People & Culture Manager

Overview

WHO WE ARE

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) is a global network working towards a just and waste-free world without incineration. GAIA’s mission is to catalyze a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. We envision a just, zero waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped.

THE ROLE 

GAIA has grown rapidly from a $1.2 million organization to a nearly $7.5 million organization over the last six years and has exciting growth opportunities on the horizon. To sustain this growth, we are seeking to add a Resource Mobilization Officer to our Global/US Resource Mobilization team. This position will play an important role in helping GAIA ensure the sustainability of our organization’s current revenue while also tapping into potential new revenue streams, allowing us to grow to a $10+ million organization in the next several years. We are seeking a compelling communicator who understands the vital role fundraising plays in powering grassroots campaigns. The right candidate will be a utility player who is excited to apply their writing, relationship building, and project management skills across a range of resource mobilization tasks as GAIA evolves and grows its resource mobilization efforts to meet the evolving needs of our network.

The Resource Mobilization Officer will contribute to sustaining and growing the current financial support GAIA receives, primarily via grants from private foundations, donor collaboratives, and individual major donors. The RM Officer will manage a portfolio of donors for whom they coordinate work across the full cycle of GAIA’s grant-seeking activities, including but not limited to research, inquiry, proposal development and submission, donor cultivation, reporting, and renewals. A highly collaborative role, the RM Officer works closely with GAIA’s leadership, program leads, and others to develop and align proposals with organizational and programmatic needs and capacities. This position reports to the Director of Resource Mobilization.

The RM Officer will share responsibility for nurturing GAIA’s inclusive and equity-oriented culture, and for championing a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. In the Resource Mobilization department this includes a focus on justice-oriented donor engagement and advocacy for the redistribution of resources toward GAIA’s member organizations in communities that are most impacted by waste and climate pollution, through collaborative fundraising efforts, regranting programs, technical support, and other strategies.

 

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Donor engagement and relationship building

• Manage a portfolio of current and prospective funders. This includes the creation and execution of donor research, cultivation, grant applications, proposals and reports, and other related donor management tasks.
• Lead in writing and/or packaging high-quality and timely grants and funding proposals in close coordination with key staff across various departments.
• Develop organizational and programmatic presentations and briefing notes for use in donor meetings and other promotional resource mobilization activities.
• Represent GAIA donor meetings and other spaces relevant to resource mobilization.
• As primary point of contact for funders, steward relationships with foundation staff via email, phone, online meetings, and the occasional in-person meeting; proactively support program leads in their engagement with funders.
• Collaborate with GAIA leadership, program leads, and others to identify additional prospective funders and engagement opportunities.

Grant proposal development and administration

• Design and facilitate consultative and collaborative grant processes that efficiently engage diverse teams in the preparation of grants, proposals and reports.
• Work with grant teams to build theories of change, results frameworks, and compelling objectives, indicators and outcomes for proposed projects.
• Work across teams to improve the consistency and efficiency with which we track, analyze and report back on work to donors.
• Tailor, strengthen, and maintain systems that help successfully execute all aspects of resource mobilization work, including donor information files, proposal development processes, grant reporting, and moves management tracking systems.
• Maintain awareness of and communicate all grant-related internal and external deadlines.
• Collaborate with finance team to execute award receipt and ensure compliance and adherence to best practices within grant management.
• In coordination with program leads and finance team, facilitate the timely submission of high-quality narrative and finance reports based on specific donor requirements.

