The Executive Source
Chief Operating Officer: Mission Delivery
Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta
Headquarters: Mableton, Georgia
Position to be Filled: Spring 2012
THE OPPORTUNITY
Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta (GSGATL) is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, chartered by Girl Scouts of the USA to deliver Girl Scouting in our assigned geographic territory. The Chief Operating Officer: Mission Delivery is a key member of the executive team, charged with leading volunteer services, membership, girl leadership programs, and product sales activities throughout our council. These are the core organizational and program elements that make us a Girl Scout Council. We are the largest girl-serving organization in Georgia, now serving 42,000 girls with over 18,000 adult volunteer members in the greater Metropolitan Atlanta Area, northwest Georgia and Polk County, Tennessee. We are currently serving less than 10% of our addressable market each year, and we must reach more girls.
Developing and implementing a sustainable, scalable mission delivery model that enables us to significantly increase the number of girls participating in Girl Scouting’s leadership development programs is a primary responsibility of this position. Girl Scouting is delivered directly to girls through dedicated volunteers in the field, and defining and designing a sustainable and satisfying volunteer experience that supports effective delivery of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience is our number one strategic priority. More volunteers working with more girls will increase the leadership skills of our next generation of business and civic leaders and help ensure that in the future more women are prepared and willing to serve in leadership roles. Our organization is dedicated to building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. We strive to serve girls of all races and ethnicities, without regard to income or place of residence.
We seek a dynamic business leader experienced in managing through others to achieve cross-functional results. Leveraging our strengths and building organizational capacity through effective planning, budgeting and disciplined execution is critical to success, as is the effective use of leading indicators to anticipate outcomes and make course corrections as appropriate. The individual selected must also be effective at developing and maintaining influential relationships in the community to maximize awareness and engagement with families and funders and in identifying and developing opportunities to partner with organizations from the business, non-profit and public sectors to maximize broad-based support for the Council’s efforts.
The resourceful and community-focused person holding this position will provide leadership to staff and volunteers in fostering and growing programs and membership in new and promising venues and in extending service through outreach initiatives to disadvantaged youth segments within the broader population. The Girl Scout Leadership Experience, our national program curriculum, integrates theme-based Girl Scout Journeys with badges offered through the Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting, allowing girls to take the lead in exploring areas that interest them. Volunteers leverage these resources to facilitate and guide girls to Discover, Connect and Take Action in the world around them in a fun, friendly and safe environment, all with grade-appropriate outcomes.
The program platforms that Girl Scouts focuses on, which include Financial Literacy, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Living/Healthy Lifestyles, Career Exploration and Community Service, provide robust opportunities to positively impact young women and help develop them into the leaders of tomorrow. GSGATL also offers an outstanding Outdoor Education Program, with 8 year-round camps (5 of them resident camps fully accredited by the American Camp Association) with access to program resources like equestrian, aquatic and outdoor challenge courses. Today’s Girl Scouts is about much, much more than just cookies, crafts and camping!
Employing outside the box thinking and a collaborative work style, the COO: Mission Delivery will develop and implement solutions to significantly enhance:
• Adult volunteer recruitment, on-boarding, training, engagement, development and retention across all program age levels.
• Girl membership recruitment, engagement and retention across all age levels.
• Program opportunities for girls and adults to participate in Girl Scouts outside the more
traditional, troop-based participation model.
• Identification, development and management of outreach program initiatives, many in non-
traditional venues.
• Planning and execution of product sales activities, our primary financial literacy program for girl
members and GSGATL’s single most important source of funding for all our work.
The COO: Mission Delivery will report to the Chief Executive Officer and manage approximately 60 full- and part-time staff in both office and field based locations. Budgetary responsibility will be approximately $16-$18 million. Success in this position requires the ability to manage human capital in a highly decentralized environment. Recognition of the fundamental and strategic importance of the large corps of volunteers is essential; the ability to capitalize on the strengths of volunteers is critical to the Council’s success.
COUNCIL STATISTICS
42,000 girl members and 18,000+ dedicated adult volunteers. The Council’s gross budget is $23 million. Its combined facilities includes the headquarters office and volunteer service center/3 remote retail store service centers, and 8 operating camps, with combined assets of over $30 million. Total staff presently consists of 118 full- and part-time employees, plus seasonal staff ranging between 250-300.
GIRL SCOUTS OF THE USA TODAY
Girl Scouts is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year, and has boldly proclaimed 2012 as the Year of Girl. With over 2.3 million girl members and nearly 900,000 adult members, Girl Scouts of the USA is the largest organization for girls in the world. Having recently installed a talented and dynamic national CEO, Anna Maria Chávez, the organization is poised for growth and a renewed dedication to the girls of America. Girl Scouts has recently launched the boldest advocacy initiative dedicated to girls' leadership issues in the nation's history (see ToGetHerThere.org) to bring leadership development for girls and young women into mainstream conversation across the country. Supported by fact based research and landmark studies around what makes girls ready, willing and able to lead, their long-term goal and call to action is urgent: to create gender-balanced leadership within a single generation. The COO: Mission Delivery at Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta will have a significant opportunity to influence and impact the success of this critical national initiative at the local level and to engage with peers across the nation in shaping the course of the national movement well into the future.
Reference:
JOB118113