Vice President of Finance (Washington)

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is one of the nation’s leading racial justice legal organizations. Formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy, the Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real.

The Committee has litigation, public policy, and advocacy programs in the substantive areas of Voting Rights, Election Protection, Digital Justice, Economic Justice, Criminal Justice, Economic Opportunities, and Fair Housing. It advanced its mission as the premier organization marshaling the resources of the private bar alongside our own talented staff, with over 1 million pro‑bono hours billed to cases and matters over the past decade.

Job Title

Vice President of Finance

Location

Washington, DC

Job Type

Full‑time

Union Affiliation

Non‑Union

Accountable to

Chief Operating Officer

About the Role

The Vice President of Finance is the organization’s senior finance leader, accountable for financial strategy, planning, analysis, compliance governance, internal‑control framework, and fiscal stewardship for a $25M+ operating budget and a $60M asset portfolio. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Vice President serves as a strategic advisor to the COO, Executive Management, and Board committees on financial sustainability, scenario planning, budget strategy, risk management, and optimized financial systems and operations.

This role leads organization‑wide financial planning and analysis, annual and mid‑year budget processes, dashboard development, financial reporting, and finance systems improvement. The Vice President translates complex financial information into clear, actionable recommendations that support organizational decision‑making, long‑term sustainability, and the Committee’s civil‑rights mission. The Vice President directly supervises the Finance Manager, who leads accounting operations, monthly close coordination, internal‑controls execution, and day‑to‑day outsourced accounting vendor delivery.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Strategic Financial Leadership and FP&A: Translate complex financial data into actionable executive and Board‑level insights that guide long‑term sustainability, capitalization strategy, resource allocation, and organizational risk management.
• Lead organization‑wide financial planning, forecasting, budget analysis, and dashboard development, including standardized financial indicators across programs, operations, restricted funds, and institutional resources.
• Evaluate finance department efficiencies and build business cases for technology modernization, systems automation, process improvement, and capacity building.
• Advise the COO and Executive Management on financial implications of strategic decisions, staffing plans, program growth, funding shifts, vendor strategy, and organizational risk.

• Scenario Modeling and Budget Strategy: Design and lead the annual budget formulation process in partnership with the COO, Executive Management, program leaders, Development, and Operations, ensuring transparent assumptions, clear timelines, and strong cross‑functional accountability.
• Construct scenario models that stress‑test revenue streams, restricted funding, staffing assumptions, major initiatives, cash flow, investment volatility, and sustainability risks.
• Establish mid‑year reforecasting protocols that support agility while maintaining compliance, fiscal discipline, and operational accountability.
• Provide budget guidance and tools that help non‑finance leaders understand tradeoffs, trends, risks, and financial decision points.

• Cash Flow, Liquidity, and Asset Management: Monitor and optimize working capital, generating rolling short‑ and long‑term liquidity forecasts to support operations and maximize yield while protecting capital needs.
• Oversee banking relationships, cash positioning, lines of credit, liquidity planning, investment advisor coordination, and restricted‑fund allocations.
• Ensure cash management practices align with organizational risk tolerance, operating needs, reserve policies, investment policies, and Board or committee expectations.

• Board, Finance Committee, and Audit Committee Support: Prepare high‑level financial narratives, dashboards, variance analyses, and operational metrics for Board review.
• Serve as the lead finance staff liaison, in partnership with the COO, to the Finance and Audit Committees, providing clear reporting on budget performance, financial health, audit readiness, investment activity, and emerging risks.
• Help non‑financial leaders and Board members understand financial trends, tradeoffs, risks, and decisions through clear written materials, presentations, and recommendations.

• Investment Oversight and Fiduciary Governance: Monitor the organization’s $60M asset portfolio in coordination with external investment advisors, ensuring reporting is aligned with investment policies, liquidity needs, risk tolerance, and Board or committee expectations.
• Coordinate with external investment advisors and institutional managers to prepare performance summaries, reconciliations, and executive‑level financial analyses.
• Flag investment, liquidity, reserve, or policy issues that require leadership or committee attention.

• Risk Management, Compliance, and Internal Control: In collaboration with legal, compliance, Development, and operations counterparts, identify, evaluate, and mitigate financial and operational exposures across funding streams.
• Establish, document, and monitor financial policies, approval workflows, reconciliations, and controls to reduce institutional risk and strengthen accountability.
• Ensure finance practices are aligned with GAAP, nonprofit accounting standards, Uniform Guidance, funder restrictions, organizational policies, and applicable regulatory requirements.

• Technology, Systems, and Workflow Modernization: Evaluate, modernize, and streamline the finance technology stack, including Sage Intacct workflows, budgeting and forecasting tools, dashboards, reporting automation, document retention, and cross‑functional reporting processes.
• Drive workflow automation across processes and systems to maximize efficiency, reduce manual error, eliminate operational bottlenecks, and improve financial visibility for leaders.
• Build reporting tools and processes that reduce single points of failure, strengthen finance continuity, and support scalable financial operations.

• Team, Vendor, and Department Leadership: Lead, supervise, coach, and develop the Finance Manager, ensuring clear accountability for accounting operations, monthly close, vendor delivery, internal‑controls execution, and team workflows.
• Provide senior oversight of the Senior Accountant and outsourced accounting vendor through the Finance Manager, including quality control, service expectations, issue escalation, and performance management.
• Create a finance department culture grounded in accuracy, accountability, collaboration, service, transparency, continuous improvement, and mission alignment.
• Promote cross‑training, documentation, backup coverage, and role clarity to strengthen continuity and reduce single points of failure within the finance function.

Minimum Requirements and Competencies

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field required; CPA and/or MBA strongly preferred. Equivalent senior nonprofit finance leadership experience may be considered.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible finance, accounting, FP&A, audit, or nonprofit financial leadership experience, including at least five years leading teams, vendors, systems, budgets, audits, or cross‑functional finance initiatives.
• Demonstrated expertise in nonprofit fund accounting, GAAP compliance, net asset restrictions, restricted revenue tracking, grant‑related financial reporting, and audit readiness.
• Experience managing or overseeing budgets of $20M+ and advising senior leadership on financial strategy, risk, forecasts, and resource allocation.
• Experience with investment reporting, liquidity planning, cash management, banking relationships, and Board or committee financial reporting preferred.
• Deep familiarity with modern cloud‑based ERP systems, budgeting/modeling tools, dashboards, and workflow automation; Sage Intacct experience strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to distill complex financial concepts into clear strategies, written narratives, presentations, and recommendations for non‑finance leaders, Board members, and staff.
• Strong executive judgment, discretion, confidentiality, analytical judgment, and ability to manage risk while supporting mission‑driven work.
• Demonstrated people leadership, vendor management, change management, project management, and cross‑functional collaboration skills.
• Superior attention to detail and commitment to accuracy, compliance, documentation, accountability, and follow‑through.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial justice, civil rights, equity, and working effectively in a diverse environment.

Ready to Make an Impact?

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