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 etablishes Youth Speaks as a national leader in youth narrative power and programming.

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GROW

Youth Speaks’ leadership capacity by hiring and developing talent to achieve ambitious organizational goals and reduce burnout.

Revenue strategy and fundraisingStrategic planning and vision-settingRelationship and trust buildingExternal relations and community engagementBuild and develop organizational leadership capacity

A MONTH IN THE LIFE

WHEN/WHERE/HOW MUCH

Start date: Fall 2025

Location: Remote

Salary range: $200,000 - $220,000 plus benefits

POSITION REPORTS TO

The Youth Speaks Board of Directors

APPLICATION DEADLINE

October 6, 2025 at 11:00 pm 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

Must Read

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“[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

Jennifer Lou

Youth Speaks

Interim Co-Executive Director

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Tony Francis

Youth Speaks

Board Member

Alyson Palmer

Youth Speaks

Board Member

Bijal Parikh

Youth Speaks

Board Member

Wes Hart

Youth Speaks

Board Member

Corey Ponder

Youth Speaks

Board Co-Chair

This position was originally posted by Youth Speaks and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link below. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.

Youth Speaks

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