ORGANIZATION

CONSTELLATION FUND

POSITION
Chief Operating Officer

BRIEF
Ballinger Leafblad is pleased to conduct the
search for a Chief Operating Officer at
Constellation Fund in Minneapolis,
Minnesota

www.ballingerleafblad.com
ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
Constellation Fund is a nonprofit organization with an
innovative approach to fighting poverty. Modeled after the
Robin Hood Foundation in New York City and Tipping Point
Community in San Francisco, the Constellation Fund makes
evidence-based investments of philanthropic resources in
nonprofit organizations that make the largest measurable
improvements to the living standards of those below the poverty
line in the Twin Cities.

With one-in-five residents of the Twin Cities living in poverty, the

mission is imperative. The philanthropic community must
strategically focus resources on the interventions providing the
largest poverty-fighting impacts. Constellation addresses this
pressing challenge by applying the principles of modern
economic decision-making to the important business of local
philanthropy.

By carefully leveraging peer-reviewed research, local

demographic information, and data from nonprofits,
Constellation conducts quantitative and qualitative analysis in
order to identify and fund poverty-fighting interventions that,
judged with the best available evidence, are the most impactful.

Members of the Board of Directors at the Constellation Fund

underwrite Constellation’s operating costs. Therefore, every
outside dollar raised by the organization goes directly to its
carefully-selected nonprofit grantees.

Grantee organizations are provided not only with funding, but

also with access to best-in-class pro bono partners that provide
invaluable services and expertise otherwise inaccessible to most
nonprofits. These resources serve to further improve and scale
their impacts.
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HISTORY ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Prior to the start of Constellation Fund, Founder
Andrew Dayton lived in San Francisco and gained
insight into nonprofit start-ups. Andrew was inspired
by an organization called Tipping Point, which
focused on fighting poverty in the Bay area. The
company identified the most impactful nonprofit
organizations in order to more efficiently give back to
people in need.
Intrigued, Dayton assembled a team of experts in
policy, economics and poverty alleviation and founded
the Constellation Fund in 2018. The organization has
one goal: to eradicate poverty by using predictive
analytics to get the best possible return on
philanthropic investment .
Since its founding, Constellation Fund staff have built
grantmaking processes for a pilot grant cycle and
developed methods and procedures to estimate the
economic impact of potential non-profit partners. This
research consisted of identifying and summarizing
evidence of the effectiveness of nonprofit programs,
identifying demographic characteristics of low-
income individuals, and designing protocols to capture
monetary benefits for these individuals.
Constellation Fund awards grants to nonprofit
organizations with no restrictions on the use of funds,
a rare form of capital in the philanthropic sector that
allows the organizations to grow their impact
purposefully. In addition, grantees receive
connections to best-in-class pro bono partners to
provide services and expertise otherwise inaccessible
to most poverty-fighting organizations.
The ‘culture’ of Constellation Fund is
emerging. The culture reflects a spirit of
innovation and creativity that values
patience and urgency equally while being
deeply engaged in addressing significant
disparities across the community.
Constellation Fund has a culture that is
further identified by an entrepreneurial
mindset in tandem with a deep
investment in the longitudinal work--
required to have the necessary impact and
outcomes.
Leadership and staff at Constellation
Fund support solutions by focusing on
leveraging philanthropic opportunities to:
-build on quantifiable solutions
-implement new practices
-elevate an emerging narrative about the
significant impact targeted contributions
can have in addressing some of our
deepest community disparities
The culture is a nurturing environment
reflective of a passion and interest to
grow something unique across the
community landscape. Staff seek to act
with agility and creativity and function at
the highest possible level.

This model sets the stage for ongoing analysis,

grantmaking and impact assessment by the
organization.
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 VALUES IMPACT AREAS MISSION

Impact Education Fight poverty in the Twin

Courage Employment Cities by raising the living
Interdependence Health standards of individuals living
Transparency Housing below the poverty line in the
Rigor seven-county metro area.

VALUES Transparency
• Seek candid feedback and work to deeply understand before
Impact reacting.
• Make every decision with one question in mind: what will • Admit mistakes freely and openly.
have the greatest impact for those living in poverty in the • Share information and assets proactively.
Twin Cities? • Provide polite, honest, and timely feedback to colleagues and
• Make informed, reasoned choices in the face of ambiguity or partners.
pressure.
• Seek to identify root causes and to move beyond treating Rigor
• Engender confidence by demonstrating consistent results.
symptoms.
• Invite and accomplish remarkable amounts of meaningful
• Challenge prevailing assumptions and pursue better
work.
approaches. • Strive relentlessly to improve our organization and our
community.
Courage
• Recognize that we all have biases and work to grow past them.
• Follow the best available evidence, even when it’s
uncomfortable.
• Willing to respectfully rethink the status quo.
• Make tough decisions, take smart risks, and are open to
possible failures.
• Question actions inconsistent with our values.

