Join Our Board
We review IEPs for families who cannot afford an advocate, and those families live in several states, so the board that governs this work should not sit entirely in Tennessee.
Where the board stands
Two directors are seated and one more is pending election. We are recruiting for the seats below, and directors do not have to live in Tennessee. A majority of the board must be parents of children with disabilities.
What board members do
Board members advise on strategy and support the growth of the organization. That work includes serving as a subject matter expert in your field, contributing to programming, and presenting alongside the Executive Director at events and conferences.
Every director participates in fundraising. That does not mean writing a check. It means sharing our work with your network, introducing us to people and organizations who might give or fund, and helping find paths to contributions from the stakeholders you can reach.
Board service does not involve working with families directly. Directors do not review individual cases, attend IEP meetings, or advise families about their children. The exception is volunteer activity at a conference or community event, where a director may talk with parents and explain what the organization offers.
Seats we are recruiting
The Treasurer and the Development and Institutional Partnerships seats are our priorities. We review applications for every seat on a rolling basis.
Priority seat
Treasurer
You would oversee financial reporting, budgeting, and audit readiness as the organization grows from startup to operational scale, and you would chair the Finance Committee that you help establish in your first year. The work runs through reviewing monthly financial statements with the Executive Director, leading the annual budget process alongside the President, structuring restricted and unrestricted fund tracking for grant compliance, supporting Form 990 preparation and timely filing, and setting financial policies covering expense reimbursement, signature authority, and reserve targets.
We welcome candidates with experience in nonprofit finance, public accounting, foundation grants management, or corporate finance. CPA licensure is appreciated and not required. This seat should go to someone with no prior relationship to the organization or its leadership.
Read the full position descriptionPriority seat
Development and Institutional Partnerships
You would chair the Development Committee from its first meeting and own the founding-year fundraising plan alongside the Executive Director. The work runs through building the funder pipeline and grant calendar, opening doors to education foundations, school system leaders, and individual donors, advising the board on how school systems budget and procure so our institutional services are designed against how districts actually operate, and leading board giving. This seat carries no role in scoring and no preview of audit findings, because the independence of the review is what makes it worth buying.
We welcome development professionals who have worked with education funders, people with foundation or grantmaking experience, former special education directors, and former district administrators. If you currently work for a school system or a foundation we might approach, that does not disqualify you, and it does mean we will define recusal in writing before you are seated.
Read the full position descriptionSecretary
You would maintain the official record of every board and committee meeting, covering agendas, minutes, attendance, and votes, and you would serve as custodian of the governance documents, including the bylaws, the conflict of interest policy, and board resolutions. The role also carries timely distribution of meeting notices and materials, tracking of director terms and annual disclosures, compliance with Tennessee nonprofit corporation law and 501(c)(3) reporting obligations, coordination of the annual board self-assessment and new director onboarding, and signing official corporate documents alongside the President as the bylaws require.
We welcome candidates with experience in nonprofit governance, corporate paralegal work, executive administration, project management, or organizational compliance. Attention to detail, strong writing, and comfort with cloud-based document systems matter more here than any specific credential.
Read the full position descriptionAt-Large Director, Family Law or Disability Rights
You would provide strategic guidance on our family-facing services, our published guidance to families, and our legal compliance posture, and you would help shape program design so that our IEP reviews and family workshops reflect current IDEA case law, state special education regulations, and best practices in disability rights. You would review family-facing materials, including workshop curricula, report templates, and consent forms, for legal accuracy and accessibility. Beyond the materials, this seat opens doors, cultivating relationships with disability rights groups, family law clinics, and education advocacy networks.
We welcome practicing attorneys, retired judges, law school faculty, leaders of advocacy organizations, and experienced parent advocates, along with anyone whose background runs through special education law, family law, disability rights advocacy, parent training and information centers, or IDEA dispute resolution.
Read the full position descriptionParent Director
You would bring the perspective of a family who has been through the IEP process into every governance decision the board makes, which is why these seats hold the majority of the votes. The work includes reviewing family-facing materials before they reach families, judging whether programs are reaching the families they are meant to reach, serving on a standing committee, and referring other parents into the recruitment pipeline.
This seat asks for lived experience as the parent or caregiver of a child with a disability ages birth through 26. No professional credential and no prior board service are required, and we will teach the governance side to anyone willing to learn it.
Read the full position descriptionCommittees
Every director serves on at least one standing committee. Three are active in the founding year: Finance, chaired by the Treasurer; Governance, which handles recruitment, onboarding, terms, and annual disclosures; and Development, chaired by the Development and Institutional Partnerships director. A Program Committee opens once the board is seated.
The Advisory Council
A board of seven cannot hold every kind of expertise our programming needs, so the clinical and policy expertise sits on an advisory council instead. Council members are not directors. They hold no vote and no fiduciary duty, and keeping the two roles separate means clinicians contribute what they know without taking on governance work.
What council members do
You would review our materials before they reach families, checking that what we publish reflects current practice in your field. You would advise on workshop content and program design in your specialty, flag guidance that has gone out of date, and, if you want to, present alongside the Executive Director at workshops and conferences.
Council members do not consult on individual cases. We do not send you a child's file or ask you to advise a family, and the exception is the same one that applies to our directors, where a council member volunteering at a conference or community event may talk with parents and explain what we offer.
Who we are seating
- A board certified behavior analyst, to advise on how behavior plans, functional assessments, and behavior goals are read and written.
- A speech and language pathologist, to advise on communication goals, speech and language services, and augmentative communication.
- A school psychologist, to advise on evaluation and eligibility, psychoeducational reports, and how assessment data should be read.
- A specialist in low-incidence disabilities, to advise on programming and service intensity for students with significant support needs.
- An education policy researcher or attorney, to advise on policy content and how state regulations differ from the federal floor.
The commitment
A one-year renewable appointment, roughly two to four hours a quarter. The council convenes twice a year, and the rest of the work happens when a material needs your eyes.
What we ask of directors
This is our founding year, so the commitment is heavier now than it will be later.
| Founding year | After year one | |
|---|---|---|
| Board meetings | Six per year, virtual, 90 minutes | Six per year |
| Committee meetings | Monthly, 45 to 60 minutes | Quarterly |
| Working sessions | Two virtual half-days | None scheduled |
| Individual time | Five to eight hours per month | Around three hours per month |
Directors serve a three-year term and complete a conflict of interest disclosure each year. These are unpaid volunteer roles. We do not require a personal gift. Directors who choose to give are appreciated, and no one is asked to give as a condition of serving or of being considered for a seat.
How selection works
The current board reviews every application. Election is recorded in the minutes, and new directors then complete an onboarding packet with the conflict of interest disclosure, the board agreement, and the confidentiality agreement, along with the founding-year commitments attached to their seat.
Apply
One application covers both the board and the advisory council. Tell us which one fits, and we will follow up either way. We do not require a financial contribution from directors or council members.