Issue 14: What does a non-profit Chief of Staff do?
We interviewed two non-profit Chiefs of Staff to see how their day to days compare to a tech/startup Chief of Staff!
Welcome back, aspiring and current Chiefs of Staff!
📣 In case you missed it, we announced the Ask a Chief of Staff Community! We’re big believers that the best people to learn how to be a Chief of Staff from are other Chiefs of Staff and we’re dedicated to bringing together the largest network of aspiring, current, and former Chiefs of Staff there is.
Here’s what to expect from the community membership:
Slack access with channels dedicated to knowledge sharing, template hubs, and perks/discounts for our members
Each quarter, we’ll have a rotating cast of Experts in Residence - these are folks who are senior operators (COOs, former Chiefs of Staff etc) who will be serving as mentors and advisors to our community. For Q2, we have folks like Seisei and JB already slated to join us and they’ll be doing off the record sessions with our community to address any personal challenges and obstacles that our members are facing
Curated 1:1 connections and suggested connections
Mentee and mentorship opportunities
Bi-monthly speakers will come to share their tactical and strategic learnings and best practices with our members
In person local and national events
Additionally workshops like this one on “Deciding What Comes After Your Chief of Staff Role” will be free to all members, but paid for future non-community attendees. Make sure you put your name on the waitlist if you don’t want to miss out on any future workshops!
What’s it like being a Chief of Staff at a non-profit organization?
In previous issues, we’ve explored what it’s like to be a Chief of Staff at a Series A company as well as what it’s like to be a Chief of Staff at a Series B company. This week, we’re exploring the Chief of Staff role at non-profit organizations. The role may not be as common at non-profits, but it certainly does still exist!
For this issue, I interviewed 2 non-profit Chiefs of Staff so you can see what some of the common threads are across the role at these organizations.* Our panelists for today:
Pamela Lee (PL) - Former Chief of Staff at Bank Street College of Education
Lavanya Garg (LG) - Associate Director & Chief of Staff at Good Business Lab
*Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
1. Tell me about yourself and how did you become a non profit Chief of Staff?
PL: My formal background is primarily in the education space: I went through an elementary school teaching program in undergrad and double-majored in Economics, then studied Economics and Education in a Master’s degree. I taught 1st grade in Harlem and spent most of my professional career (a total of over five years) at an education nonprofit called Bank Street Education Center (the Ed Center).
The Ed Center is a division of Bank Street College of Education, and has the mission of disrupting inequities in school systems. I had the amazing opportunity to help establish and grow the organization. As is the case with many folx on small and growing teams, I “wore many different hats” 🎩 and proved myself to be a capable generalist. It also helped that my supervisor and I had a wonderful working relationship: I found myself naturally in a right-hand/thought-partner role with her and took on a Chief of Staff role informally for a couple years before becoming the inaugural Chief of Staff (which was a big deal at the nonprofit!).
LG: I worked for two of our co-founders as a Research Associate (RA) (employed by the University of Michigan) and transitioned to Good Business Lab as the first employee when they decided to start the company - I was very much in the right place, at the right time! Being the first employee I ended up wearing many hats and it was our co-founders who in fact suggested I take the Chief of Staff title to reflect my role adequately.
2. What does a Chief of Staff in a non profit do? What are the main buckets of responsibilities for this role?
PL: Short answer: a little (or a lot) of everything. Another way to think about this role at a nonprofit is the glue that brings everything together 🤓
The longer answer: strategize with your leader (in my case, the Vice President of the org) around short-term and long-term visions, partner closely with senior leaders for alignment toward priorities, cultivate organizational community and ways of working, maintain and improve upon internal systems and processes, document and implement strategic documents, etc.
For example, I partnered with our VP and another senior leader to design and implement divisional touch points including a monthly newsletter, quarterly retreats, and semi-annual informal shared learning spaces. I also collaborated with our HR team, Business Office, and senior leaders to revamp, codify, and implement hiring and onboarding experiences that were equitable, accessible, and exciting for new staff.
LG: The Chief of Staff role in the non-profit space, at least from what I’ve seen, is not as common. Only in the last 2 years or so have I seen this role proliferate a bit more. Even then the number of people who still ask me what I do is significant.
I’ve been in the Chief of Staff role at GBL for a little over 5 years. While the title has remained the same, what I do has changed drastically in response to the company’s growth. Just to give you a sense of our scale: GBL is on a mission to advocate for worker wellbeing in low-income business settings, and today has 100 global full-time staff across nine verticals and four offices around the world, 17 completed and 16 ongoing studies, more than 2 million dollars in funding, and over 200,000 blue-collar workers directly impacted by our work.
In the last 5 years, I’ve worked on the recruitment of the founding leadership team, providing operational support to the CEO, being a trusted advisor to GBL’s Founders Board, maintaining relations with GBL US Board, setting up or strengthening operations of various verticals such as partnerships, design, communications, and people operations, strategizing on international expansion, global governance structure, ensuring alignment across India-based leadership, Founders Board (India and USA), and Regional (Latin America) Directors, organization-wide goals alignment, supporting founders set the vision, mission & culture, and being the voice that helps the organization stay true to its mission.
In addition to the CoS role I’ve also held other portfolios in my journey at GBL, which have complemented this role. Currently, I also lead the Partnerships and People Operations vertical as an Associate Director.
In a nutshell, I’ve had many jobs in one job and the CoS title has been a convenient one to capture many aspects of this!
