Strategic Finance Director

About DonorsChoose

DonorsChoose is an education nonprofit ensuring every US public school student has the classroom resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive.

Founded by a teacher in 2000, DonorsChoose connects educators with a nationwide community of supporters who believe investing in students today will transform tomorrow. Educators request the materials they know their students need, and donors can choose the classroom, community, or cause they want to support. Since our founding, donors have supported 90% of US public schools. Every request is vetted, resources are delivered to classrooms, and donors can see the impact of their support through transparent reporting and updates from students and teachers. Raising $1.9 billion for classrooms, DonorsChoose has earned top ratings from Charity Navigator, GuideStar, and CharityWatch for its transparency, trust, and impact. Our dedicated team works from across the United States to turn resources into opportunities for students and teachers. 

About the Finance Team

The Finance, IT, & Procurement team provides the infrastructure and stewardship that keep DonorsChoose financially strong, technologically enabled, and focused on getting resources into classrooms. The team manages the day-to-day finances while shaping long-term strategies, ensures our distributed workforce has the technology and systems to work seamlessly, and manages vendor relationships. Together, these functions turn financial resources into tangible materials in the hands of teachers and students.

About the Role

DonorsChoose is seeking a tactical, collaborative Strategic Finance Director who will report to the VP, Finance & Accounting.  You will work closely with senior leaders to provide insights that drive growth, optimize resource allocation, shape cash and margin decisions, and enhance financial performance across the organization. This is a highly cross-functional role for someone who thrives at the intersection of financial analysis and strategic decision-making.  We are looking for candidates who have deep scenario planning and modeling experience – who are able to analyze financial data, build financial models, generate financial forecasts and play a key role in driving business decisions.

About a third of your time will be dedicated towards budgeting, forecasting, and month-end reporting activities as needed while maintaining primary focus on strategic finance and decision support.  

Success in this role requires equal parts analytical rigor, curiosity, creativity, and business judgment. You'll build sophisticated financial models from scratch, pressure-test assumptions, synthesize information from multiple sources, and communicate recommendations that help leaders make better decisions. You'll thrive if you enjoy moving between spreadsheets and strategy conversations and are equally comfortable diving into the details and presenting the story behind the numbers.

Financial Modeling & Business Analysis:

• Build and maintain a 3-statement financial model for budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, scenario analysis, and net asset impacts 
• Independently develop ROI analyses and cost-benefit frameworks that shape prioritization decisions and track the end-to-end lifecycle of initiatives from investment through post-launch impact measurement
• Influence decision-making across senior leaders with actionable financial insights to solve key business challenges and position our organization for growth 
• Partner across the organization to evaluate deal economics, optimize margins, and improve efficiency
• Communicate  executive-ready analyses, dashboards, and Board materials that translate complex financial information into meaningful business insights

Budget & Forecast Management: 

• Lead critical FP&A processes, including annual budgeting process, recurring forecasts, month-end reporting, and preparation of financial reporting for senior leadership and Board presentations

• Improve and automate FP&A processes, systems, and reporting as the company scales by using modern tooling (including AI-enabled solutions) to improve speed and accuracy
• Guide senior leaders on resource allocation and strategic decisions, occasionally presenting at leadership meetings and playing a critical role in influencing change across cross-functional workstreams
• Manage vendor renewal calendars and ensure no material contracts auto-renew without review

Special Projects: 

• Support the build-out of an internal procurement process, one that establishes a centralized function for spend management, contract reviews, vendor selection, and purchasing process.
• Own mission-critical initiatives such as an updated pricing strategy to optimize our margins

