Nonprofit Executive Director

Agriculture Stewardship Hawaii; Waipahu (HI); On-site; USD 115,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Paid Vacation

Paid Sick Leave

Paid Holidays (14)

401(k) Match

Job summary

Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi seeks an Executive Director to lead mission, people, finances, and compliance under the Board of Directors. As the organization approaches 30 years, the ED will provide steady, forward-looking leadership to set direction, build the team, and deepen the organization’s standing with farmers, ranchers, and land managers.

The ED will steward a diverse funding base, ensure strong financial reporting, and partner with program leads to align resources with mission.

Qualifications

• Strong organizational leadership and ability to guide growth.
• Proven track record in accountability and service to agricultural producers.
• Proven people‑development leadership with coaching.
• Strong financial acumen and budget ownership.
• Experience managing federal awards and compliance (Uniform Guidance / 2 CFR Part 200).

Responsibilities

• Provide vision and leadership to carry Ag Stew into its fourth decade.
• Cultivate relationships with funders, partners, and industry.
• Serve as the organization’s public representative to funders and policymakers.
• Lead a learning and evaluation framework for strategy and improvement.
• Align resources with mission by focusing on root causes affecting farming communities.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Fundraising

Stakeholder engagement

Coaching

Financial acumen

Job description

Organization:Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi

Reports To:Board of Directors

Direct Reports: Program Directors/Managers, Grants Portfolio Director; External Financial Controller, External Consultants

Location:Kunia Camp, Oʻahu

Employment Type: Exempt, Full-Time Salary Range: $115-135K (Commensurate with experience and qualifications) Benefits

About Agriculture Stewardship Hawaii

Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi provides practical support and funding to Hawaiʻi’s farmers, ranchers, and land managers. Formed from the merger of the Oʻahu Resource Conservation & Development Council and the Oʻahu Agriculture and Conservation Association in 2024, the organization connects agricultural communities with tools, funding, and technical support. In 2025, Ag Stew supported 292 producers across all Hawaiian Islands. Our vision is of thriving, resilient agricultural communities stewarding Hawaiʻi’s lands, waters and agroecosystems and our work aims to empower and support them.

Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi is homed within the Kunia Camp Village area of central O’ahu, within the ahupua’a of Waikele in the moku of ‘Ewa. The organization operates on an approximately $2.5M annual budget with a core team of 15, delivering four programs:

Thriving Farms Program

— free one-on-one grant writing, funding navigation, and financial-education support so producers can access public and private funding.

Healthy Agroecosystems Program

— direct funding and in-field technical assistance for stewardship that improves soil health, water quality, and long-term productivity.

Resilient Food Systems Program

— policy and partnerships collaboration with government, funders, nonprofits, and industry to shape policy, infrastructure, and investment.

Fiscal Sponsorship Program

— Fiscal sponsorship for new sustainability-focused programs that are mission aligned.

Position Summary

The Executive Director (ED) leads Ag Stewardship Hawaiʻi’s mission, people, finances, and compliance under the direction of the Board of Directors. As the organization approaches its 30th year, the ED will provide steady, forward-looking leadership to carry Ag Stew into its fourth decade: setting direction, building the team, and deepening the organization’s standing and impact with the agricultural producers and food system stakeholders it serves.

At the heart of this role is a kuleana to Hawaiʻi’s farming, ranching and restoration communities — and to the ʻāina they steward. We are looking for a leader who carries that responsibility as a core part of their professional, personal and community commitments.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Stewardship

• Provide the vision and steady leadership to carry Ag Stew into its fourth decade, building on nearly 30 years of service since 1997. Set and execute organizational strategy in service of Hawaiʻi’s food-system resilience and agricultural stewardship.
• Cultivate relationships with funders, partners, and industry to expand reach, impact and investment.
• Serve as the organization’s principal public representative and spokesperson, including with funders, partners and policymakers, strengthening the organization’s long‑term stability, reputation, and readiness for what the next decade will demand.
• Lead the implementation of an organization-wide learning and evaluation framework to inform and refine strategy and spur continuous improvement.
• Orient the organization, its resources and partnerships towards addressing root causes of barriers to farming and working collaboratively to solve challenges.

