Development Coordinator

Urban Green Lab

Apply

Job Summary

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Summary
Urban Green Lab is seeking a development coordinator to join our passionate team of educators and help inspire investment in our mission, manage growth, and better tell our story.

Urban Green Lab
Urban Green Lab teaches communities how to live sustainably.  Founded in 2009, we organize, train, and connect professionals in classrooms, households, and workplaces so they feel empowered to make more sustainable choices and share those practices with others.  We believe in systemic, equitable change, and imagine a world where sustainability is a way of life.  Through tailored coaching, collective action, and career pathways, we transform community institutions into official “Urban Green Labs” where sustainability education is a top priority.

Revenue Development 
Urban Green Lab encourages investment from a variety of both contributed and earned revenue sources, including government grants, corporate sponsorships, family foundations, individual contributions, in-kind gifts, and fees-for-service.  Support reinforces our three divisions (Classrooms, Households, and Workplaces), as well as our leadership of the Nashville Food Waste Initiative.  Since 2016, revenue grew from $158,000 to $514,000 YTD.  We tell the story of our work and frontline heros through our website, blog, social media, and the press.

Position Description
The Development Coordinator for Urban Green Lab helps grow the organization financially by inspiring investment in our cause.  This new position joins us at a vibrant time of institutional change and adds much-needed capacity to achieve our long-term fundraising goals.  Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the Coordinator helps secure existing revenue, foster new sources, and manage stewardship activities, including social media and the web to better tell our story. The position is full-time and requires occasional travel, evenings, and weekends.

Work Environment
The Coordinator will spend most of their time inside Urban Green Lab’s office located at the historic Marathon Village, plus frequent interactions with donors and communications vendors, and occasional program support.  Urban Green Lab has a flexible work environment, and all staff are expected to manage their own schedules.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities.  The employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, listen and feel, reach hands above the shoulder, occasionally stoop or crouch, and lift and/or move 10-25 pounds.  Noise is moderate, though often louder at events.

Job Responsibilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Percentages of effort and tasks may evolve with time.

1. Development Leadership (70%)

• In partnership with the Executive Director, help develop and support the execution of an overall fundraising strategy for the organization in alignment with our mission, which includes government, corporate, foundations, individual, in-kind, and fee-for-service.
• Synthesize the fundraising needs of all organizational colleagues, from the staff to Board of Directors.  Collaborate with division managers (Classrooms, Households, and Workplaces) to synchronize pledge requests with program needs and conditions.
• Assist Executive Director in solicitation and stewardship of new awards and renewals, including writing grants, assembling legal, financial, and narrative materials, managing the development calendar, reporting outcomes, and submitting reimbursements.
• Help cultivate deep, authentic, and lasting relationships with all current and prospective donors and partners through personal meetings and year-round correspondence.
• Maintain giving database (currently Kindful, but migrating to Salesforce and Classy in 2020), and manage the input and reporting of data, tasks, workflows, and metrics.
• Research new opportunities around all contributed and earned revenue that best align with our mission, continually updating a blueprint for who to solicit next and why.
• For individual campaigns, coordinate direct mail and correspondence through segmented patron data and using curated lists for targeted solicitations.
• Stay apprised of fundraising trends, priorities, and changes in the local, national, and global philanthropic landscapes.  Update the Giving Matters profile, annual report, etc.

2. Communications Assistance (20%)

• Help coordinate overall communications strategy in alignment with our mission and brand, including the website, blog, social media, press, and special campaigns.
• With support of our marketing firm, synthesize the communications needs of the team.  Collaborate with division managers (Classrooms, Households, and Workplaces) to synchronize communications efforts with program needs and conditions.
• Lead basic maintenance of the website (WordPress) and blog, including clarifying procedures and schedules, posting revised content and imagery, and coordinating with external sources on design, plug-ins, and integration with other technology platforms.
• Maintain social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), working with division managers to schedule regular posts and protecting brand elements.
• Assist in developing and cataloging close relationships with the press, and work with external vendors to produce press releases, media pushes, and special campaigns.
• Stay apprised of marketing trends, priorities, and changes in the local, national, and global communications landscapes, including among current vendors and services.

3. Other Responsibilities (10%)

• Support other functions of the organization as needed, including occasional support of programs in the field, routine staff and Board meetings, and the Annual Review.
• Occasionally supervise interns and volunteers in the execution of programs.

Disclaimer
This job description is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all associated responsibilities, skills, requirements, or conditions.  While intended to be accurate, it is not meant to exclude that other, different tasks may be required when circumstances change (such as during emergencies, personnel changes, workload alterations, rush jobs, or technological developments or advancements).

Qualifications

ATTRIBUTES

The successful candidate will ideally possess the following attributes and professional qualifications:

1. Passionate commitment to Urban Green Lab’s mission and values
2. Entrepreneurial, with a keen sense of how to sustain innovative programming
3. Outstanding interpersonal and organizational skills, and high sense of integrity
4. A positive, flexible attitude, intellectual curiosity, and capacity to adjust to change
5. Diplomatic and discrete, with excellent community relations and listening skills
6. Self-reliant, proactive, dependable, and on time – a team player to the core
7. Humility and grace under pressure, a sense of humor

Other Desired Qualifications

1. Bachelor’s degree and at least five years of relevant professional experience
2. Experience in fundraising and grant writing, with demonstrated record of success
3. Knowledge of philanthropic trends, charity laws, and diverse solicitation methods
4. Comfort building lasting donor and strategic partner relationships, and making asks
5. Involvement in marketing, press relations, and executing specialized media campaigns
6. Understanding of myriad institutional cultures, preferably through a nonprofit or start-up
7. Training and ease with CRM software (ideally Salesforce) and shared Google platforms
8. A superior writer and editor, with a nose for storytelling among diverse audiences

Equal Opportunity Employment
Urban Green Lab is fully committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and to attracting, retaining, developing, and promoting the most qualified employees without regard to their race, gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship status, veteran status, or any other characteristic prohibited by state or local law.  Urban Green Lab welcomes applicants from a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and ideas.

Additional Information

Benefits

How to Apply

HOW TO APPLY

Please email cover letter, resume, two writing samples (such as a sample grant narrative, letter of intent, or outcomes report), and three professional references (email, phone, and nature of each affiliation) to Todd Lawrence, Executive Director, at careers@urbangreenlab.org.  References will not be contacted without prior approval.  Combine all documents into one PDF-formatted file with your full name as the file name and write “Development & Communications Coordinator” in the email subject line.  Submissions that are incomplete or sent by other means, including phone calls, will not be considered or returned.  Only applicants selected for consideration will be contacted.  Applications are accepted until the position is filled.  All correspondence is confidential.  Background check required.

Details

• Date Posted: March 12, 2020
• Type: Full-Time
• Job Function: Accounting / Financial Management
• Service Area: Education
• Start Date: 07/01/2020
• Working Hours: M-F 9:00-5:00PM