THE POSITION: Institutional Giving Specialist

REPORTS TO: Director of Development

LOCATION: Bay Area preferred

THE ORGANIZATION

Mission

CEH protects people from toxic chemicals by working with communities, consumers, workers, government, and the private sector to demand and support business practices that are safe for public health and the environment.

Vision

All people live, work, learn, and play in healthy environments.

Overview

The Center for Environmental Health (“CEH”) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that protects people from toxic chemicals and promotes business practices that are safe for public health and the environment. We stop corporations from exposing people to toxic chemicals, collaborate with responsible businesses and industry leaders, and are committed to inclusive, community-led solutions that address environmental injustices in low-income communities of color.

Workplace

CEH is an organization of committed, science-driven advocates who work together to keep short-sighted business interests from harming people in the name of profit. We are proud of our work and achieve big wins for people’s health. The organizational culture is one of entrepreneurism and thoughtfully assessed risk taking. CEH believes that to protect the health of all people, we must address the disproportionate health effects of toxic chemicals caused by systemic racism and other social injustices. The movement to eliminate dangerous chemicals must move forward in partnership with Environmental Justice, Reproductive Justice, and other related movements working to address the pressing social justice issues of our day. CEH’s headquarters are in Oakland, and we have staff located in North Carolina’s Triangle Area, Chicago, the Los Angeles area, and Seattle. This position is located in the Oakland office, but we are open to candidates from other locations. All staff are working remotely currently due to the pandemic.

Commitment to JEDI

At CEH, striving for justice, diversity, equity and inclusion (“JEDI”) for all is critical to our mission and values. We know that having a team that is diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, ability, sexual orientation, age, background, and opinions — and fostering inclusion among that team — is core to achieving our organizational goals. CEH strives to recruit talent from a diverse pool of candidates and ensure that those professionals it hires are sufficiently supported so that they flourish. The organization wants everyone to not only have a seat at the table, but to know that their presence and input makes the organization stronger.

Learn more about the Center for Environmental Health at www.ceh.org.

THE POSITION

This is a full-time, exempt position. The Institutional Giving Specialist is primarily responsible for writing foundation, corporate, and government grant proposals and reports and assisting with identifying, researching, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding institutional funders.

Position Type:  1.0 FTE. Exempt

Start date: Position will be open until filled

Reports to:  Director of Development

Primary Duties and Responsibilities
The Institutional Giving Specialist will join CEH’s dynamic four-person development team and work closely with our Institutional Giving Manager to write foundation, corporate, and government grant proposals and reports and assist with identifying, researching, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding institutional funders. In addition, they will manage a prospect pipeline, track moves management, conduct prospect research, manage grant deliverables and track progress, and oversee all data input and reporting to ensure data integrity in Salesforce. 

Their responsibilities will include:

