Oakland, CA

The Organization

The East Bay Community Foundation mobilizes financial assets and community leadership to transform the lives of people in the East Bay with pressing needs. This means bringing together the financial resources and leadership capabilities of the Foundation’s charitable-fund holders with those of government, business, private foundations, and non-profit service providers in coordinated, grant-making efforts to positively affect change. Since our founding in 1928, over 430 funds and endowments have been established at EBCF. In 2016, in partnership with our donors, EBCF granted more than $84 million to nonprofit organizations and has charitable assets under management of nearly $350 million.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Vice President of Community Investment and Partnership, EBCF seeks a seasoned organizational development expert to lead efforts to strengthen and build capacity of grantees and community organizations throughout the region. This position is a unique opportunity to advance the field of organizational and leadership development with approaches that are grounded in an understanding and analysis of race and cultural competency.

Strong candidates will have substantive experience helping organizations achieve impact through leadership and organizational development. He/she/they should also be passionate about the power of organization and leadership development as a catalyst for social change, have a familiarity with and demonstrated commitment to social justice concepts and frameworks such as racial equity, gender analysis, economic justice, structural racism.

The Initiative Officer will help to shape and implement the Foundation’s overall approach to building the capacity of grantees and community organizations in the region. A significant effort that the IO will lead and manage is the Initiative to Support Black-Led Organizations, a 7 year strategy to stabilize and accelerate the work of anchor organizations led by and serving the Bay Area’s black communities. This Initiative is supported by a funders’ collaborative in response to a report issued by the Bay Area Black United Fund – Black-Led Organizations in the Bay Area: From Crisis to Change. In that report, more than 125 Black-Led Organizations identified revenue, systems, training and leadership development as critical resources needed to ensure the success of Bay Area Black-Led Organizations and the communities they serve.

It is EBCF’s intention to offer the lessons learned from the Initiative to Support Black-Led Organizations – to help catalyze similar efforts within other communities of color.

We need a leader who will:

· Work collaboratively with other team members to develop define and implement program strategies towards EBCF’s vision of A Just East Bay and team goals.

· Manage, monitor and coordinate the Initiative to Support Black-Led Organizations, including: management of a network of highly experienced independent consultants, trainers and mentors; overseeing a process to identify participating organizations; and together with other EBCF staff, maintenance of strong working relationships with the funding entities supporting the Initiative.

· Work together with other EBCF staff to fundraise, manage external communications, issue grant agreements and contracts for the Initiative to Support Black-Led Organizations.

· Ensure a learning culture, overseeing the development and implementation of effective feedback processes for EBCF’s efforts to build capacity in its grantees and other community organizations.

· Continually scan the fields of organizational development, capacity building and leadership development to incorporate innovations into EBCF’s approach towards capacity building work.

· Represent the Foundation and its work to government, business, philanthropic and community leaders through oral and written presentations, reports, etc.

You are a leader with:

· Substantive experience helping organizations achieve impact through leadership development and capacity building. At least 5-7 years of experience in the areas of organizational development, capacity building, leadership development or related fields.

· Experience that demonstrates the proven ability to manage a high-performing team and produce consistently high-quality results.

· Significant experience within the nonprofit sector and communities of color – experience within Black communities preferred.

· Experience with fundraising – and especially with funders’ collaboratives – preferred.

· Broad knowledge of best practices and emerging trends in the field of organizational development.

· Comfort and ease in an intermediary role; can balance the priorities of organizations together with the needs of a Funders’ Collaborative.

· A demonstrated commitment to and familiarity with social justice concepts and frameworks such a racial equity, gender analysis, economic justice, structural bias.

· Strong interpersonal skills and with demonstrated ability to build relationships among diverse individuals, organizations and communities.

· Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders from a range of backgrounds, experience and education.

· Comfort with taking risks and recognizing and learning from failures.

· Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.

· Demonstrated humility, flexibility, and initiative; a sense of humor and excitement for the work.