Executive Alliance

MISSION: Advancing a powerful nonprofit sector

VISION: A nonprofit sector that delivers its full benefit to the community

EA carries
out its work through the following program areas:

1. Leadership Effectiveness : Enhancing
   leadership effectiveness, professional networking, leadership
   recognition, shared identity and values as a sector and peer-to-peer
   learning and support.
2. Voice and Position of the Nonprofit Sector:
   Strengthen the position and voice of the nonprofit sector relative
   to:
   a) Community events and issues
   b) Planning and decision-making that affects the community
   c) Issues internal to the nonprofit sector.
3. Public Policy: Advocate for the nonprofit
   sector in governmental actions with significant impact on the
   nonprofit sector.

EA provides access to
an inclusive sector-wide venue that provides a forum for peer support,
opportunities to share knowledge, and a structured means to extend
members personal and professional networks. When envisioning the
future, executive directors have often have done so without the
benefit of others’ perspective or knowledge, and without fully
considering their organization in the context of the nonprofit sector
and the community at large. EA helps to address the challenges that
nonprofit leaders face and to provide context and perspective relative
to the sector as a whole through a variety of leadership enhancement
activities

History:
Executive Alliance is a membership association that was founded
in 2000 by nonprofit leaders united in the vision of a community
that values the role of nonprofits and evidences that through adequate
funding, prioritization in policy setting, positive public image
and active involvement of nonprofit leaders in civic and community planning.

EA evolved from the long standing Executive Director’s Coalition
(EDC), which served as a liaison between United Way of King County
(UWKC) and what were then member agencies. Launched with a pledge
of membership from thirty nonprofits, EA original focus was executive
directors from the human services, health, and housing areas of
the nonprofit sector in the Puget Sound region.

EA has since expanded
its focus to include other organizations that share a commitment
to EA’s mission – advancing a powerful nonprofit
sector. As a result,
the membership mix now includes a wide spectrum of nonprofits, including
the arts, civic organizations, and education, as well as some for-profit
and public agencies.

In the fall of 2004, Executive
Alliance also began operating many of the programs previously offered
by The Evergreen State Society, operationalizing its commitment
to continue the legacy of TESS. EA expanded its membership to include
individuals who supported the mission of EA.

EA’s membership
has grown from the original thirty to 200 and includes many of the most
respected and influential organizations and leaders in the community.
Organizational representation continues to be tied to the leadership
of the organization. While the geographic focus is still primarily
the Puget Sound Region, members’ scopes of service include
local, state, national, and international.