Staff Coaching & Development

• Provide a vision and structure for how organizational values, care, conflict and learning are incorporated into the organization, including creating a culture of frequent feedback, learning and adaption.
• Serve as the organization’s lead coach — developing staff and contractors through regular feedback, goal‑setting, and growth conversations.
• Model and cultivate a culture of accountability, service, and safety across a small team where roles are cross‑functional and workloads shift with grant cycles.
• Support and mentor program leads, building the organization’s coaching bench.
• Structure onboarding, retention, and succession‑readiness so institutional knowledge outlives any single individual.
• Identify, nurture and provide structured support for existing staff to develop their leadership potential

Financial Stewardship & Compliance

• Steward a diversified funding base and drive fund development to expand trust‑based private awards; treat federal‑funding stewardship as a core competency.
• Own the organization’s budget and financial health, ensuring the board receives accurate and timely quarterly and annual financial reporting.
• Work in partnership with program leads and the Core Services team to ensure that program and project level financial management aligns with the organization’s mission, budget and planning.
• Define and maintain clear job descriptions to distribute and segregate financial duties.
• Read and act on financial statements, cash‑flow projections, indirect‑cost recovery, and program‑level P&L; ensure variances are identified early and course‑corrections are adopted when needed.
• Hold ultimate management accountability for compliance with the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200), including cost allowability, allocability, and reasonableness across all federal awards.
• Steward federal awards in accordance with award terms and maintain Single Audit readiness in partnership with the External Financial Controller and Office Administrator.
• Proactively surface compliance risks to the Board.

Service to Farmers, Ranchers and other Land Stewards

• Bring a genuine commitment to farmer‑focused accountability and service, ensuring services are genuinely accessible to Hawaiʻi’s diverse ag producers, including language‑accessible materials, outreach, and one‑on‑one assistance.
• Cultivate an understanding of the foundational nature of Native Hawaiian knowledge and practice in the stewardship of our food and agricultural systems.
• Design programming that meets producers on their terms and at their scale, with emphasis on removing barriers to access.
• Keep the organization oriented toward measurable producer outcomes — funding secured, conservation practices implemented, working lands served across all islands — and investing in reaching producers who encounter barriers to access.
• Represent Ag Stew credibly with farmers, ranchers, conservation districts, land stewards, community organizations, and local/state/federal agencies — following their lead and amplifying their voices.
• Ensure services remain practical, culturally‑grounded, and tailored to Hawaiʻi’s unique agricultural landscape.

Board Partnership & Governance

• Partner with the Board of Directors on strategy, risk, and organizational health; provide timely, accurate, and transparent financial and programmatic reporting.
• Bring the Board decision‑ready information — framed as options for deliberation where the decision rests with the Board.
• Support governance continuity, including leadership‑transition and succession planning.

Qualifications

Required:

• Strong organizational leadership — vision, judgment, and the proven ability to carry an established organization forward through growth and change.
• Understanding of, and full commitment to, designing support that resources all types of farms with the ability to build genuine, lasting trust with these Hawaiʻi’s farming and ranching communities.
• Demonstrated track record of accountability and service to agricultural producers and/or agricultural stewardship.
• Proven people‑development leadership — a coaching orientation with evidence of growing staff and teams.
• Strong financial acumen: experience with organizational and program budget ownership, analyzing financial statements, and working with account/controllers.
• Direct experience managing federal awards and compliance (Uniform Guidance / 2 CFR Part 200), or comparable grant‑compliance depth with clear capacity to master it quickly.

Preferred:

• Lived or professional connection to Native Hawaiian farming communities and small family farms in Hawaiʻi.
• Language capacity or other cultural fluency relevant to Hawaiʻi’s farming communities (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Pidgin, Mandarin, Ilokano, Samoan, Tongan,Thai, etc.) and experience delivering language‑accessible services to producers.
• Familiarity with USDA NRCS programs, conservation planning, and/or Hawaiʻi’s agricultural landscape and communities.
• Experience with diversified nonprofit fund development.
• Established relationships across Hawaiʻi’s agricultural, conservation, funder, and agency networks.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary:$115-135K, commensurate with qualifications and experience
• Benefits:Healthcare, Paid Vacation, Paid Sick Leave, Paid Holidays (14), 401(k) Retirement Match after one year