The Organization
ABOUT THE HIVE FUND
The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice is a specialized intermediary launched in 2019 that raises funds and makes grants to groups that have historically lacked access to funding and are addressing intersecting climate, gender, and racial justice crises in the US South, where both pollution levels and emerging clean energy opportunities are high and yet philanthropic funding levels remain low. With funding from 18 current donors, collaborative partnerships with a broad array of advisors, and six full-time staff members, the Hive Fund provides multi-year, general support to more than 100 grantee partners based predominantly in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and the Carolinas. More than 75 percent of Hive Fund grant dollars to date have been awarded to organizations led by Black, Latina, Indigenous, and Asian American and Pacific Islander women. In 2022, our annual grants budget topped $20 million in multi-year grants, and we aim to double our annual grants budget by 2025. The Hive Fund is a fiscally sponsored project of the Windward Fund. More information about the Hive Fund can be found on our website and in our 2022 Triennial Report.
Position Overview
Strategic Partnerships Director
Reports to: Co-Director Classification:
Full-time, Regular Salaried Exempt
Location: Anywhere in the US; Distributed Organization
Apply by: January 11, 2023
ABOUT THE HIVE FUND
The Hive Fund is led by two dynamic co-directors who brought their distinct experiences in equity-centered philanthropy and nonprofit advocacy together in creating the Hive Fund. In this newly created position that the selected candidate will help shape, the strategic partnerships director will collaborate with both co-directors to develop and lead innovative strategies to grow resources and enhance and expand funding partnerships that advance the Hive Fund’s goals. This position requires the ability to build and implement development strategies and systems to identify, engage, and track potential funders capable of making seven to eight figure grants to the Hive Fund.
The strategic partnerships director is a highly motivated, inspiring, relationship-, and goal-oriented bridge-builder who brings vision, diligence, and perseverance to this critical fundraising role. In alignment with our core values, the strategic partnerships director will demonstrate deep understanding of and commitment to racial, gender, and climate justice, and manage communications and relationships with care knowing the importance the Hive Fund places on relationships and how we cultivate them.
Partnering with both co-directors but reporting directly to the co-director based in San Francisco, the strategic partnerships director will also engage closely with the Hive Fund’s five other team members–especially the program officers who work directly with grantee partners, and with the strategic communications director. The strategic partnerships director brings drive, resourcefulness, emotional intelligence, and the ability to see setbacks as temporary, obstacles as removable, and stretch goals as reachable. This role is an exciting opportunity to support a leading equity-focused grant-maker during an important time of institutional growth and formalization of operations and systems.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
Strategy
● Work closely with co-directors to develop a multi-year strategy to maintain, expand, and deepen the Hive Fund’s philanthropic partnerships so that we can support a growing grant-making portfolio across seven or more states in the US South.
● Conduct research, network within the field, and identify emerging priority opportunities in order to build a pipeline of aligned partnerships with foundations, high-net-worth individuals, and other philanthropic entities.
● Develop annual revenue projection scenarios for budget and program planning.
● Build or acquire, and maintain, a user-friendly donor engagement and relationship management tracking system. Implementation and Engagement
● Leverage the agreed upon strategy for philanthropic partnership development; build authentic relationships with climate donors and funders, fund advisors, and key funder affinity groups, with special emphasis on development professionals who are women and or people of color and values-aligned donors in the US South.
● Collaborate with co-directors in cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with key funders, donors, and other strategic partners, including: ○ Helping staff write and share bi-annual grant strategy and docket memos with our funders. ○ Developing a cadence and project management approach for connecting with current and prospective funders. ○ Bringing co-directors in at the right time, preparing them for key meetings, and managing follow-up.
● Collaborate with co-directors on grant proposal and report management. ○ Assist with writing high quality grant proposals and grant reports. ○ Work with fiscal sponsor and Hive Fund staff to ensure grant proposals and report deadlines are met.
● Attend, plan, and host funder briefings or convenings as needed to build community; discuss issues of importance; and enhance awareness of the impact of and opportunities for the Hive Fund and its grantee partners.
● Work closely with the strategic communications director to support funder engagement and learning, providing donors with the evidence, inspiration, courage, and solidarity they need to increase equity-centered giving. ○ Contribute to team effort to gather information on grant activities and outcomes from Hive Fund grantee partners in non-extractive ways and synthesize it into compelling data, stories, and documents that are both informative and inspiring to funders.
