Position: Director, Collaborative Governance Academy (CGA)
Status: Full Time, Temporary (1 year) Exempt
Location/Time zone: Remote, U.S.
Deadline to apply: February 27, 2026
Starting Salary Range: $130,000-145,000 annually
About The Collaborative Governance Academy
The ** Collaborative Governance Academy** (CGA), formerly known as the Progressive Governance Academy (PGA), was launched in 2019 as a joint initiative of Local Progress Impact Lab and re:power Fund. The CGA is a national training hub for local and state elected officials, their staff, and movement leaders, to build the skills, strategy, and shared language to govern collaboratively and courageously. We define collaborative governance as breaking down barriers between government and community—centering people who have been historically excluded or marginalized, building authentic partnerships, and developing shared strategies to advance long-term, transformational change.
The CGA is strengthening elected officials’ capacity to govern by supporting newly elected leaders to successfully transition into governance and deepening the expertise of incumbents to build and strengthen the bench of leaders our country needs to ensure a thriving multiracial dDemocracy. Our curriculum emphasizes an organizing approach to governance, including training on skills like power mapping, relational organizing, and coalition building. We also focus significantly on models for collaborative and inclusive governance, working towards a new vision for progressives to hold and exercise governing power.
Since its founding, the CGA has trained over 2,700 state and local officials and their staff. The CGA is a shared venture of values-aligned organizations committed to training, supporting, and enhancing the capacity of elected officials to govern. As we look ahead, we intend for the CGA to become a movement utility not only for state and local electeds, but also for movement leaders and organizations - living into the true definition of collaborative governance.
About the position
The CGA is looking for a deeply collaborative and strategic leader to evolve and elevate this joint initiative, both as a model for progressive leadership development and as a model for collective impact. The CGA Director will bring their vision and expertise to shaping and formalizing the CGA as an enduring program by setting a renewed strategy with a focus on scaling for impact (project budget is currently $1.5M with potential for significant growth). Building on the shared history of collaboration, mutual respect, and productive interdependence between the two CGA lead organizations—Local Progress Impact Lab and re:power Fund—the Director will seek to further cohere our shared vision and leverage our collective resources towards creating the most powerful iteration of the CGA possible.
The CGA Director is responsible for the overall success of the project and leads a variety of executive-level functions to contribute to that success. This includes setting and executing the project vision, providing clear communication and knowledge-sharing across all stakeholders, stewarding resources for the CGA, overseeing the CGA budget, reporting on the successes and challenges of the initiative, and serving as its lead expert and spokesperson. The Director will convene and lead a cross-organizational staff team dedicated to CGA implementation, and will be responsible for providing leadership and supervision for a small dedicated staff team for the initiative.
Reporting
The CGA Director will be employed by re:power and report to its Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives, Rebecca Thompson. Additionally, the CGA Director is responsible, accountable to, and will engage with both CGA lead organizations. The CGA Director works simultaneously with staff from both CGA lead organizations to meet goals of the CGA and support organizational investment in the partnership.
Travel Requirement
This position is required to travel to in-person events including staff retreats, planning meetings, funder meetings, conferences and trainings. This travel is frequent and could exceed 15 trips a year.
Primary Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & People Management
Sets and manages execution of initiative’s vision, goals, and annual work planning with CGA lead organizations. The CGA Director:
Serves as internal and external spokesperson for the CGA;.
Manages CGA work across organizations – ensuring that roles and responsibilities are clear, setting annual goals, quarterly benchmarks and managing project team members to their completion;.
Further collaborative team culture for CGA work that is supportive of the CGA and reflective of the CGA lead organizations’ shared values;.
Designs internal communications strategy that will allow for communicating updates -- including accomplishments, challenges, and needs-- to CGA partners and across organizations;.
Supports CGA lead organizations in their efforts and strategy to incorporate CGA further into their own organizational planning, engagement, and existing work;.
Guides project to annually evaluate project impact and opportunity, gathering and interpreting learnings from CGA participants, external consultants, and staff.
Financial Management & Resource Generation
Oversees all aspects of initiative’s financial management and resource generation, including: creating and implementing systems of financial management, reporting to CGA lead organizations, gathering and allocating resources, and working across the lead organizations related departments (finance, development, operations) to share data and recommendations, and make the best use of collective resources. The CGA Director:
Develops the annual budget for the project based on annual goals and manages distribution of funds across organizations;.
Designs process for regularly communicating budget status updates, gaps, surpluses and makes recommendations for adjustments; .
Works in partnership with the CGA team to track, allocate, and assess program-related expenses, including brokering vendor agreements, monitoring travel budgets, staffing, and other costs;.
