Vice President, Community Initiatives

The Canadian Women’s Foundation (the Foundation) is Canada’s public foundation for gender justice and equality. It advances this by growing support for grassroots feminist action, partnering with communities and organizations to improve conditions, and building diverse leadership and knowledge for sustainable change. Through fundraising, granting, research, advocacy, and knowledge sharing, Foundation works to achieve feminist systemic change. By granting to and strengthening local community programs across Canada, the Foundation empowers women, girls and gender-diverse people to move out of violence, out of poverty, and into confidence and leadership. Launched in 1991 by a group of eight trail-blazing women, the Foundation addresses a critical need for philanthropy focused on women and is one of the largest women’s fundraising foundations in the world.  With the support of supporters and donors, the Foundation has raised more than $260 million to fund over 3,300 life-transforming programs across the country. As a leading voice for women, girls and gender-diverse people in Canada, Canadian Women’s Foundation is committed to getting gender equality issues front and centre in the hearts and minds of people in Canada.

It is within this context that the Canadian Women’s Foundation welcomes applications and nominations for the appointment of its Vice President, Community Initiatives (“VP”).

Reporting to President & CEO Mitzie Hunter, the VP is the leader of the Community Initiatives Team and provides strategic direction and oversight of grant making, grantee capacity building, and with assessing the value and risks of special projects and opportunities. The VP works across the Foundation to advance public policy reform and the advocacy work of the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Leading a highly engaged team of approximately 20 through four direct reports, the VP provides mentoring, training and professional development opportunities to the team while ensuring its work aligns with the mission of the Foundation. Working in collaboration with colleagues on the Senior Leadership Team, the VP will define and implement strategic and operational plans as it relates to the Foundation’s impact investing, granting, and other priority initiatives. The VP supports the Foundation’s philanthropic and public relations efforts to steward and acquire donors and partners through maintaining effective public accountability. The VP tracks, reports and shares impact stories from grant making activities, donors and partners.  The VP is a key spokesperson for media interviews, thought-leadership opportunities, and other public relations and engagement opportunities accountability, and an active participant at Board meetings.

As the ideal candidate, your career includes a long-standing leadership on gender equality issues in the nonprofit, charity, or community sector, ideally, on a pan-Canadian, national scale. You have demonstrated the ability to advance knowledge, action, and philanthropy on systemic change for gender equality and justice. You have an extensive understanding of the key critical issues affecting diverse women, girls, , Two Spirit, trans, and nonbinary people in Canada. You also have expert knowledge of the feminist movement in Canada, of gender equality organizations and service providers, and of public policy related to gender equality and the nonprofit sector.  Peers describe you as a subject matter expert in gender equality issues with a deep connection to diverse and traditionally under supported communities, and ideally, you bring knowledge in the related fields of social justice issues, feminist action, and philanthropy. As a people leader, you actively support, mentor and develop your staff team, have experience setting goals and workplans, a demonstrable commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and foster a safe, accessible, and inclusive environment in your organizations. You are an excellent communicator who is at ease presenting in a variety of settings and to a variety of constituents, and bilingualism in both of Canada’s official languages (French/English) is a strong asset.  The ideal candidate embodies what the Foundation is known for:  championing gender equality and justice goals and feminist philanthropy; upholding the values of inclusivity, respect, accountability and support; and grounding themselves in contemporary GBA+ and intersectional feminist lens and analysis framework.

To learn more about this impactful leadership opportunity with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, please submit a comprehensive resume along with a cover letter in confidence to Jane Griffith (jane@griffithgroup.ca) and/or Caroline McLean (caroline@griffithgroup.ca).

Applications must be received by 5pm ET on Friday, November 8^th 2024.

"The Canadian Women’s Foundation is strongly committed to equity in employment and seeks to attract, select, and hire a diverse team with a high level of professional skills, passion for and belief in our vision and mission. It aims to be inclusive of diverse people across gender and sexuality spectrums. This includes people who identify as women, girls, trans, Two Spirit, genderqueer, nonbinary, and 2SLGBTQIA+. If comfortable, the Foundation encourages candidates to share information about their identities, lived experiences, and the communities they are part of in their cover letter.

All qualified candidates are welcome to apply; however, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation and Griffith Group are committed to an inclusive, accessible and welcoming hiring process that provides reasonable accommodation to all applicants. Please advise Jane Griffith (jane@griffithgroup.ca) should you require any accommodation to participate in the recruitment and/or assessment processes.