Associate Director, Collaboration Services and Operations, Funder Collaborations

About the Organization

ClimateWorks Foundation is a global organization committed to our mission: to end the climate crisis by amplifying the power of philanthropy. Since our founding in 2008, we have awarded over $1.8 billion in grants to more than 850 organizations working to advance climate solutions around the world. We helped grow the field of climate philanthropy to where it stands today, establishing infrastructure, global networks, and momentum for continued growth. Through our Global Programs and Services, we equip philanthropy with global knowledge, networks, and solutions to drive climate progress.

• Scaling solutions: Our collaborative Global Programs — focused on solution areas including carbon dioxide removal, cooling, industry, transportation, and more — produce results that are bending the greenhouse gas emissions curve. From the U.S. to Europe, China, Brazil, and beyond, we collaborate with a diverse community of funders, NGOs, and climate leaders to accelerate just and equitable climate solutions.

• Guiding and supporting funders: Our Global Services provide funders with comprehensive resources to assess, build, evolve, and execute high-impact climate-giving strategies. Our Global Intelligence service equips funders and the climate community with climate insights to pinpoint opportunities for impact and philanthropic insights to help identify investment priorities. We facilitate Global Collaborations that enable funders to increase individual and collective impact. Our Global Grantmaking services enable funders to invest in climate solutions around the world. 

• Fostering collaboration, exploration, and growth: Our collaborative approach and commitment to learning ensures that we continuously explore innovative ideas and emerging opportunities — all with the aim of scaling philanthropy-supported initiatives to help end the climate crisis.

As experts in climate science, public policy, economic and social analysis, and strategic philanthropy, ClimateWorks’ staff understands the multi-faceted challenges and opportunities of climate change. We are researchers, strategists, collaborators, and grantmakers who care passionately about our mission. For more information, please visit www.climateworks.org. 

Department Summary

Built to serve results-driven philanthropy, ClimateWorks leads collaborations that enable funders to strategize, learn, and execute new and existing climate initiatives. Our suite of best-in-class collaborations empower the largest global climate funders to increase individual and collective impact. We facilitate a wide range of international collaborations designed to build high-trust relationships, create strategic alignment, and facilitate coordinated actions across the climate philanthropy ecosystem, including funders, grantees, and other climate leaders. The Funder Collaborations Department works closely as a team to strategically support high-caliber global collaborations, convenings, and special projects, including funder forums, learning networks, and joint action groups. We work in a fast-paced environment, serving as the secretariat for our flagship climate philanthropy collaboration and hosting two international hybrid convenings a year as key community moments. Through all of our efforts, we embody our and work to engage more diverse voices and perspectives. We like to say “collaboration is in our DNA”. It is core to how we operate internally and what we do externally.

Job Summary

The Associate Director, Collaboration Services and Operations, Funder Collaborations is responsible for leading: 

• The provision of member services, products, and communication for a constellation of member funders and collaborators
• The oversight of complex, multi-day convenings for international climate funder collaborations 

The Associate Director is responsible for several large workstreams and projects central to the success of the Funder Collaborations Department. They directly manage a team of Funder Collaborations staff and cross-functionally (matrix) manage other department resources, depending on the needs of each project. They are experienced managers and enjoy creating the conditions for their team (and the department as a whole) to be wildly successful. They are also exacting project managers, patient but persistent at herding the many cats in their orbit. Finally, they have well-developed influence skills and use them liberally and ethically to obtain the participation, buy-in, and goodwill of the many people relying upon their leadership.

The Associate Director is equally comfortable working backstage (planning, tracking, reviewing, doing hands-on work), on the sidelines (coaching, troubleshooting), or in the limelight (directly communicating with high-level funders and organization executives). Being able to work comfortably at all of these levels and switch gears from leader to doer to facilitator requires someone who cares more about the success of their team and their events than their individual visibility.

The successful candidate is always seeking ways to improve quality and efficiency but can also move forward when conditions are not ideal or are evolving. They prefer to plan far into the future but can also perform under pressure and change on a dime, when needed.

They are thrilled that the position is more management and execution-focused than strategy-focused, and they have a sustained hunger for taking responsibility for highly complex, stakeholder-designed meetings that happen year after year.

Essential Tasks  

Collaboration Management, Services, and Products

• Oversee programmatic operations of the funder collaborations function, including member services, products, and relationship management systems to support funder engagement, onboarding, and stewardship
• Tirelessly work to obtain/improve the back-end process and infrastructure needed to reliably manage hundreds of relationships, while minimizing bespoke, unsynchronized tracking systems with CWF’s information, systems, and technology team
• Codify and update processes for members so that they know what they should (and shouldn’t) expect from the Department
• Develop and manage a collaboration services and products plan, working with other team members and CWF teams for input and execution
• Oversee a small set of grants/membership contributions for the funder collaborations program, in coordination with CWF’s development team

Convenings

• With the director (and input from other stakeholders), contribute to and coordinate the development of the goals, and themes for each convening
• Manage the administration and services throughout the year for the secretariat for the premier convening of many of the world’s largest climate funders
• Oversee all meeting logistics and operations for multi-day meetings in the US and internationally via the supervision of staff who lead day-to-day functions in these areas
• Oversee management of on-site staff for our largest convenings (which are all-hands-on-deck endeavors) in partnership with the FC Meetings Manager 
• Oversee future meeting design and host engagement support via supervision of staff who lead these areas
• Oversee assessment and review processes that occur three times a year, with more comprehensive reviews every three years