In coordination with CGA lead organizations, participates actively in fundraising activities, including focusing on stewarding and cultivating donors and new prospects, drafting fundraising materials, providing quarterly and annual reports, and developing fundraising strategies for the CGA;.
Identifies opportunities to diversify funding for the CGA, including developing and implementing a fee-for-service model.
Program Management and Evaluation
Works across the CGA lead organizations to draw on their expertise and networks, ensures that CGA programming reflects stated values and impact, provides excellent and enriching programs, iterating as needed to incorporate feedback and opportunities for improvement and expansion. The CGA Director:
Serves as program lead, external spokesperson, and as a visible presence, attending 1-2 CGA trainings per month, traveling as needed to participate; .
Creates or organizes the creation of updated materials, toolkits, digital tools for use in program; .
Works in close partnership with CGA lead organizations to support developing and implementing processes for revising the existing CGA curriculum, developing new curriculum, designing methods to monitor progress-to-goal, identifying and training a pool of qualified and effective trainers, evaluating trainings and measuring overall impact;.
Seeks opportunities for community-building and continued engagement with training participants in order to deepen ongoing collective impact, including designing and monitoring a communications strategy centered on engagement and retention.
Qualifications
10+ years of relevant experience, including:
Knowledge of and appreciation for the unique role elected officials hold in the progressive movement with a passion for being in service to this particular constituency;
A commitment to inside/outside strategy and movement governance that features deep partnership between “outside” movement and labor organizing and “inside” elected officials;
Deep understanding of state and local legislatures that can inform work;
Demonstrated experience building consensus and coalition, managing multi-level relationships, and maintaining mutual trust and collaborative processes across partnership and across lines of difference;
Experience grounding work in racial equity: analyzing and addressing the structural impacts of policies, practices, and decisions on different racial groups, and working to eliminate inequities;
Demonstrated success in supervising staff working across a breadth of issues and functions, including the ability to develop team performance and a genuine desire to coach and mentor;
Experience developing and driving impact on successful programs, including budget management and ideally at least some fundraising experience (especially with institutional giving) and abilityable to inspire others to do the same;
Applies knowledge of pedagogy and adult learning techniques to curriculum design and to facilitation of trainings;
Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects, create and execute program work plans, anticipate obstacles and identify ways to navigate challenges, identify and involve stakeholders appropriately, and drive projects independently;.
Demonstrated political acumen and intellectual curiosity, as well as the ability to view old problems with fresh perspectives;
Able to fluently navigate different movement spaces and issue areas, and bring various networks into relationship with the CGA;
Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communications skills;
Willingness to work non-standard hours, including weekends, and travel frequently;
Knows, understands, incorporates and demonstrates the CGA’s mission vision and values in behaviors, practices and decisions.
Alignment with Organizational Missions and Values
As a partnership between Local Progress Impact Lab and re:power Fund, is critical that the CGA Director be aligned with and agree to each organization’s mission and shared values as outlined below:
Local Progress Impact Lab is the national network of progressive elected officials from cities, counties, towns, school districts, villages, and other local governments across the country. Our members are committed to reclaiming cities and counties' power and advancing our shared vision of shared economic prosperity, equal justice under the law, livable and sustainable communities, and good government that serves the public interest.
re:power Fund is a team of organizers, strategists, and technologists dedicated to building transformative political power with Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities (BIPOC). We partner with individuals, organizations, and coalitions nationwide to uncover leaders within communities and create radical change. We imagine a future of inclusive politics where our communities make decisions about our communities at all levels. We intentionally focus on BIPOC communities in recognition of the decades of movement work these communities have led while also being denied access to resources and decision making power.
Shared Values
These shared values were collectively adopted by the CGA team, and are equally applicable to each of our CGA lead organizations. The CGA Director will be responsible for demonstrating the following values in carrying out the day-to day work:
Equity and Inclusion
Collaboration
Accountability
Integrity and Trust
Initiative and Tenacity
Flexibility
Innovation
Compensation and Benefits
Starting salary for this position ranges from $130,000-145,000 with new staff typically coming in at the middle of this range. In an effort to counter pay inequality, the Director, Collaborative Governance Academy’s starting salary range is nonnegotiable and benchmarked to competitive markets in the nonprofit sector. re:power Fund offers a comprehensive benefits package with excellent /health/life/disability insurance, including these and other employment-related benefits:
95% employer-paid health and 90% employer-paid dental insurance premiums for staff and their families;
100% employer-paid life and disability insurance;
Exceptionally generous and flexible paid time off;
401k retirement benefits with a 4% employer match;
FSA enrollment;
90 days of paid parental leave
12 weeks of paid sabbatical leave after 5 years