○ Help shape regular Hive Fund email communications, webinars, organizational impact reports, and customized briefs for current and prospective philanthropic partners.
○ Develop and implement a plan for building a more robust funder learning community for Hive Fund funding partners. Hive Fund Team and Culture-Building
● Engage with the Hive Fund staff team to build and maintain relationships and support a vibrant and inclusive organizational culture of learning and action, including attending bi-weekly staff meetings and in-person staff convenings (two to four per year).
● Help the Hive Fund situate itself between money and movement in values-based ways that honor accountability to our grantee partners and authentic relationships with our funders.
QUALIFICATIONS & CHARACTERISTICS
Core – Ideally, the strategic partnerships director will have a mix of these core experiences and skills to support their ability to thrive in the role:
● 10+ years of professional experience and demonstrated leadership in fund development and philanthropy at or near the scale of the Hive Fund’s annual budget.
● A track record of designing fund development strategy to raise resources at scale over multiple years and the ability to operationalize that strategy through partnerships with aligned foundations and other large donors.
● Deep knowledge of leading and emerging foundations and philanthropic networks within climate, clean energy, racial and gender justice philanthropy.
● An internal desire and motivation to shift philanthropic practices toward equity and justice.
● A highly organized and adaptive leader with an ability to balance strategic, high-level thinking with tactical productivity and strong attention to detail.
● Exceptional interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including the capacity to write clear and compelling case materials and speak publicly as necessary.
● Interest in building and contributing to a positive, friendly, diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture and high-performing team while demonstrating cultural competence and commitment to equity.
● Ability to work flexibly, quickly, and collaboratively as part of a growing team, with the ability to navigate in a dynamic environment and adjust to shifting priorities. Preferred – Preferably, the strategic partnerships director will also have some of these desired experiences and skills to enhance their thought partnership in the role:
● Lived and work experience relevant to climate, gender, and racial justice in the US South.
● Sense of humor.
WORK ENVIRONMENT, SCHEDULE & TRAVEL
The strategic partnerships director will be an employee of the Hive Fund’s fiscal sponsor, the Windward Fund. This is a regular salaried position with comprehensive benefits. As a distributed organization, our team members currently work remotely embedded in key regions across the US and mainly work from home or in co-working spaces. The Hive Fund will provide necessary office equipment and supplies for remote work and work in co-working spaces. Approximately 30% travel is ideal to support an intentionally distributed workplace with up to four annual staff gatherings; to build trust and relationships by meeting donors and grantee partners in their communities; and to attend conferences and other learning and networking events. Reasonable accommodation will be made for individuals with disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, and those who reside in rural areas.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
The Hive Fund’s compensation practices support staff in thriving and are part of living into the just, equitable world we are actively creating. These practices are guided by the Hive Fund’s six core values, especially transparency, equity, and healing & security. The salary range for this position is $180,000-$220,000, commensurate with qualifications, plus the competitive benefits package provided to all Windward Fund employees including health coverage, retirement benefits, paid sick leave, vacation and holidays and access to professional development resources.
COMMITMENT TO EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
In alignment with our core values and approach, Hive Fund is committed to a diverse, collaborative, and sustainable work environment. We recruit and hire with an understanding of systemic oppression and of the lived reality of people with marginalized identities and strongly encourage all to apply, especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous people; queer, trans, and gender non-conforming; intersex people; people with disabilities; and formerly incarcerated people. The Hive Fund is a project of Windward Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. Windward is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. Windward’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.
COVID-19 POLICY
To center the safety and well-being of its employees, Windward Fund requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law by contacting human resources at HR@windwardfund.org.
How To Apply
The Hive Fund is partnering with Walker and Associates Consulting – a Black woman owned and led strategic consultancy. Email a cover letter and resume by January 11, 2023, to hivefund@walkeraac.com.
We invite you to lift up relevant qualifications not specified in this announcement that might make you ideal for this role in your cover letter. Use the subject line “Strategic Partnerships Director.” One combined PDF file is preferred. Candidate review begins immediately.
Beginning in late January of 2023, advancing candidates may be invited to participate in two rounds of interviews. Finalists may also be asked to respond to an advanced assignment related to a real-time challenge that the strategic partnerships director would face in this role. We hope to have a new director joining our team by no later than early spring of 2023