Executive Director

The Long Now Foundation; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

The Long Now Foundation, based in San Francisco, seeks an Executive Director to steer its mission for long-term thinking in the next chapter. You will shape strategy with the Board, lead a talented team, and expand fundraising, earned revenue, and public programming to engage global thinkers and supporters.

This senior role reports to the Board of Directors and carries a competitive compensation package aligned with experience.

Qualifications

• Experience in leading a mission-driven organization or cultural institution.
• Strong ability to fundraise from individuals, foundations, and institutions.
• Proven ability to build relationships across diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Formulate and execute strategic direction with the Board.
• Lead and support the team with a culture of trust and high performance.
• Refresh and lead fundraising strategy, personally cultivating major gifts and partnerships.
• Oversee earned revenue streams (membership, venue rentals, events) and ensure financial health.
• Curate and present programs, public storytelling, and external communications.

Skills

Leadership

Fundraising

Relationship building

Board partnership

Mission alignment

Public presence

Job description

Executive Director of The Long Now Foundation

The Long Now Foundation seeks an Executive Director to lead the organization into its next chapter: a thirty-year-old institution being built for the next ten thousand years. We are looking for an ambitious, thoughtful leader with the instincts of both a builder and a steward, the vision to shape Long Now's future, and the ability to bring people along — intellectually, creatively, and financially.

About Long Now

The Long Now Foundation is a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded in 01996 with a mission to foster long-term thinking in the framework of the next 10,000 years. We believe that civilization-scale challenges call for civilization-scale thinking, and that a positive future depends on multigenerational institutions willing to act as good ancestors.

Long Now has welcomed more than 13,000 members in over 65 countries over 30 years, with a Talks audience of more than 100,000 subscribers across podcast and video. Long Now Talks has hosted more than 400 leading thinkers since 02003, and The Interval, our award-winning bar, café, and event space at Fort Mason, serves as a home for Long Now programming and community.

Long Now produces audacious projects that ignite cultural imagination. The Clock of the Long Now is a monument-scale mechanical clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years; the Rosetta Project is an archive of more than 1,500 human languages; and the Nevada Bristlecone Preserve is a two-mile mountain habitat of some of the world's oldest living trees. Long Now continues to develop new expressions of its mission, including Long Now Labs, launched in 02026 to support cross-disciplinary frontier projects.

Core Responsibilities

Vision & Strategy

• Strategic Direction: Shape Long Now's next chapter by developing a multi-year strategic plan in collaboration with the Board that builds on the organization's strengths, clarifies future vision, and sets clear priorities for its resources and impact.

Leadership & Organizational Stewardship

• Board Partnership: Manage and support a high-functioning relationship with the Board Chair, Executive Committee, and full Board of Directors, and partner with the Board on its own growth, including the recruitment and cultivation of new directors.
• Team & Culture: Lead and support the team, fostering a culture of trust and high performance and ensuring the organization has the systems and infrastructure to do its best work.

Fundraising & Financial Leadership

• Fundraising: Refresh and lead Long Now's fundraising strategy and case for support, personally cultivating and closing leadership gifts of $100,000 and above, as well as corporate, foundation, and institutional partnerships.
• Earned Revenue: Oversee growth in Long Now's membership program, venue rentals and sales at The Interval, and other earned revenue streams, which are managed day-to-day by staff.
• Financial Stewardship: Maintain steady oversight of Long Now's financial health, including cash flow, P&L, and budget versus actuals.

Programs & Communications

• Curation: Track the broader intellectual landscape, identify areas of unique alignment and impact, and cultivate relationships with leading thinkers and builders across Talks, Salons, Labs, and Pace Layers.
• Program Execution: Serve as a primary curator and public host, oversee final programs & their digital products.
• Communications & Public Storytelling: Shape Long Now's external communications and audience engagement strategy, and develop its public storytelling through op-eds, podcasts, keynotes, and media relationships.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for a leader who combines strategic and financial rigor with genuine intellectual curiosity about the long-term thinking field Long Now has helped build. Strong candidates will bring the following:

• Leadership:You have been part of an executive team of a mission-driven organization, cultural institution, company, or venture, with direct accountability for budget, team and strategy.
• Fundraising: You enjoy asking people to back ambitious ideas — and closing. Your experience might come from major gifts, startup capital, investors, sponsorships, or other forms of support.
• Relationship Building: You connect easily and meaningfully with a wide range of people and know how to bring them together around ideas and shared purpose.
• Board Partnership: You know how to work closely and effectively with a Board, particularly around strategy, governance, and organizational change.
• Mission Alignment: You are deeply inspired by and immersed in Long Now’s mission and ideas.
• Public Presence: You are a compelling communicator, curator, host, or spokesperson who can proudly represent Long Now with donors, the media, and leading thinkers from around the world.

Compensation & Location

This is a full-time position based in San Francisco and reporting to the Board of Directors. Total compensation is expected to be in the range of $200,000–$300,000 based on candidate experience, with a competitive benefits package. Long Now is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes candidates of every background who share our commitment to long-term thinking.