for the organization focused on transforming social services for the inherent dignity of all.
The Executive Director will bring exceptional strategic abilities, a demonstrated ability to identify and secure resources in support of a mission, and a thoughtful, empathetic approach to leadership with a careful approach to scale. As the shepherd of mRelief's mission, the Executive Director will adeptly engage partners, staff, and funders alike to support the organization and its growing impact across both local and national communities. Working collaboratively to form a clear vision for the organization's future and identify a pathway forward for the team, the Executive Director will build upon mRelief's foundational success to increase visibility and credibility among users, peers, and funders and demonstrate the critical, scalable impact that lies within the organization's current potential to transform the social services landscape.
The Executive Director will be responsible for key areas within mRelief, including:
Sales and Partnerships: ? Develop and execute strategic plans to achieve $3-5 million annually in State or local sales annually to advance mRelief's mission. ? Build and maintain long-lasting, strong relationships with Directors and Deputy Directors of states, counties, and nationally, establishing relationships with federal government constituents, and political and community leaders in new states. ? Own the end-to-end process of tracking the sales funnel and operational metrics and delivering regular insights to the organization; define and deliver techniques to improve the funnel performance for sales management. ? Create and communicate sales goals and ensure the Board is informed on the progress of those goals. ? Convene an Advisory Committee, a network of former state and county Directors who share in mRelief's mission and vision, and who can aid in advancing partnerships to ensure food is a human right. ? Develop a lead qualification process, analyze and report on the performance of emails, calls, and SMS engagement with reporting and dashboards. ? Understand government industry-specific trends and landscapes. ? Effectively communicate value propositions through presentations and proposals. ? Report on forces that shift strategic directions of accounts and tactical budgets. ? Be an external local and national presence that publishes and communicates program results with an emphasis on the successes of the local program as a model for regional and national replication.
Leadership & Management: ? Work closely with the CTO to ensure we adapt our vision to meet changing circumstances. ? Ensure ongoing local programmatic excellence, rigorous program evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems; recommend timelines and resources needed to achieve the strategic goals. ? Actively engage and energize Board members, partnering organizations, donors, and funders. ? Develop, maintain, and support a strong Board of Directors; seek and build Board involvement with strategic direction for both ongoing local operations as well as for the national rollout. ? Lead, coach, develop, and retain mRelief's senior management team, including a CFO, Director of Development, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Director of Operations. ? Alongside the CTO, ensure effective systems to track scaling progress, and regularly evaluate program components, so as to measure successes that can be effectively communicated to the Board, funders, and other constituents.
Internal Communications: ? Work with the CTO to plan national expansion and complete the strategic planning process. ? Collaborate with the Director of Development on national revenue generating and fundraising activities to support existing program operations and regional expansion. ? Deepen and refine all aspects of communications—representing mRelief to media and press, at conferences and other public events. ? Use external presence and relationships to garner new opportunities for funding and partnerships.
Candidate Profile
The successful candidate will be an experienced strategic thinker who has demonstrated thoughtful, empathetic leadership with a careful approach to scale. With the ability to prioritize and delegate across teams, this individual will bring a range of organizational experiences and management tools to deftly guide a highly motivated and collaborative team toward shared goals with intentionality and a clear connection to the organization's mission and core values. This ideal leader will be skilled in both articulating a vision that generates engagement from a range of constituents, including staff, Board, partners, and funders, and translates that vision into concrete actions to be carried out across the organization.
In addition, the ideal candidate will possess the following attributes and competencies:
Strategic Organizational Leadership ? Considers the future of the organization proactively and responsively; weighs diverse inputs and centers the voices of SNAP participants to inform strategies; identifies innovative opportunities when relevant. ? Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage, and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget.
Change Management and Leading Through Ambiguity ? Takes ownership of and embraces change, while guiding the team to do the same, by clearly communicating goals/plans and expectations, gathering feedback, and addressing blockers. ? Willingness and eagerness to work on transformative technology in a startup environment. ? Comfortable with the flexibility involved in actualizing mRelief's ambitious mission, highly adaptable and a quick learner. ? Ability to work independently and take ownership of projects in a remote office environment. ? A track record of effectively leading and scaling a division, product, or organization, preferably in tech or nonprofits.
Passion for the Mission ? Deep passion for mRelief's work and civic technology. ? Strong sense of mission and value alignment with mRelief. ? Passionate about providing a best-in-class service to mRelief's end users who are often marginalized by the status quo.
An Ambassador and Effective Communicator ? Strong marketing, public relations, and fundraising experience with the ability to engage a wide range of constituents and cultures. ? Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills. Leading with Empathy and Inclusivity ? Emotional Intelligence: Displays empathetic and servant leadership, skilled at collaborating with and listening to those with lived experience. ? Actively exercises compassion, clarity, and patience as a leader in managing, communicating, and collaborating with staff. ? Values and prioritizes inclusivity: Actively seeks to leverage diverse perspectives both internally and externally. Understands the role diverse perspectives play in creating strong strategic solutions. Demonstrates transparency around the inclusivity approach and is supportive of feedback about that approach. Actively seeks to build and retain a diverse workforce and fosters an equitable inclusive workplace. ? Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people.
Data-Driven Decision Making ? Manages with data: Seeks opportunities to understand data and identify insights and implications to be used to drive decision making. Encourages the collection of data from unbiased sources. Understands the importance of balancing lived experience insights with technical data. ? Decision-Making: Structures and facilitates data-driven decision-making processes; makes responsible and effective decisions that center the needs of SNAP participants. ? Prioritizes data-driven decision making.
In addition, strong candidates will offer the following: • 5-10 years of senior management or leadership experience. • 3-4 years of experience building and navigating government contracts and relationships. • Experience with lobbyists preferred.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $160,000-180,000. mRelief provides the following generous benefits package:
? Work from anywhere: mRelief is 100% remote, you can work/live anywhere in the continental United States. We'll give you an annual remote-work stipend to support your at-home office, or access to a coworking space near you using DeskPass. ? Health and wellness: mRelief prioritizes nourishment, so we offer healthcare coverage with HMO (Illinois-only) and PPO options, FSA accounts, vision, and dental benefits. As part of our commitment to wellness, we provide a self-care stipend as well as wellness activities. ? Compensation: At mRelief, we are committed to salary transparency and opportunities for mobility. The salary range for this role is listed, and team members are evaluated annually with the opportunity for an increase in compensation and benefits. We also offer a 401K match of employee contributions. ? Work-life balance: New employees join the team with 15 days of paid time off and 10 days of sick time. Additional paid time off is accrued each year with us. ? Paid Parental Leave: New parents are given 12 weeks paid time off. ? Learning: We believe in a culture of learning, so mRelief offers all employees professional development opportunities to foster their growth and covers educational costs for continuing education. ? Every other Friday mRelief has a half day, ending the workday at 1:30 CST.
Contact
Koya Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Michelle Bonoan and Marisa Chock of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. Express interest in this role by filling out our Talent Profile. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
mRelief is an equal-opportunity employer which takes great pride in the diversity of its team. All candidates will be given equal consideration without respect to protected characteristics, and we encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.
About Koya Partners
Koya Partners, a part of Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.