 

WHO YOU ARE

Specifically, this hire will bring: (these are must haves to be successful in this role)

• At least 3-5 years of relevant experience in resource mobilization work including grant writing, communications, and project management.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to persuasively communicate technical subjects to non-technical audiences.
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, including the ability to collaborate on proposal development and writing projects in a multicultural environment.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, particularly the ability to shepherd a collaborative deliverable to meet a deadline and to work independently on its completion.
• The ability to distill complicated programmatic strategies into comprehensive proposals and navigate complex application and reporting processes.
• Experience managing up and over on complicated processes with tight deadlines.
• Ability to support numerous projects and teams concurrently, working both independently and as part of globally distributed teams.
• Strong relationship management and representation skills.
• Direct experience campaigning on environmental and social justice issues. We value candidates who bring lived experience with the issues on which we work.
• Commitment to environmental justice principles and practices, especially in building relationships and collaboration with frontline communities and grassroots groups and other organizations.
• A system change approach and solid understanding of the integral relationship between local and global campaign and advocacy efforts, and ability to make, articulate, and leverage these connections.
• Demonstrated ability to work within a multicultural office environment and a complex, decentralized, multicultural network.
• A commitment to GAIA’s mission and core values of: respecting local solutions and community power; shared practice for movement building; equity, inclusiveness, and social justice; and accountability

We’d prefer candidates who have: (These are “nice to haves”) 

• Knowledge of or familiarity with Zero Waste, waste management, energy, plastics and climate issues.
• Experience participating in coalition-based proposal development and collaborative fundraising processes with NGO networks and social movements.
• Experience in developing and supporting implementation of PMEL systems, in particular supporting teams to build theories of change, results frameworks, and compelling objectives, indicators, and outcomes for proposed projects.
• Have experience within an international/multicultural environment; equally valuable is experience furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in a diverse environment.
• Have experience with using databases and project management tools to manage information and processes.
• Spanish or other additional language skills are a plus.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Meaningful work – operating from a place of connectivity and trust, we are able to exchange the cross-border knowledge and tools needed to create a truly global movement that puts an end to waste pollution.
• Comprehensive benefits – this includes employer-covered health/dental insurance, paid family leave, approximately 30 days of paid time off each year (including vacation, holidays, and the last week of each calendar year), retirement plan, and an opportunity to qualify for a sabbatical.
• Strong culture and dedicated team – we take pride in our highly motivated team, and our ability to support one another’s work in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.

LOCATION, COMPENSATION, AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Salary range $85,000 – $110,000, depending on experience.
• Currently some of our team is working hybrid, and others are working remotely. GAIA is a highly collaborative environment and we will accept remote applicants, with a preference for someone based in San Francisco Bay Area or New York City.
• Additional travel (domestic or international) for team retreats may be required.
  Full COVID-19 vaccination is required for GAIA employees who travel and attend meetings for GAIA.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

We are committed to equal employment opportunity principles and providing all employees with a safe work environment free from discrimination and harassment. We welcome you regardless of your race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age, physical ability, nationality, or any other status unrelated to the performance of the job and protected by law. GAIA practices affirmative action, and candidates from historically disadvantaged or marginalized groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

We know there is research that shows women and minorities are less likely to apply for jobs if they don’t have all of the key skills for a position. GAIA encourages candidates with some, but not all, of the skills listed in the job description to apply. We would love to see what you have to offer!

 

TO APPLY 

GAIA’s new prospective funding opportunities are significant, and we are excited for the right candidate to make a major contribution to empowering grassroots organizing for waste and climate justice globally through this role. Accepting applications through April 19, 2024.

To apply, please submit your resume, cover letter and 2 writing samples here: https://jobs.gusto.com/postings/global-alliance-for-incinerator-alternatives-resource-mobilization-officer-9cff6419-1ef0-44d1-ada3-9035151ea7b7

In your cover letter, please answer the following questions: 

1) What do you see as the greatest challenge facing those fighting for environmental justice right now?

2) What are the two most valuable traits or skills you will bring to this work?

For your writing sample, please provide 2 examples of previous writing (i.e. excerpt from a grant proposal or donor communication; no more than 4 pages total) that demonstrate your ability to craft a nuanced message for a specific audience or stakeholder. Preface your sample with a short explanation of the piece, its audience and purpose. You may submit links to your writing, for example, a link to a Google document or website.