3. What are some must have skills that you need in order to be successful for this role?
PL: Calibration with your principal is the main key to success. For me, being on the same page as our VP required us to have a mutually trusting & safe relationship where we could be candid with each other around areas for growth and tension points, check to make sure we were aligned in our shared values and the organization’s mission, and strategize around next steps.
Valuable skills include: communicating well in written & verbal forms, active listening, problem-solving, detail-orientation, strategic thinking, design & document creation, project management, people management/organizational development.
LG: I am early in my career and want to experiment and learn as much as I possibly can, which makes me look at this role as an apprenticeship, which I encourage everyone to do. I also assume that anyone in the non-profit sector is highly purpose-driven, and to be successful, you need to never lose sight of that purpose. Stay grounded, stay core to the impact on a day-to-day basis and that is what will not just give you the most joy, it’ll also help you to look beyond external validations (like titles, which are important, but not everything in my opinion) and stay true to your values. This will also enable you to question why you are doing what you are doing and how, without falling into a trap of “this is how something needs to be done” which will push you to innovate, feel challenged, and learn on a daily basis.
Lastly, you have to be comfortable in chaos, resilient, and open to multi-tasking and learning. If you like structure, this role is not for you. You must also be able to build relations and have an entrepreneurial bent of mind.
4. How might someone land a Chief of Staff role at a non-profit?
PL: I found my first role at the Ed Center through my grad school job board, and grew into the Chief of Staff role as my skills developed, my relationship with my supervisor deepened, and as the organization expanded. While that may be a unique formula, I do think connecting with the leader makes all the difference for a Chief of Staff role – especially at a nonprofit since the org size is likely to be on the smaller side. Making connections through mutual friends or colleagues who know how you work and what’s important to you is a helpful way to start as well.
LG: Talk to non-profit leaders! Find gaps in organizations, big or small, your current or a new one, and identify if a Chief of Staff role can add value (my guess is that in many instances the answer here will be yes given how a Chief of Staff role has only just started to proliferate the nonprofit space).
5. What is the most rewarding thing about being a nonprofit Chief of Staff?
PL: The impact. The hustle mentality of nonprofit teams coupled with folx’ strong mission-orientation often lends itself to creating powerful products for your external partners or to designing insightful community-building experiences for internal staff. We often talked about how important shifting hearts & minds is, in addition to believing in the power of data, of course 😉 It was always awesome to hear firsthand how an experience we designed changed how teachers, school leaders, district leaders, etc. felt about their practice, back up our reflections with data, and strategize with our partners around lasting impact.
LG: The impact you can have, not just on your immediate team but the wider world based on your mission.
6. What is the most challenging thing about being a nonprofit Chief of Staff?
PL: Oftentimes, nonprofit teams are understaffed and overworked. I found myself in and out of burnout for many years, which is not uncommon for those at nonprofits or in the Chief of Staff role. Discovering and establishing your own boundaries, as well as having honest conversations with colleagues, is vital to managing burnout (I’m still reminding myself of this as I search for my next role!)
LG: The most challenging and beautiful part is that a nonprofit Chief of Staff role doesn't need to be “time-bound” - often the impact you are working towards will take years to come to fruition. Any impact-focused work is a slow burn. So, you can really stick around, hone your skills, and develop industry/topic expertise alongside a generalist role. At the same time though, you do not want to feel stuck which means you have to put in extra effort into thinking about your unique growth path within the organization (if you choose to stick around beyond the stipulated one-two years of a Chief of Staff role in other sectors).
7. What advice would you have for an aspiring nonprofit Chief of Staff?
PL: More big-picture advice: reflect on what you’re looking for in a Chief of Staff role – are you prioritizing professional growth, compensation, flexibility, organizational mission, alignment with leadership? Short-term Chief of Staff stint as a stepping stone or career Chief of Staff? Why are the things you’re looking for most important to you right now? How can you best tell your story while also showing how awesome of a candidate you are?
Concrete moves: revamp your resume to highlight your accomplishments and skillsets (Shaina & Clara’s recent workshop is a wonderful place to start!), narrow your search based on your priorities, reach out to connections (especially those who enjoy where they work), shoot your shot! 🚀 Many organizations hiring for a Chief of Staff often need someone to start like, yesterday, so see if you can anticipate this need for any org you have an eye on or have connections with.
LG: Go after a purpose that motivates you and stay in touch with the impact - value alignment and being grounded to who you are working for ultimately (the people a non-profit serves) will chisel your strategy and make you stronger at what you do. I’ve been effective at what I do because I started as a Research Associate, I’ve spent time in the field, understanding our research, data, and field operations, and most importantly understanding the struggles of blue-collar workers.
💜 Huge thank you to Pamela Lee and Lavanya Garg for participating in this interview! We so appreciate them sharing their insights as Non-Profit Chiefs of Staff and hope that this newsletter has helped inform you about the role at these organizations!
Open Chief of Staff Roles:
Open Chief of Staff roles will now be posted in our Ask a Chief of Staff Community! Make sure you join the waitlist for early access and first look at new Chief of Staff roles that we’re hiring for 👀
Additional Chief of Staff Related Reads:
What is a Chief of Staff in Tech and The Role of CoS
You’re Already Moving Toward Your Next Career
My experience as a Chief of Staff and my new title now
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👋🏼 Until the next issue,
Clara
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