Interdependence
• Go to great lengths to carefully select our partners, and we
trust them.
• Treat everyone with kindness, respect, and compassion.
• Build strong partnerships and celebrate each unique
contribution.
• Seek and embrace diverse perspectives to make better
decisions.
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 IMPACT AREAS
Constellation Fund invests in and empowers organizations that
demonstrably raise the living standards of individuals living in
poverty in the Twin Cities. Since launching, Constellation has
conducted over 50 rigorous, six-month evaluations of nonprofit
organizations addressing poverty in the Twin Cities across four
main programmatic areas: education, employment, health, and
housing. These are broad categories, so Constellation prioritizes
the evaluation of organizations addressing the key drivers that
local data and research indicates are exacerbating inequities in
each impact area.

Since the Board of Directors and Leadership Funders cover all of

Constellation’s overhead costs, every dollar donated is invested in
the organizations making the most impact in alleviating poverty
in the Twin Cities.

Education Health

Employment Housing

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GRANTMAKING
The parameters required of organizations to receive grants are:
• Organizations must operate within one or more of the
following counties in the seven-county Twin Cities region:
Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, or
Washington.
• Organizations must predominately serve those living below
185% of the federal poverty line in our community.
• A significant portion of the organization’s programs must
address one or more of Constellation’s core poverty-fighting
impact areas: education, housing, health, and employment.
Constellation has built an initial portfolio of 30 grantees. On
average, these grantees are projected to turn every dollar
invested into $5.30 of lifetime health and wealth improvements
for individuals experiencing poverty, more than twice the
projected $2.60 improvement from those organizations that
Constellation has evaluated but declined to fund.
While this contrast is stark, it likely understates the long-term
impact of fidelity to an objective, evidence-driven approach to
poverty alleviation. The average poverty-fighting return-on-
investment for the top quartile of organizations evaluated by
Constellation is $7.10-to-1, as compared to $1.50-to-1 for the
bottom quartile. As the sample size of evaluations continues to
grow, it stands to reason that the overall impact of
Constellation’s ever-refining portfolio will continue to grow with
it.
Constellation sees itself as playing a specific and necessary role
within the broader approach to alleviating poverty in the
community: to objectively identify and holistically support the
nonprofits that have the potential to become the mighty oak
trees in our community, providing transformational impact for
those who need it most.
Constellation’s metrics are:
A STANDARD FOR COMPARING OPPORTUNITIES
Metrics allow for the weighting of similar and dissimilar
programs.
A TOOL FOR ACHIEVING TRANSPARENCY
Constellation welcomes outside voices to examine, critique and
improve our metrics.
A DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE
What do our highest-scoring grantees have in common? Our
lowest?
A METHOD FOR ASSESSING CONSTELLATION
We measure our own impact the same way we measure our
grantees: how much poverty we eliminate with each dollar we
spend.
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 P R OF
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CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

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The Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Constellation Fund is a talented individual with several characteristics--a spirit of innovation;
success in building out systems and structures in support of organizational efficiency; a dedication to the greater good as it relates to
community outcomes; strong analytical abilities, emotional intelligence and cultural competence; a clear passion for poverty alleviation,
and subject matter understanding in the areas of public health, health disparities, and health equity; strong organizational and
interpersonal communication skills and the experience as a systems thinker.

The COO will provide leadership to the organization and will oversee internal systems and the cultivation of organizational culture while
serving as a thoughtful co-developer and lead executor of the business plan.

Additionally, the COO will provide support across teams within the organization in achieving P&L results. The COO will do this by
leading, managing, and holding the Constellation team accountable for the effective deployment of organizational resources and the
work that staff are responsible for carrying out related to their roles.

The work of the COO will include effective implementation of Constellation’s evidence-based approach to grantmaking, establishing and
successfully nurturing grantee partnerships and relationships in an effort to identify, support, and scale our community’s most
impactful health assets in the fight against poverty.

Essential Responsibilities
Operational Leadership

• Actively participate on the executive leadership team, providing leadership for development of organizational goals and
strategies.
• Design and/or develop internal operational systems in support of the ongoing build out of the Constellation
infrastructure needs.
• Coordinate and monitor all operational activities.
• Ensure highly productive relationships and partnerships for the benefit of the organization.
• Work alongside community leaders, senior staff/board members and working committees.
• Liaise with other organizational leaders to design approaches and systems to ensure that knowledge created in all of the
departments is aligned with innovative solutions to leverage impact for our constituents.
• Translate Constellation’s strategic plan into annual work plans for all areas of responsibility.
• Establish and maintain department budgets.