  1.     Write Grant Proposals and Reports
  • Serve as the lead writer on all Letters of Inquiry (LOIs), proposals, reports, and any required attachments.
  • Coordinate document reviews with relevant staff and integrate edits from various stakeholders to produce persuasive proposals and reports. Reviews include narrative and budget content with program, executive, and finance teams.
  • Create narrative boilerplate to be used throughout the year that is vetted by program staff and then coordinate targeted reviews of new content. Implement a streamlined review system that lowers the time commitment by the reviewers.
  • Assist the Institutional Giving Manager in the creation of proposal budgets and expenditure reports in partnership with the Director of Finance.
  • Partner with program staff to gather needed proposal and report data and be a thought partner for staff on how to optimize data systems to streamline data gathering.
  • Assist the Institutional Giving Manager with the facilitation of grant kickoff meetings, program officer meeting prep calls, foundation strategy meetings, and grant debrief calls by helping set agendas, taking notes, and ensuring feedback is incorporated into future grant processes.
  1.     Lead Prospect Research
  • Identify foundation, corporate, and government grant prospects and conduct prospect research (i.e. Foundation Search). Manage all prospect research, system creation and maintenance, and report regularly to the CEO, Managing Director of Programs, Institutional Giving Manager, and Director of Development for qualification.
  • Tracks prospect pipeline to ensure that CEH is tenaciously pursuing new funders, moves management is happening in a timely manner, and that we are meeting set budgeted goals for new grants.
  • Work with CEH Board to identify and cultivate institutional prospects.
  1.     Conduct Data Input and Reporting
  • Maintain grant deliverables systems in Salesforce for timely submissions and meeting deadlines for LOIs, proposals, and reports, and other planned communications to funders.
  • Input funder correspondence, prospect research, meeting notes, and other moves management activities into Salesforce.
  • Create needed new fields, reports, and dashboards in Salesforce to better track and analyze our fundraising efforts.
  • Lead efforts to ensure accurate reporting and data integrity.
  1.     Other Activities
  • Assist the Institutional Giving Manager with the cultivation of institutional contacts (including strategy, correspondence, and meetings) in collaboration with staff.
  • Track institutional donor gatherings, such as Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA), and Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN). Develop outreach strategy for each in coordination with the Director of Development and CEO.
  • Work closely with the Development Coordinator to accurately track grant agreements, payments, and acknowledgements for all institutional grants.
  • Manage and organize electronic and hard copy grant files.
  • Support development team with other projects as needed.

Candidate Qualifications/Experience

The successful candidate will share the following qualifications:

  • Minimum two years’ experience in nonprofit grant writing or other fundraising writing
  • Bachelor’s degree required
  • Excellent writing skills
  • Some database experience preferred (experience with Salesforce or similar donor database a plus) 
  • Ability to work independently and strength in multi-tasking, goal setting, and workload prioritization
  • Meticulous attention to detail and excellent problem-solving skills
  • Positive and creative—willing to take risks and try innovative new ideas
  • Research skills, including a natural curiosity and tenacity for thorough research
  • Ability to thrive in a team environment and work collaboratively
  • Self-motivated to learn increasingly complex skills
  • Professional approach to internal and external stakeholders
  • Approach challenges and opportunities with a positive attitude
  • Expertise in, and deep commitment to, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, (JEDI)
    • Knowledge of communicating with diverse groups, working with a multicultural workforce, and sensitivity and appreciation to cultural differences is required. 
    • Demonstrated commitment to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and justice
    • Commitment to environmental justice, environmental health, diversity, and inclusion.
  • Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people.
  • Comfort with new technology and proficiency with Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Sharepoint, and Google Suite
  • Sense of humor and grace under pressure

What to expect from CEH

  • Salary range: $65,000 – $70,000
  • Full benefits, including 401k match (up to 5% of salary), health insurance, vacation, sick time, and paid holiday.
  • A team with a sense of justice and a sense of humor 
  • A low-ego, high-performance, all-for-one-and-one-for-all culture and flexible work environment.

Working Conditions and Job Setting

  • Physical ability to type (or use voice keyboarding software) and use a computer is essential.
  • Infrequent periodic lifting of up to 20 pounds is required.

Applying for this job
Write/gather the following materials and send in a single PDF:  

  • Cover letter 
  • Resume 
  • Two writing samples (can be separate PDFs)

Please merge these documents into a single PDF whose file name includes your surname and “Institutional Giving Specialist.” Then email it to: [email protected] with the subject line: Institutional Giving Specialist.

We acknowledge receipt of all employment applications, and when we decide a candidate is no longer in the running, we inform her/him/them promptly.  (Note: this sometimes can take a while.)

This position will remain open until we find the right person to fill it. If this posting is still up, go ahead and apply. 

CEH is an equal opportunity employer. As an organization committed to diversity and the perspective of all voices, it considers applicants equally of race, gender, gender identity or expression, color, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, age, ability, personal appearance, family responsibilities or national origin.