Board service at Bottom Line presents a unique and rewarding opportunity to align with a best-in-class college access and success organization and make meaningful contributions to one of the most important and urgent social issues of our time. Please consider joining the Bottom Line Regional Advisory Board to advance our efforts to promote educational equity and combat multi-generational poverty through the power of a college degree.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Bottom Line's New York Advisory Board is charged with carrying out Bottom Line's mission in New York by ensuring that the regional team is securely positioned, financially and otherwise, to successfully execute its strategy. The board, which receives oversight and support from the National Board of Directors, the organization's CEO, and the local Executive Director, is currently composed of eleven members, with a goal of growing to 15 members by the end of FY2021.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Bottom Line Advisory Board members serve three-year terms with a maximum of three consecutive terms, for a total of nine years of service. The full board meets a minimum of four times per year, with additional meeting time, tasks, and projects carried out through committees. Key responsibilities include:

  • Ambassadorship: Board members stand for the mission of Bottom Line and help to raise its profile through effective ambassadorship and, where appropriate, advocacy. They cultivate relationships with individuals, corporations, foundations, and educational institutions that will help us to access resources, build strategic alliances, and strengthen our movement.
  • Strategic Planning: Board members are active participants in the formulation and oversight of organizational strategy, goals, and objectives in service of the mission. They provide guidance and thought partnership to ensure organizational effectiveness and programmatic impact.
  • Fundraising/Development/Philanthropy: Board members commit time to develop financial resources for Bottom Line by making a personally significant contribution and soliciting gifts from both within and beyond their personal/professional networks. Each board member commits to a $25,000 "give/get" during each fiscal year.
  • Governance: This responsibility involves assessing board composition and recruiting new members, building board capacity, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the board, and reviewing the performance of individual board members on an annual basis  

QUALIFICATIONS

Ideal board members have the following qualities:

  • A sincere commitment to promoting educational equity and supporting students from low-income backgrounds in becoming the first members of their families to attend college and earn a bachelor's degree
  • Alignment with Bottom Line's core values and competencies, which include authentic relationships, inclusiveness, communication, results, agility, and planning
  • A willingness to invest time and resources to help Bottom Line achieve its strategic goals and objectives

We are currently prioritizing individuals representing companies and industries in which our students are most interested, including health science, human services, and STEM. We are also seeking to build representation in other fields, including media and/or public relations, management consulting, human resources recruiting, legal and law enforcement, hospitality, government relations, and higher education.

Consistent with our organization's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, we encourage people of all races, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, and physical abilities to inquire about this opportunity. First-generation college students are strongly preferred. 

ABOUT US

Founded in 1997, Bottom Line is a nationally recognized, steadily growing nonprofit organization with a mission to support first-generation students from low-income backgrounds in their journeys to get into and through college. We provide students with one-on-one guidance during the college application process and throughout college. We help ensure that students choose the right college (academically, socially, financially) for them, persist to graduation, and pursue a career in their field of choice. Bottom Line currently operates in Massachusetts, Chicago, and New York.

This year our New York office, which was launched in 2011, will partner with 260 high school seniors from all five boroughs and over 2,400 college students at 21 New York college campuses.

Please send a resume and letter of interest to vhulit@bottomline.org with the subject "New York Advisory Board Candidate Materials."