Description

The Opportunity 
Few places inspire the kind of devotion that Lake Tahoe does. For 30 years, Tahoe Community Foundation has turned that commitment into lasting good, connecting people who love the lake with the communities and causes that sustain it. Now, at a moment of remarkable growth, the foundation seeks a Chief Executive Officer to lead its next chapter. The search follows the planned retirement of Claudia Andersen, who has led the foundation since 2006.

The new CEO inherits real momentum. Total assets have grown to more than $184 million, annual grantmaking has risen from $7 million in 2021 to $27.7 million in 2025, and the foundation holds two years of operating reserves. Its 2025–2027 strategic plan sets a clear ambition: to be recognized around the lake as the trusted leader in philanthropy for residents, donors, and nonprofits alike.

Lake Tahoe is a place of beauty and contrasts. Its communities hold an unusual combination of generosity, wealth and need. Residents of significant wealth, many of them seasonal, live alongside a year-round workforce facing high housing costs, food insecurity, and limited access to health care. The next CEO will bridge these two realities, inviting more people to invest in the place they love and helping local nonprofits serve a large and complex geography.

This is a role for a visible, energetic community leader. Reporting to the Board of Directors and leading a capable, close-knit team, the CEO will raise the foundation’s profile, grow its philanthropic resources, and deepen its impact across a region that spans two states, five counties and includes many distinct shoreline communities.

The Organization 
Founded in 1996 and based in Incline Village, Nevada, Tahoe Community Foundation’s mission is “cultivating community philanthropy to enhance and preserve the quality of life at Tahoe.” It connects donors with local needs, stewards charitable funds and convenes partners around issues that affect the whole basin.

The foundation’s impact is tangible. In 2025, when SNAP benefits were disrupted, it moved quickly with a $25,000 emergency grant to Sierra Community House and additional emergency support for food partners around the lake. Through its Tahoe Fire Safe Initiative, it provided gap funding to keep the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, a coalition of more than 20 federal, state, tribal, local and nonprofit partners, staffed during a critical period. It holds permanent endowments protecting landmarks such as Vikingsholm and the Hellman Ehrman Mansion. And it has become home to new forms of giving, including a circle of more than 80 women who pool their generosity for women and children in crisis.

The 2025–2027 strategic plan sets five priorities: building lasting resources, creating positive community impact, growing charitable assets, increasing visibility and strengthening community leadership. Learn more about how the foundation elevates generosity.

Charitable giving services. The foundation offers donor-advised, designated, field-of-interest, legacy, memorial, and committee-advised funds, along with fiscal sponsorship and support for supporting organizations. Nonprofit investment and endowment funds help local organizations build long-term financial strength. Nonprofits entrust the foundation with their own permanent funds. As fiscal sponsor, the foundation also supports the Lahontan Community Foundation, which has granted more than $3.1 million in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee.

Community grantmaking. Impact, Action and Partnership grants direct discretionary dollars to arts and culture, community engagement, education and youth development, the environment and well-being. A volunteer Community Impact Committee reviews proposals, and donor-advised fundholders are invited to co-invest alongside the foundation. That listening process surfaces shared needs: in 2025 it identified after-school childcare and mental health as challenges on both the North and South Shores, and the foundation answered each with $52,000 in coordinated grants. Giving for Good, the foundation’s annual campaign backed by leadership donors and corporate sponsors, brings donors together to invest in community priorities. The board sees the foundation on the cusp of leadership in grantmaking, with interest in multi-year funding and more sophisticated, evidence-informed practice.

Community initiatives and partnerships. The foundation holds an important seat at the table to plan regional efforts on economic resilience, health, housing, and sustainable tourism. The foundation also offers nonprofits resources such as a directory, a funding-needs portal and regular news.

The Donald W. Reynolds Community Non-Profit Center. Known as the DWR Center, the foundation’s Incline Village building provides granted office, meeting, and storage space so nonprofits can devote more of their resources to their missions. In 2025, the in-kind space provided to one nonprofit alone was valued at more than $78,000. The board is weighing the Center’s long-term role as part of its broader asset strategy.

Requirements

The CEO’s Mandate 
The next CEO will build on a sound, well-resourced institution and take it further. Priorities include:

