Job Title
Foundations Manager
Organization Name
Washington Environmental Council
Organization Website
www.wecprotects.org
Organization Email
kyle@wecprotects.org
Organization Type
Social Justice
If ‘Other’ please specify
Conservation/Environment
How to Apply? Website or Email
Website
Date Posted
1/12/22
Closing Date
2/2/22
Job Description
Position Summary: Foundations Manager
Washington Environmental Council and Washington Conservation Voters is seeking a dynamic, effective, and collaborative Foundations Manager to join our team and further advance our shared vision: through equitable structures and systems created by statewide, collaborative efforts, everyone in Washington lives in a healthy and just environment, community and economy.
Washington Environmental Council’s mission is to develop, advocate, and defend policies that ensure environmental progress and justice by centering and amplifying the voices of the most impacted communities.
Washington Conservation Voter’s mission is to advocate environmental progress and justice through actions that mobilize the public, elect champions for the environment, and hold our leaders accountable.
The Foundations Manager will lead the strategy and manage the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship process for current and prospective foundation funders and when applicable, government grants. These revenue sources currently generate between $1.7M – $2.0M annually for Washington Environmental Council and $400,000 – $700,000 for Washington Conservation Voters. This position manages the development, writing, and submission of timely and compelling grant proposals and reports and works with program and finance staff to draft and submit all needed materials. This position also plays a key role in tracking and evaluating our progress against our current Strategic Framework.
About Our Organizations:
Since 1967, Washington Environmental Council (WEC) has worked to protect and preserve Washington’s environment for people and future generations, and over the years our core values have always remained the same: belief in the power of collaboration, a desire to work across our state, and a willingness to learn and change.
Underlying those values is our collaboration with Washington Conservation Voters (WCV). WEC and WCV share an office, staff, and a vision for Washington’s future. WEC is a recognized 501(c)(3), and WCV is recognized as a 501(c)(4). This partnership combines our respective policy and political tools to create lasting change in our state. WEC develops, educates on, advocates for, and defends policies; WCV works to create a political system where these policies are viable.
We are confronting how this nation’s history of dehumanization, division, extraction, and disconnection from the natural world is directly linked to pollution, degradation of natural resources, and environmental injustice.
We work to dismantle unjust systems and seek far-reaching, inclusive collaborations to build solidarity that benefits everyone across race, class, zip code, and identity.
We care deeply about the land, air, water, and communities that sustain us as well as fairness in our political system.
These principles remain core to the ethos of our work.
We also know that in order to accomplish our mission and vision we need the necessary financial resources to implement our bold plans for action. How we raise money and how we spend those precious funds reflect on our organizations. With that understanding, we are working to intentionally integrate equity into how we raise and spend funds. We are looking at community-centric fundraising practices and are incorporating these strategies into our organizations to support the broader environmental community. We also believe that our commitment to equity means that we have resources in our budgets that internally support staff education and externally support partners and the community.
A Note from Alyssa Macy, CEO
I came to WEC/WCV with a question – what would it take to transform an historically white-led environmental organization with positionality, power, and access to one that is truly centering the communities most impacted and, what would be the impact? In the past two years we have been living through a global pandemic, economic downturn, racial reckoning, and one of the most consequential elections in our lifetime. This moment in history has facilitated transformation of these organizations in a way that I didn’t anticipate for years – it is both exciting and challenging. We are building something that has never existed before in the state of Washington: a state-level environmental advocacy organization that lifts up community needs and solutions through its work, that upholds tribal treaties and sovereignty through its actions, who values and works with Indigenous and Black leadership in all aspects of our work, and who makes powerful environmental progress in the Evergreen State. With no trail, we are creating our own and this is an exceptional opportunity to be a part of imagining and building the most impactful environmental advocacy organization in Washington with racial justice and environmental justice at its core. –Alyssa Macy, Tribal Affiliation: Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon
Job Duties
Responsibilities: The Foundations Manager works closely with the Development Director and program staff to create strategies for foundation fundraising to achieve annual and multi-year revenue goals. Key responsibilities include:
Grant Management:
- Develop revenue projections from foundations and drive the development of strategies to achieve those goals in partnership with Development Director and Program Directors. In addition to WEC and WCV, this includes raising grant support for the coalitions that we fiscally sponsor.
