Managing Director

For 40 years, the Ronald McDonald Children’s Fund has played an indispensable role in supporting the well-being of sick and medically fragile children and their families. With 11 Houses and 3 vacation homes, the Children’s Fund offers a warm place where families can be close to one another, especially when they need it most. As a leader, you provide direction and foster connections—within the organization, with healthcare partners, and with the community. You anticipate developments and ensure that the Children’s Fund remains a valuable source of support and a pillar of strength for families with a sick or high-care child in the future as well.

About us

The Ronald McDonald Children’s Fund is seeking an inspiring, enterprising, and unifying executive director. We are looking for someone who exudes confidence and stays the course, while also bringing new energy and direction. As a strategic leader and facilitator, you will ensure continuity and stability while fostering change and innovation.

You will work closely with the deputy director, the management team, and the staff of the Kinderfonds. You will also maintain close contact with the chairs of the Houses and Vacation Homes and, naturally, have a strong relationship with the Supervisory Board and with McDonald’s Netherlands as a founding partner. Through your leadership, you will develop the organizational culture and working methods with a focus on the future, always guided by collaboration, equality, and connection.

In addition, you are the face of the organization: an empathetic and principled leader with passion, a high level of likability, and no big ego. You know how to inspire people and organizations with stories that resonate, and you convincingly demonstrate the significant impact the Children’s Fund has on families. You combine social commitment with business acumen and entrepreneurship, and you have the intuition to sense urgency and act on it. You are a figurehead in the Netherlands and a connector within the international RMHC network. In this role, you passionately promote relevant themes—such as collaboration with volunteers, relationships with hospitals, and innovative ways to bring social issues to the forefront—and you tell the story of the Children’s Fund with conviction on stage and in the media.

About the role

As Executive Director, you will set the direction and course for the Kinderfonds. You will have ultimate responsibility for strategic and financial management and will focus on operations, fundraising, and digitalization, including the opportunities offered by ICT and AI. You will further develop fundraising efforts, attract new sponsors, and develop innovative sources of revenue. In doing so, you will connect with future generations and leverage modern forms of influence to ensure the Kinderfonds’ mission remains future-proof.  You maintain strong and equal relationships with all stakeholders, both within and outside the organization, and serve as a point of contact for sponsors, social organizations, and hospitals. You are an executive director who can engage in meaningful dialogue, provide constructive feedback, and be incisive, while remaining highly aware of the roles and independent responsibilities of the Huizen.

You are skilled at building coalitions with businesses, schools, and partners who want to help advance our mission. In your collaboration with the local governments of the Huizen, you demonstrate that you are a reliable partner: you support them when needed, serve as a source of guidance and reflection in complex situations, and respect the foundations’ autonomy. You encourage collaboration among staff, volunteers, and partners and leverage the organization’s collective knowledge and expertise. 

At the same time, you will drive organizational and cultural renewal by providing direction, breaking patterns where necessary, and preparing the organization for the future. You will implement the multi-year strategy and ensure governance, quality, and integrity through measures such as risk management and the Excellence Framework. You will also demonstrate the impact of the Children’s Fund through data, stories, and results, ensuring that donors, volunteers, and partners maintain their trust in the organization. You will strengthen the position of the Children’s Fund and the Houses within the social landscape and maintain close ties with RMHC Global, actively contributing to international knowledge sharing and collaboration while balancing local and international interests.

What do you bring to the table?

You have strong administrative and strategic skills and navigate with ease in an environment with diverse interests and cultures. You possess financial acumen and business management experience, enabling you to lead the organization and engage effectively with experts. You are innovative, a creative thinker, and a powerful storyteller who knows how to inspire others and draw more from collective knowledge and thinking. You have a sense of what is essential and what is secondary, and you know how to bring energy and momentum while also radiating calm and confidence. With your problem-solving skills, you find creative solutions to complex issues. You combine social commitment with business acumen and entrepreneurship. You are honest and empathetic, motivating people with natural authority and persuasiveness, and you are well-liked without a big ego. Experience with fundraising is a real plus; you know how to connect with business networks, companies, and sponsors. You have a clear vision of the mission that unites us and of the importance of visibility in a changing social, political, and societal landscape. Finally, you are comfortable in an international context and have a keen sense of cultural differences. You know how to engage younger generations and leverage modern communication channels to increase support for and commitment to the mission.

You recognize yourself in the following competencies.

• Connective leadership: honest, empathetic, and inspiring; you inspire trust, bring people together, and serve as a visible figurehead for the Children’s Fund.
• Strong communication skills: a storytellerwho conveys the essence of the message clearly and effectively; skilled at engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, both nationally and internationally, whether in one-on-one settings, on stage, or in the media.
• Business acumen: possesses the insight and experience to lead the organization in such a way that its finances are in order and, as a service organization, it functions effectively in terms of structure, processes, and culture.
• Strategic vision:steadfast and enterprising; translates trends and insights into forward-looking decisions; knows how to drive change and align interests in complex situations. 
• Environmental and cultural sensitivity: sociallyengaged, organizationally sensitive, and skilled at collaborating across teams, locations, and disciplines, with an eye for different perspectives.
• Network-oriented: reliableand consistent; possesses a strong ability to win people over and is skilled at building and maintaining lasting relationships within a network-based organization. 
• Problem-solving: creative and analytical; reconciles conflicting interests and finds practical solutions in complex situations, with a focus on both results and relationships.

What do we offer?

The Children's Fund does not receive any government subsidies and operates entirely on the strength of volunteers, donors, sponsors, and partners. The salary for the executive director is in line with the Remuneration Regulations for Charitable Organization Directors, with 460 BSD points, and falls within Scale I.

Application Process

Do you see yourself in this profile and would you like to help shape the future of the Ronald McDonald Children’s Fund? If so, we’d love to meet you. We are working with the executive search firm Colourful People on this recruitment process. For more information about the position, please contactJudith Gunneweg, senior partner at Colourful People, at 06-51515567 orj.gunneweg@colourfulpeople.nl.

You can upload your cover letter and resume via the application button on the Colourful People website. Please submit your application by November 9 at the latest. Interviews will be held in Amersfoort on Friday,December 5 (between 9:30 AM and 4:00 PM) and Wednesday, December 10 (between 2:00 PM and 5:30 PM).

The Ronald McDonald Children's Fund and Colourful People are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive organization. Do you see yourself in this profile, even if you don’t meet all the requirements? If so, we warmly encourage you to apply.

We would appreciate it if you could share this job opening with your network.