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Organizational Leadership
• Effectively support the ongoing development of the Leadership team across the organization creating a collaborative and
energizing team dynamic while leveraging the unique strengths of team members.
• Work with all departments to shape the systems (HR, Finance, Grantmaking processes) and processes that create and maintain
organizational efficiencies, strong communications, informed decision-making and fiscal and mission accountability.
• Attract, retain, motivate and develop staff.
• Provide thought-partnership and leadership while demonstrating a commitment to the organizational values and purpose of
the organization.
• Conduct performance appraisals, coach staff in the development and execution of plans. Offer management when needed and
guidance when appropriate to develop direct reports including prioritizing work, training and coaching, providing leadership
insight to problem solving, performance evaluation, and regularly tracking progress on workplans.
• Promote a positive work environment where two-way, open communications and strong sense of trust is established.
• Demonstrate a clear understanding of internal and external customers and constituents of Constellation’s work. Be an
outstanding role model for customer service.

Board & External Relations

• Attend board meetings and provide board summaries of operating performance as directed by CEO.
• Develop strong and trusting relationships with board members.
• Act as an effective ambassador for Constellation in external communications.

Planning & Evaluation Leadership

• Assist the CEO in long range planning.

• Support and review the efficacy of Constellation’s programs, including the cost-effectiveness and quality of product and service
provision to best achieve Constellation’s mission.
• Lead facility planning, design and project management.
• Oversee annual organization, department and individual staff goal planning and periodic evaluation processes. Advise staff and
CEO on goal achievement.

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Community Impact

• Developing and driving strategies to achieve desired community impact, assuring effective utilization of resources and approaches.
• Partnership and collaboration with other departments to ensure coordination of community impact priorities and strategies.
• Providing oversight and relationship management of client foundations and assigned support organizations.

Competencies
• Analytical and Critical Thinking. Skilled with investigating and summarizing qualitative and quantitative data, drawing useful and
nuanced findings, and asking critical questions to refine conclusions.

• Cultural Competence, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion. A commitment to the values and best practices that inform and
influence the core purpose and values of the organization.

• Teamwork. Comfort with and enthusiasm for working in a small team and contributing to the generation of new ideas while also
maintaining an effective autonomous workflow.

• Partnership Building. Enthusiasm for and ability to build and maintain strong interpersonal relationships and partnerships with
outside organizations and individuals to inform and improve internal work-product.

• Project Management. Demonstrated effectiveness in organizational and time management skills.

• Program Evaluation. Solid experience with and understanding of program evaluation methods, including quantitative techniques.

• Communication Skills. Ability to speak and write clearly, effectively, and succinctly, including under time pressures. Ability to
synthesize information and tell narrative stories about what qualitative and quantitative data means for grantees and for those
living in poverty in the Twin Cities.

• Emotional Intelligence and Humility. Ability to acknowledge the achievements of others, to share credit, and to welcome feedback.

• Empathy and Respect. A high degree of awareness for the immense challenges facing people experiencing poverty, poverty-fighting
organizations, and social services work, and respect for the individuals dedicated to those important efforts.
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Qualifications
• Related education, such as a Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations or related field.
• Relevant experience, such as ten or more years of successful professional experience working with the types of community
groups or organizations served by the Constellation Fund. This might include managerial experience working with a CEO,
supervising a staff and interacting with a board.
• Demonstrated success working with nonprofit service providers, foundations and/or other nonprofit enterprises and policy
leaders preferred.
• Expertise in related subjects, such as public health, health disparities, and health equity.
• Demonstrated success in designing and sustaining management and operational plans, using long-term goals and annual
objectives as a framework.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to adroitly handle detailed interactions with high-level stakeholders.
• Experience leading the execution of complex projects; proven ability to work collaboratively with numerous stakeholders.
• Confidence and competence in learning and using existing and new technologies.
• An informed perspective around diversity and committeed, demonstrated cultural competence.
• Customer service orientation.
• Proven experience working across departments or organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively and proactively interact, communicate, and collaborate on multidisciplinary teams and with
people from cultural backgrounds other than your own.
• Commitment to Constellation Fund's values and mission.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $160,000-$180,000. Constellation offers a benefits package that includes medical and dental
insurance, as well as an employer-matched Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

The Constellation Fund is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race,
color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. Applicants from underrepresented
backgrounds in philanthropy and applicants who identify as low-income are encouraged to apply.

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 WE INVITE YOU TO GET IN TOUCH.

Lars Leafblad, MBA Damon Shoholm, MA

Co-Founder/Principal Partner
612-598-7547 612-723-0824
lars@ballingerleafblad.com damon@ballingerleafblad.com

CIVIC SEARCH. REIMAGINED .

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www.ballingerleafblad.com