- Oversee the development and delivery of high-quality letters of inquiry, proposals and reports. This includes drafting original content, editing content from program and/or executive staff, ensuring the submittal of all supporting materials, and managing internal timelines for outreach, content development and review.
- Steward ongoing relationships with foundation funders to ensure they are kept apprised of relevant work and activities. Draft updates and prepare program directors for meetings as needed.
- Develop project budgets and financial reports for grant proposals and reports.
- Facilitate outreach to foundation staff, including drafting emails, coordinating calls and meetings.
- Identify prospective funders and develop cultivation strategies to support new funding relationships; facilitates outreach to build the donor pipeline.
- Collaborate with program staff to present WEC’s work in a manner that aligns with funder interest.
- Ensure the grant and reporting calendar is well managed and kept up-to-date in SalesForce.
Other
- Develops significant understanding of program work and goals to be able to able to articulate organizational value to funders.
- Participate in the setting of Development team goals and objectives.
- Join Development team in supporting signature events, cultivation events, work parties, and other efforts as needed.
- Serves on an internal racial equity work group to help us advance our racial equity plans.
Experience/Knowledge/Skills
Skills Required:
- A minimum of 5+ years of experience in grant writing and reporting, with demonstrated success in securing foundation grants.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to meet the often-tight deadlines associated with the submittal of multiple grants reports and proposals.
- Superior writing and editing skills, with the ability to synthesize information effectively, so we are able to describe the organization’s work and values in character-limited fields associated with grant reports/proposals.
- Knowledge of impact evaluation used to assess and report on organizational outcomes against the strategic framework and stated program goals.
- Excellent Interpersonal and communications skills to be able to work effectively across our internal team and with foundation staff.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Ability to remain flexible under pressure.
- Ability to drive work forward independently while solving problems and seizing opportunities, all in a fast-paced team setting.
- Basic understanding of budgets and financial information and how it informs the grant process.
- Demonstrated commitment to racial justice principles.
- Experience with Salesforce or other donor software and is able to generate relevant information.
- Proficiency with MS Office products.
Desired skills:
- Bachelor’s degree
- Knowledge of environmental issues.
- Knowledge of Northwest grantmaking community.
- Background with government grants would be a plus.
- Working knowledge of the differences between 501c3 organizations and 501c4 organizations
Salary Range
$68,000-$78,000
Supplemental Information
Compensation and Benefits:
This is a full time, exempt position with a starting salary range of $68,000 to $78,000 depending on experience. We also offer a generous benefits package including medical and dental insurance, 401k plan and organizational match of up to 3% of your annual salary, a flexible spending account, paid vacation and sick leave, ten paid holidays per year, an unlimited ORCA transit pass, and if you work for seven consecutive years you are eligible for a two-month paid sabbatical. We welcome new and diverse people to a great team who together shape environmental protection in Washington.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
This is a full-time position and is expected to work a standard work week of 40 hours. Some weeks may require additional hours to meet deadlines. The position involves office work i.e. sitting at a desk using a computer and/or phone for long periods of time. Accommodations can be made for this position for persons who might need them.
COVID-19 The organization follows all requirements of local health authorities. We are currently working in hybrid remote mode with most staff coming to the office voluntarily. We maintain strict safety protocols while in our office. All staff who come to the office must be fully immunized against COVID-19.
Given the current pandemic we are working remotely most of the time. We recently developed a “hybrid” model that will involve some time in the office and some time working from home when it is safe to do so. Our teams have access to a variety of online tools and systems that support working remotely. Our expectation is that we will eventually return to some schedule of safely working together with the hybrid model in our downtown office.
This position is union eligible.
How to Apply
Apply at www.wecprotects.org