The Organization
Founded in 1928 and supported by over 400 local donors, the East Bay Community Foundation partners with fund holders, social movements, and the community to eliminate structural barriers, advance racial equity, and transform political, social, and economic outcomes for all who call the East Bay home. The Foundation is committed to advancing a Just East Bay, where all members of our community are treated fairly, resulting in equitable opportunity and outcomes for all. Today, EBCF manages over $800 million in community-based assets and offers charitable tools, funds, and investment options to enable donors to give smartly. For more information, visit ebcf.org.
Position Summary
EBCF is implementing exciting strategies to move our 400+ donors to align their giving with a deeper analysis and reflection about the structural root causes of the persistent and growing inequities in our region. The Senior Philanthropic Advisor therefore will be responsible for: (1) successfully stewarding and aligning a portfolio of donors with EBCF’s mission of advancing A Just East Bay; (2) raising substantial new resources towards EBCF’s mission; and (3) helping educate and organize donors to become philanthropic and civic leaders for A Just East Bay.
This position will take a professional with a unique set of skills and social justice analysis. It combines donor stewardship, individual fundraising, social justice education and donor organizing. While experience at a philanthropic institution may help in this position, it is not required. We are seeking skilled professionals who meet our core requirements around inspiring, educating and mobilizing donors towards community-centered trust-based philanthropy with a racial justice lens. An ideal candidate in this role will be committed to offering insight, advice, and recommendations around how donors can best support the organizations and leaders in our community and beyond who are closest to the issues and the solutions. We are seeking professionals excited about EBCF’s mission, this new framework of engaging donors, and with the passion, tenacity and experience to make it real.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Support the philanthropy and philanthropic leadership of a portfolio of current donors, helping to ground them in social justice values and advising them in ways that help them understand and prioritize community needs.
- Partner with teams across EBCF, including Donor Services & Administrative Support, Community Investments & Partnerships, and Marketing & Communications, to fulfill donors’ charitable goals in service of EBCF’s mission.
- Stay abreast with and provide internal education on emerging trends and best practices in philanthropic advising, donor organizing, and community foundations.
- Develop and execute donor stewardship plans, monitoring and tracking progress of clear financial targets that support EBCF’s business growth.
- Cultivate new donors, with a particular focus on key areas of growth as identified by the Foundation.
- Lead planning, implementation, and continual refinement of EBCF processes and partnership opportunities for prospective and existing donors.
- Engage a portfolio (75-110) of current donors in becoming effective, powerful leaders for A Just East Bay.
- Help deepen and advance a concrete organization-wide strategy and structure around reimagining EBCF’s relationship with donors, centered around racial justice, community-led decision-making, and courageously addressing power and privilege within spaces of wealth.
Core Qualifications and Required Skills:
- Passion for the mission of EBCF to advance A Just East Bay.
- At least 5+ years of philanthropic advising/fundraising experience (paid or unpaid experience). Has demonstrated experience fundraising with individuals and increasing their giving over time.
- Relationship building skills with a wide range of people. Skilled and excited to build trust with people, listen, ask questions, responsive to feedback, and build authentic relationships around the issues they care about, and activating those interests towards social justice and EBCF’s community partners and leaders.
- Demonstrated commitment to racial, economic, and social justice and equity.
- A basic fluency in and comfort talking about oppressions such as racism, sexism, and classism and an understanding of how their own experiences and background relate.
- Results-oriented: Someone who gets it done, determined, creative, and solutions-oriented.
- Strong project management: A strong track record of creating work plans, setting goals, measurable targets, balancing multiple tasks and projects, and meeting deadlines; strong administrative acumen and an excellent attention to detail. Comfort with effectively communicating about progress.
- Team-player: Have a ‘low ego, high output’ mindset. Highly collaborative, flexible, and open to shifting priorities and timelines and an ability to identify new, creative solutions when challenges arise. Excited to participate in and build cohesion within the Development team, as well as across the organization as EBCF continues operationalizing its new mission, vision, and values, internally and externally.
- Creativity & willingness to learn: Excitement for and experience developing and executing new business strategies, testing bold approaches towards philanthropy, donor experiences and learning, while appreciating, learning from, and building on EBCF’s rich history and tried and true models. Solicits and welcomes contributions from staff at all levels in the organization towards successfully building relationships with our donors.
- Excellent persuasive communication skills (written, visual, oral) with individuals.
The Ideal Candidate will have:
- Knowledge of and relationships in the East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties), particularly around philanthropy and its social justice landscape.
- Experience working with individual donors and families (especially major donors), particularly around issues of wealth and social justice values.
- Belief in the importance of mobilizing and organizing donors to become powerful participants and allies in local social justice movements; an ability and interest to engage in potentially challenging conversations around intersectional identities like class, race, power and privilege with people with wealth.
- Experience stewarding donors with Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), or experience working at a DAF provider (e.g. a community foundation or other philanthropic advising institution).
- Experience exploring other avenues of community-centric fundraising/disrupting philanthropy/participating in radical redistribution of wealth.
Compensation
The starting salary range for this position is $110,000 – $115,000. Compensation is commensurate with experience and background. EBCF offers an excellent benefits package.
How To Apply
To apply, please email a combined PDF or Microsoft Word File of a cover letter and resume to jobs@eastbaycf.org by 5:00pm on Monday, April 18th. Please use the subject line: EBCF SPA Application. Applications will be reviewed as they are received.
The East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) is an equal-opportunity employer with a commitment to racial justice and racial equity. EBCF does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law and is an employment-at-will organization. The Foundation welcomes and encourages people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and members of other historically disenfranchised groups to apply.
COVID-19: All employees of the East Bay Community Foundation are required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and must provide proof of their vaccination status.