People and Department Management

In partnership with the Funder Collaborations Director:

• Manage appropriate staff members (initially 2-3) and contribute to overall department management
• Partner with other ClimateWorks departments and stakeholders on cross-team work, including development, operations and planning, IT, and programmatic teams
• Strengthen team communications, workflows, and systems
• Design, manage, and lead various Funder Collaborations workstreams, projects, planning processes, and systems, and manage (either directly or via a dotted line) Funder Collaborations staff as needed
• Oversee and manage the department's budget planning and monitoring 
• Negotiate and oversee contracts with external partners, especially consultants and associated vendors

Required Qualifications

• A minimum of 10 years of work experience, including managing complex projects involving external stakeholders
• A minimum of 5 years managing at least three direct reports
• Experience managing a minimum of three large projects where some of the contributors were not their direct reports
• Experience overseeing the managers and teams responsible for managing at least three large, multi-day, convenings/meetings/conferences (as well as directly managing at least one large event themselves)
• Experience managing donor/member services for an organization with a minimum of 100 donors/members
• Excellent collaborative project management skills, experience running cross-team coordinated work projects and processes, including developing and executing on shared goals, deliverables, and timelines
• Excellent communication and writing skills, including with diverse stakeholders from other cultures
• Comfort and confidence in supporting and influencing VIPs and executives
• A track record of recruiting and managing diverse individuals, and increasing the diversity and inclusion of their workplaces
• Solutions-oriented and flexible management style, able to navigate ambiguity to bring projects to successful shared outcomes
• Assiduous attention to detail, strong organizational skills, and a passion for creating seamless project plans while also being able to modify them, if needed
• Ability to handle sensitive matters with diplomacy and discretion
• Technically-savvy, experience adopting and utilizing technology platforms and a quick learner with new programs and platforms
• Ability to travel in US and internationally, typically about 20 days a year
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently (both virtually and in-person) with minimal supervision
• Commitment to the mission of ClimateWorks Foundation
• BA or BS degree
• Experience in nonprofit organizing or advocacy work, fundraising or stewardship, coalition projects or philanthropy preferred 
• A sense of humor and levity amidst pressing deadlines and high-impact outcomes
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently (both virtually and in-person) with minimal supervision 
• A commitment to a diverse, inclusive and equitable work environment

Compensation 

ClimateWorks offers an excellent benefits package and a competitive salary that is commensurate with experience (geographic differential applied based on location).

Salary Range (Bay Area / NYC): $130,000 - $140,000 annually

Salary Range (Other US): $125,000 to $130,000 annually

***ClimateWorks strives to create an equitable culture of transparency and fairness.

Location 

ClimateWorks Foundation is based in the San Francisco Financial District. This position is classified as US Flexible. Exceptional candidates can work from the SF office or from other locations, geographic differential applied to compensation based on local cost of labor.

Commitment to Racial and Social Justice

At ClimateWorks Foundation, we are driven by our vision of creating a thriving planet for all living beings for generations to come. We aim to foster an inclusive workplace that values diverse lived experiences and emphasizes the voices of marginalized people — especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — who are most vulnerable to climate impacts, and whose voices, ideas, and leadership are crucial to winning the climate fight.

To ensure that we are making meaningful progress, we have made a set of diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments across all dimensions of our work to further our mission and realize our vision. For more information, please visit: Fostering Racial and Social Justice in Pursuit of our Mission

Equal Employment Opportunity

Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at ClimateWorks Foundation and as such we are committed to creating a diverse and multi-cultural work environment. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race (including traits historically associated with race), ethnicity, religion, color, sex (including childbirth, breast feeding, and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, uniform service member and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, age, protected medical condition, genetic information, disability, or any other protected status in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, termination, promotions, transfers, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms and conditions of employment.

ClimateWorks Foundation is committed to complying with all laws protecting qualified individuals with disabilities, as well as employees’ religious beliefs and practices. This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, termination, promotions, transfers, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms and conditions of employment. ClimateWorks Foundation will provide a reasonable accommodation for any known physical or mental disability of a qualified individual and/or employees’ religious beliefs and practices, as required by law.

If you require an accommodation, please notify Human Resources. Once ClimateWorks Foundation is aware of the need for an accommodation, it will engage in an interactive process to identify possible accommodations.

Application Process 

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. To be considered for this position, interested candidates must submit a resume and cover letter. This position will remain open until filled.

Employment at the ClimateWorks Foundation is at-will.

Benefits

ClimateWorks offers an excellent benefits package:

Healthcare Plans:

Multiple options available through Kaiser & UHC

• HMO - 100% coverage for employee and dependents
• POS - Employee pays difference beyond HMO coverage (3 out of 4 POS options are at 100% coverage for employee and dependents)
• Dental –100% coverage for employee and dependents
• Vision – 100% coverage for employee and dependents

Fertility Benefit

• Fertility care through Carrot Fertility. Access to on-demand doctor-approved content, pregnancy support, and virtual chats with medical, legal, and regulatory experts.

Disability Benefit (long and short-term)

Life Insurance (3x base salary up to $750k for employee only)

PTO

• 20 days (1st year)
• 25 days (2nd - 8th year)
• 30 days (9th year)

Holidays

• 11 Observed and 2 floating

401k Plan

• After 6 months of service, CWF automatically contributes 9% of gross earnings per pay period to retirement fund*
• After 6 months of service, CWF matches 100% of employee contributions up to a max of 6% of gross earnings per pay period*