Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry 

Executive Director

Overview:

Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry (Aurora Food Pantry) is seeking a new Executive Director to replace our current ED who is retiring after 10 years of leading the organization. This is a full-time salaried position located in Aurora, Illinois.

For 37 years, Aurora Food Pantry has helped reduce food insecurity and hunger and their negative impact on the individuals who experience them and the community as a whole, by making nourishing food accessible to anyone in need in a humanitarian and compassionate manner. Food is available at the organization’s professional, new client-choice pantry, as well as through several special programs that address the needs of low-income school children and senior citizens. Aurora Food Pantry provides value-added services to its clients through collaborations and partnerships with leading businesses, nonprofit organizations, churches, service organizations, and schools. Last year, Aurora Food Pantry distributed $6.4 million worth of food through its 18,000 sq. ft. facility and mobile units.

AAIFP has a Board of 10 members, an Advisory Board of 21 members, 500 direct service volunteers (40 per day), 8 full-time staff and 3 part-time staff.

Responsibilities:

The Executive Director’s primary role is to plan for and administer programs that fulfill Aurora Food Pantry’s mission of helping end local hunger by ensuring that everyone has access to enough nourishing food, thereby helping our overall community stay healthy and productive.

She/he reports to and operates under the direction of the Board of Directors. The Executive Director’s general responsibilities are as follows:

1. Fundraise adequate operational resources for Aurora Food Pantry programs by managing relationships with donors and sponsors to secure gifts and grants in collaboration with Director of Donor Relations
2. Be highly engaged and community-oriented in educating the public about Aurora Food Pantry programs, the needs they serve and how they benefit the community, and serve as the interface with the media, donors and other groups
3. Manage program implementation including budgeting, staffing, and overall operational oversight
4. Maintain market awareness of key trends to anticipate future needs and develop new programs/partnerships that best meet those needs
5. Work with the Board of Directors on planning and budgeting to ensure effective program management
6. In partnership with the Board President, lead Board of Director development (recruitment, orientation, engagement, strategy, fundraising, etc.)
7. Provide overall management of staff and a volunteer network

Qualifications:

Desired personality attributes:

• Versatility, adaptability and flexibility
• Personal drive, energy and engagement
• Strong set of interpersonal and communication skills
• High level of sociability

Desired leadership skills include ability to:

• Maintain an external focus by creating innovative solutions and fostering wide-ranging stakeholder relationships
• Deliver results through skillfully allocating resources, driving accountability and establishing operational excellence
• Set strategy and exemplify a continuous improvement mindset
• Take ownership for decisions and initiative for actions
• Manage through complex and ambiguous circumstances
• Build strong teams by developing, motivating and engaging others

Desired Professional Experiences include having:

• Worked with a nonprofit board of directors and an understanding of how it functions
• Managed key stakeholder relationships in the community, including with individual and institutional donors, clients, vendors, sponsors and partners
• Managed volunteers and staff
• Been visible in the community, conducted public speaking and worked with the media
• Successfully developed and rolled out new programs/initiatives
• Managed organization finances and facilities