Finance and Operations Director

About the Organization

The ACLU of South Carolina (ACLU-SC) works daily in communities, courts, and the legislature to defend and advance the civil rights and liberties guaranteed by the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions. Whether we’re defending free speech, enhancing voting rights, reforming the criminal legal system, advocating for housing justice, or protecting transgender kids—our employees engage in meaningful work.

The ACLU-SC is an affiliate of the ACLU, a federated organization. When people refer to the ACLU, that generally includes the national office as well as a nationwide network of autonomous and independent ACLU Affiliates, of which the ACLU of South Carolina is one.

The ACLU-SC is headquartered in Columbia and has a distributed team with staff working in communities across South Carolina. The Finance and Operations Director is based in Columbia to ensure oversight of the office. A hybrid schedule combining in-office time with remote work is acceptable in this role.

The ACLU-SC is a highly rewarding place to work for those interested in protecting our fundamental civil rights and civil liberties. To learn more about the work of the ACLU-SC and the ACLU, please visit www.aclusc.org and www.aclu.org.

About the Position

The Finance and Operations Director reports to the Executive Director and is a member of the senior staff. The Finance and Operations Director ensures that the organization has the structure and resources necessary to achieve its vision.

The Director will help operationalize the organization's culture by creating systems and controls that will ensure efficiency and accuracy around critical finance, operations, and administrative needs.

The Director supervises the Office Manager and is responsible for both finance and operations—as well as their integration with each other—and applicants should have a desire to prioritize both functions to support the advancement of ACLU-SC’s mission.

Responsibilities

Budget and Financial Management

• Ensure the organization is being a good steward of its financial resources.
• Work closely with the Executive Director on annual budget preparation, telling the story of our work in the numbers.
• Update the Treasurer of the board and the finance committee with a commitment to transparency, providing financial statements and leading regular meetings.
• Maintain and administer accounting systems.
• Oversee accurate cost sharing across organizations.
• Prepare timely financial reports for the Board, Executive Director, and department supervisors.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for the annual audit, providing all necessary documentation, and ensuring any recommendations are operationalized and adhered to.
• Assess financial processes and procedures and lead the creation and execution of new processes and procedures as needed.

Compliance

• Ensure that an annual audit of finances is conducted with an outside accounting firm.
• Provide oversight of any restricted funding and ensure adherence to funding guidelines.
• Assist Development team in completing annual revenue reconciliation process with National ACLU.
• Ensure necessary levels of organizational insurance and make recommendations to address issues of risk.
• Maintain internal financial control safeguards.
• Ensure compliance with IRS, state of South Carolina, insurance, safety, and other requirements.

Operations

• Serve as the direct supervisor for the Office Manager who leads in the areas of office administration, human resources, and vendor management.
• Collaborate with the Office Manager to ensure that the ACLU of South Carolina office and any remote employees have the administrative and operational resources needed to carry out their work.
• Collaborate with the Office Manager to ensure effective management of human resources functions, including recruiting, hiring, onboarding, offboarding, and beyond.
• Collaborate with the Office Manager to ensure proper vendor governance, operational sourcing strategies, and relationships.
• Collaborate with Executive Director and senior staff to establish operating benchmarks, program monitoring, and reporting standards on an ad-hoc, monthly, and annual basis.
• Support the development and implementation of internal processes.
• Support the development and oversee risk management program to identify and remediate potential threats to ACLU of South Carolina.

Thought Leadership

• Bring finance and operations expertise and experience to the Executive Director and Senior Staff to shape the organization’s overall strategic plan.
• Partner with the Development team to ensure financially strategic and sound fundraising as well as the effective and appropriate use of restricted funds.
• Seek out opportunities to support the Advocacy and Legal teams in strengthening the operations, administrative, and financial support provided to them.

Cultural Responsibility

• Serve as a leader on the team in demonstrating awareness of one’s own cultural identity, views about differences, and the ability to learn and build on varying cultural and community norms.
• Bring a complex understanding of racial justice and the urgency of confronting institutional racism and inequity into our approach to the work.
• Commit to equity and inclusion as organizational practice and culture.

Qualifications and Skills

The Finance and Operations Director must demonstrate the following qualifications and skills:

• A commitment to and enthusiasm for civil rights and civil liberties.
• At least five years of previous experience in the financial management of a nonprofit.
• Experience managing organizational budgets, overseeing financials, bookkeeping, administration, and human resources.
• Supervisory experience a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, business, or related field.
• Demonstrated ability to share authority and responsibility in a high stakes, complex, and fast-moving work environment.
• Ability to anticipate problems, analyze situations, develop effective solutions, and take initiative.
• Proven knowledge of regulatory standards, including GAAP, 501c3 and 501c4 rules.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to represent the organization to the public as well as interface with staff, Board members, vendors, and contractors while maintaining tact, diplomacy, and confidentiality.
• Strong verbal, written and listening communication skills with proven experience and excellence in creating professional correspondence.
• A drive for racial justice and an understanding of the ways white privilege can harm communities.
• A commitment to valuing differences of race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and socio-economic circumstance.
• Proficiency with office technology and information systems including Quick Books Online, Bill.com, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, and Zoom.

Compensation

The ACLU of South Carolina offers a competitive compensation package. The starting salary for this position is $80,000 to $85,000. In addition to an annual salary, full-time staff receive health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance as well as access to a 401K plan with employer matching. Time off benefits include 22 days of vacation time and 12 days of sick time.

Application

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to Careers@aclusc.org. The resume and cover letter should be in one PDF titled with your name, and the email subject line should read: “Finance and Operations Director: Your Name.”

Resumes or applications sent via other avenues will not be considered. We discourage applicants from applying through third-party websites.

Early applications are strongly encouraged. The position will remain open until filled. Interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis.