The Organization
“Love is the core energy that rules everything…love is the one ingredient that holds us all together.” The words of our founder, John E. Fetzer, inspire us in carrying out our mission of helping to build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.
Our mission is both aspirational and inspirational. We are persuaded that at this critical moment in human history, a spiritually grounded transformation from separation and fear to wholeness and love is both the next big step forward in humanity’s spiritual journey and the only force powerful enough to save us from doing grievous harm to ourselves and the planet that sustains us. Our spiritually inclusive community of staff and trustees is grounded in love and hope, and committed to supporting a global transformation from fear and separation to wholeness and love.
We are seeking qualified candidates for the position of Relationship Manager to join us in advancing our work. The Relationship Manager will assist in cultivating partnerships and managing data related to the development of external relationships.
Who We Are and What We Do
We recognize that to be effective in this work, we, as a community, must be the work—that is, that we must continually work to deepen our spiritual grounding and to build a culture based on our four core values: love, trust, authenticity, and inclusion. Standing on the common ground that there is more to existence than physical reality, we are committed to honoring and supporting all life-affirming spiritual paths.
Our staff develops and promotes programs that further our goal to help catalyze a broad-scale transformation by a critical mass of people around the world embracing love as the guiding force in their lives. While our staff of approximately 60 talented individuals work in one of three areas (Programs, Administration, or Operations) we are all committed to the work to transform ourselves in order to support the spiritual transformation of others. By this, we mean that no matter what our day-to-day work is, whether we are a vice president, a member of our program staff or our building and grounds crew, our role is also to operate in service of this overarching goal of transformation.
We’ve formulated five key strategies to guide us in our work toward this long-term goal for broad-scale transformation. They are:
Personal Spiritual Transformation: Encouraging and supporting individual spiritual exploration and spiritual practice, both within and outside the mainstream religious traditions.
The New Narrative: Bringing together diverse thought leaders to support the emergence of a new cultural narrative that combines scientific and spiritual understanding
Movement Building and Outreach: Using classic movement-building strategies and the powerful new tools of social media to build networks and communities to support spiritual transformation.
Spiritual Communities: Encouraging and supporting the emergence of new forms of inclusive spiritual communities and a way of being in spiritually grounded relationship.
Engaging Science: Engaging leading scientists and philosophers in restoring a balanced and complementary relationship between the scientific and spiritual ways of knowing and exploring new “relational” understandings of reality that move beyond a materialist/deterministic scientific paradigm.
Read more about our theory of change and program strategy.
What You Will Do
As a member of our program staff you will play an important part in fulfilling our mission. Our program staff work in one of five areas:
Partnership: Staff in this area cultivate and manage relationships across a spectrum of organizations, sectors, and domains in order to form and maintain program partnerships that will more effectively leverage the Institute’s resources.
Engagement: Our Engagement team works to advance programmatic initiatives focused on creating and supporting broad-scale movement building and outreach. They oversee communications objectives, website, social media and other digital platforms, and assist with harvesting, sharing, and promoting content for all program areas and Institute initiatives.
Research, Discovery, and Development: This team works to generate new information and insights, synthesize data, coalesce new fields of research focus, and develop and share new understandings that advance Institute program goals and strategies. Methodologies and approaches used include work with researchers in natural sciences, social sciences, and other disciplines; organizing convenings and conferences; and collaborating closely with partners from within and across the world’s faith traditions and spiritual paths outside the traditions, as well as partners from across other social sectors.
Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Communities: Staff in this area support and steward programmatic initiatives that deepen our understanding of the processes that foster and support spiritual formation and development at both the individual and communal level.
Learning Integration: This team manages a comprehensive learning function that harvests, synthesizes, and applies results and insights gleaned from all program areas.
Position Overview
As Relationship Manager, you will be part of our Partnership team and will work with other program staff in cultivating and stewarding partnerships. This includes managing, coordinating, and tracking data related to the development of external relationships, inquiries, prospects, and active partners.
A typical day might include:
Supporting the Partnership team in seeking out potential project partners by collecting, reviewing, and managing information via a relationship management database
Coordinating and assisting with the data entry for all program area contacts as well as call reports, support documents, and other information;
Conducting research on prospective partners, researching qualifications, and previous work in the Institute’s fields of interest and developing partner profiles to use in fostering collaborative partnerships
Creating reports (written narratives, tables, or visualizations) on the status of program partner relationships, projects, and other program-related activities
Training and assisting staff in entering project- and contact-related notes in database;
Improving processes and providing ongoing training and assistance;
Interacting with the full staff and guests in learning experiences that foster our culture of spiritual exploration and personal growth;
Serving as a liaison between the program area and other areas of the organization, including the President’s Office; and/or
Attending meetings and participating in conference calls.
What you need to be successful
We value diversity and invite staff to bring their whole authentic selves to work. In addition, we have found the following characteristics to be vital to our employees’ success:
Enthusiasm for and commitment to the Institute’s mission and values;
A team-oriented work style;
A mindset of servant leadership;
Flexibility, adaptability, and comfort with ambiguity;
An entrepreneurial approach;
Openness to learning about different spiritual/faith traditions and other forms of cultural diversity; and
A desire to engage, share, and interact with a close-knit community.
Candidates for our Relationship Manager opening should also have:
A bachelor’s degree in library science, public administration, or another relevant discipline, and five years of experience in database or customer relationship management administration. Experience in philanthropy is helpful.
The capacity to see the big picture with a well-honed level of accuracy and attention to detail;
Ability to establish work priorities, organize information effectively, and demonstrate grace under pressure;
A steady and consistent demeanor in accomplishing the work as well as consistent, high-quality work product;
The comfort and ability to initiate new contacts, in person and by phone or email;
Professional presentation with excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills;
A demonstrated ability to handle personal and confidential information with tact and sensitivity;
Ability to effectively communicate the programs and goals of the organization to persons of different backgrounds;
Excellent Microsoft Office suite skills (Excel, Word, PowerPoint);
The ability to work independently as well as part of a team; and
The ability to anticipate and nimbly respond to emergent needs.
What It’s Like to Work at the Institute
Our strong belief in the power of community unites us in working to foster a culture based on our core values of love, trust, authenticity, and inclusion, which guide our work and our relationships with each other. We each seek to live these core values in ways that are consistent with our own individual beliefs, practices, religions, and/or traditions.
A typical day at the Institute will depend on your role, of course, but you can expect to work with a community of people who take great pride in doing meaningful work in an atmosphere that encourages direct, honest, and respectful communication. Collaboration and teamwork and dialogue and deep listening are at the core of how we work. Reflection and contemplative practice will often be part of your day—most meetings start with a meditation such as a reading or a few moments of centering silence, and we encourage all to take quiet time for individual reflection as well.
We often say, “in order to do the work, you have to be the work.” That means we often see our work as a calling…work that supports the greater good, and we strive to embody our mission and values in all we do. We embrace learning and co-creation. Many of our staff say that they have been transformed in some way by the work that we do.
How To Apply
We invite qualified candidates to send us a letter of interest and résumé indicating the position you are applying for via email or mail, with email being the preferred method.
Email us at: humanresources@fetzer.org, referring to “job1017” in the subject line, please. Attachments in MSWord are preferred.
Mail:
Human Resources
9292 West KL Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
Preference will be given to applications received by November 6, 2017, though the position will remain open until filled.