• Raise the foundation’s profile across the lake. Be the foundation’s most visible ambassador: present at community events, proactive in making introductions, and comfortable in every setting from nonprofit board rooms to the busy summer social season. As chief storyteller, the CEO will share inspiring accounts of how the foundation brings people together and what it has made (and can make) possible.
• Navigate a complex region. Build trusted relationships with civic leaders and public agencies across two states, five counties, and unincorporated communities such as Incline Village (which is served by a general improvement district). Exercise political judgment and discretion in a place where personal, public, and philanthropic relationships often overlap.
• Grow philanthropic resources. Deepen relationships with existing fundholders while engaging potential donors who are new to the region. Many are technology and entrepreneurial leaders with the capacity to make a meaningful difference, and as people relocate, their charitable roots are often elsewhere. The CEO will make the case for giving here, partner with wealth advisors who are often based outside the area, and invite gifts that build legacy, endowed and unrestricted support. The CEO will grow the Giving for Good campaign and welcome new collective giving models, such as giving circles, which bring fresh donors into the foundation. Through these efforts, the CEO will expand the foundation’s reach throughout the basin’s communities, where both need and donor potential are significant.
• Lead the next stage of grantmaking. Build on the rapid growth in grants with more strategic, relationship-based practices, including multi-year support, coordinated funding with donors through the co-investment model and better ways to measure impact. Growth in grantmaking allows the foundation to explore areas of strong donor interest, such as education, while sustaining other programs that matter to everyday life in the basin.
• Be the go-to resource for nonprofits. Position the foundation as a source of expertise as well as funding. Strengthen the capacity and sustainability of the nonprofits serving this large geography and build constructive relationships with neighboring community foundations.
• Build a strong, connected team. Lead an experienced staff with openness, clear priorities, and genuine recognition of their contributions. Invite input, share information, support professional growth and attend to staff well-being, compensation, and retention.
• Partner closely with the board. Bring a relational, transparent approach to governance. Engage the board’s substantial expertise in finance, investments, law, and community impact, and give them the information they need to make sound decisions.
• Steward assets with care. Maintain strong fiduciary, investment, and compliance standards in partnership with the CFO and the board. Guide decisions about the DWR Center’s future, balancing its charitable role, its value as an asset and its relationships with local stakeholders.

The Candidate 
The ideal candidate is a natural connector with the presence to engage accomplished, high-profile donors and the warmth to build trust with nonprofit leaders, staff, and year-round residents. They will love this place, want to be part of its life and bring both fresh ideas and respect for what has been built.

Personal Qualities

• A visible community connector. A genuine extrovert who enjoys meeting people, moves easily among different social circles and becomes a familiar, trusted presence around the lake.
• Credible with leaders of every kind. The confidence, polish and judgment to earn the respect of executives, entrepreneurs and civic leaders, many of them accomplished in their own careers.
• Politically savvy and discreet. A leader who reads local dynamics well, handles sensitive relationships with care and keeps the foundation’s mission at the center of every decision.
• A collaborative culture builder. Someone who welcomes input, shares credit, creates cohesion and helps a strong team do its best work.
• Open to change, grounded in continuity. Curious about new approaches and best practices, with the patience to listen first and honor the relationships and strengths already in place.

Experience and Skills

• A record of fundraising and donor development, including cultivating major gifts, engaging new donors while retaining longtime supporters, and building relationships with professional advisors such as attorneys, wealth managers and accountants.
• Senior leadership experience, including strategy, budgets, people management and effective partnership with a governing board.
• Financial acumen and an understanding of governance, investment oversight and fiduciary responsibility.
• Nonprofit expertise and an appreciation for effective grantmaking. Community foundation experience is valuable but not required; candidates new to the field should bring curiosity and a readiness to learn charitable giving vehicles such as donor-advised funds, endowments and planned gifts, supported by an experienced staff.
• Strong communication skills, from one-on-one conversations to public remarks, with a marketing mindset that can raise awareness and tell a compelling story.
• Familiarity with the Tahoe region, or with mountain, resort, or seasonal communities, is a strong asset. Candidates from elsewhere should bring a sincere, long-term commitment to living in and learning the region.
• A bachelor’s degree is expected; an advanced degree is welcome.

Key Relationships

Reports to: The Board of Directors
Leads a team of six through five direct reports:

• Chief Financial Officer
• Director of Philanthropic Services (who oversees the Foundation Services Manager)
• Director of Community Impact
• Director of Communications & Outreach
• Building Manager, Donald W. Reynolds Community NonProfit Center

Stewards key relationships with: Fundholders and prospective donors, professional advisors, nonprofit partners, civic leaders and public agencies, and peer community foundations

The Location 
The CEO will be based in Incline Village, Nevada, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, and will serve communities throughout the basin.

Tahoe offers extraordinary natural beauty, year-round outdoor recreation and a rich cultural calendar. Nevada has no state income tax, and Reno-Tahoe International Airport is less than an hour away. The region is home to a mix of year-round residents, part-time homeowners and seasonal visitors, and its rhythm shifts with the seasons.

Tahoe is a special place, and life here requires commitment. Housing is limited and costly, winters bring heavy snow, and mountain travel takes planning. The foundation is looking for a leader who embraces mountain living and plans to make Tahoe home for the long term. Relocation support is available.

Compensation 
The foundation offers a competitive compensation and benefits package. Tahoe Community Foundation is committed to attracting a leader of the highest caliber and will work to meet the expectations of an exceptional candidate.

For potential consideration or to suggest a prospect, please email TahoeCF@BoardWalkConsulting.com or call Michelle Hall, Sam Pettway, or Lysondra Somerville at 404-BoardWalk (404-262-7392).