Qualifications

• Have 8+ years of related work experience in strategic finance, FP&A, corporate development, management consulting, investment banking, private equity, accounting, or another discipline responsible for financial forecasts and analysis
• Enjoy turning ambiguity into structured analysis and actionable recommendations.
• Build trusted relationships across functions and know how to influence without formal authority.
• Have built sophisticated financial models from scratch—not simply maintained existing models.
• Are naturally curious, ask thoughtful questions, and are comfortable challenging assumptions with data and sound judgment.
• Communicate complex financial concepts in ways that help non-finance leaders make informed decisions.
• Problem solver who is comfortable diving into complex scenarios
• Balance confidence with humility—you have a point of view but remain open to new information and perspectives.
• Tech-savvy and comfortable embracing new systems and tools
• Care deeply about education and share our organization’s commitment to racial and economic equity in America’s public schools
• Experience working with Adaptive Insights or another cloud-based financial planning software
• Comfortable with intermediate Excel/Google Sheet functions (pivot tables, lookup functions, graphs/tables)

Level Expectations

The Strategic Finance Director will independently lead complex analytical work that influences organizational financial strategy and executive decision-making. They own sophisticated financial modeling efforts, develop recommendations with limited direction, and regularly partner with senior leaders across the organization.

While this role does not include direct people management responsibilities, the Strategic Finance Director is expected to exercise significant independent judgment, influence cross-functional decisions through expertise and credibility, and raise the overall quality of strategic financial thinking across DonorsChoose.

Successful team members take work nearly to completion independently, seek thoughtful input at key decision points, and communicate recommendations with clarity, confidence, and sound business judgment.

Compensation & Benefits

Our compensation philosophy ensures that we are both externally competitive with tech-forward nonprofits of a similar size and internally fair in our pay practices. The following ranges represent the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

• The hiring salary range for this role is $109,180 - $125,660
• We have a hiring salary range of $121,540- $142,000 for specific higher cost of labor locations, which include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Once employees are hired, everyone at DonorsChoose is eligible to receive annual performance-based raises as they grow in their role. We are open to a variety of experiences, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced or more senior than this job description as posted. If you don’t check every box listed here, or you know you’d bring additional experience to the table, we hope you’ll submit your application. 

In addition, we offer full-time staff 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays, a rich employer-paid individual and family health plan, a matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary), annual professional development stipend, and casual and flexible work environment. To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our careers page.

Hybrid Workplace and Other Details

In this role, you’ll have the option to work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office, or to work fully remotely from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MN, NC, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, or WI.

Candidates who are not in the NYC area should expect to travel to our NYC office on an as-needed basis, about 4-6 times per year. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization.

DonorsChoose participates in E-Verify. We will provide the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. 

An important note on communications: All messages from our hiring team will come from an official @donorschoose.org email address. If you ever receive a message about a role with us from a different domain, it’s not from us, and you should not reply or click on any links. We care deeply about your time, your privacy, and your experience—thank you for your interest in joining the DonorsChoose mission!

EQUITY
Combating systemic inequity is crucial to a brighter future for all. This reality fuels our ambitions and drives us to persevere.

INGENUITY
Complex problems require innovative solutions. We dream big, get creative, roll up our sleeves, and take action. We believe the best products can change the world.

HUMANITY 
People are the heart of our team and the communities we serve. Our compassion informs our goals and how we work together to achieve them. 

INTEGRITY
We strive to do right. We’re up-front about the facts. We boldly learn and grow from mistakes.

LEARNING
Education is the beating heart of our organization, inside and out. We’re curious. We listen. We know we don’t know everything. 

GRATITUDE
We begin and end with thanks. We take joy in our mission, our communities, and each other.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and answer the application questions online. Since we’re trying to get to know you through our hiring process, we ask that you please refrain from using AI writing tools to craft your response to our application questions. A cover letter is optional and may be addressed to Jim Kao, VP, Finance & Accounting.

A Final Note

The DonorsChoose team works toward a nation where students in every community have the resources needed for an excellent education. To do this we hire and support a diverse team of the best and the brightest talent available because it makes us more effective, high-performing, creative and resilient.

If you are passionate about our mission, highly skilled in your field, and looking for a place where you can bring all of yourself to work, we want you.