Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #411
Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #411
The Praxis Project (Praxis) is a nonprofit movement support intermediary that helps to build power in communities to improve health justice across the United States.
Centering Community Power for Health, Justice, & Racial Equity — www.thepraxisproject.org The Praxis Project is a movement support intermediary committed to capacity building for social change. Our emphasis is on developing fields of work in ways that encourage multi-level, trans-disciplinary learning and collaboration across issues, across the country, and across the globe.
Program Manager - Fiscal Sponsorship & Capacity Building
About The Praxis Project
The Praxis Project is a values-driven, national nonprofit organization that seeks to improve health justice through partnerships to build community power. Praxis believes strongly that organized communities are critical partners in the struggle to create healthy communities. Praxis works with over 200 diverse grassroots groups across the United States that influence local policy, mobilize communities, and strengthen programs and organizations to improve health justice. Praxis works in strong partnership to enable local efforts to build community power through training, technical assistance, and capacity building services, as well as comprehensive fiscal sponsorship. Our capacity-building programming is focused on partnerships that actively advance Praxis’ mission to build healthy communities by transforming the power relationships and structures that affect our lives. For more information, please visit www.thepraxisproject.org.
The work environment at The Praxis Project is fast-paced, creative, and fun, and our team is hardworking and extremely passionate about our mission.
Position summary
Program Manager for Fiscal Sponsorship & Capacity Building is a newly-created role at Praxis providing holistic support to our fiscally-sponsored projects, helping to improve, grow, and expand our fiscal sponsorship program, and providing technical assistance to our national grassroots network in collaboration with our program team. This position reports to the Assistant Director. Praxis provides hands-on, intensive, and partner centered comprehensive fiscal sponsorship and capacity-building support in furtherance of our mission and our overall vision to build community power.
This is a full-time (40 hours per week), exempt, permanent, fully benefits-eligible position located either in Oakland, CA or working remotely, and paid an annual salary set based on experience, qualifications, and local cost of living for remote candidates. The estimated base salary for this position is $65,000-$70,000 per year. Salaries for candidates located in Oakland, elsewhere the central San Francisco Bay Area, or other similarly high cost of living areas will include a cost of living supplement and therefore will be higher than this base. We use Nonprofit Compensation Associates compensation survey data for the Bay Area and Bureau of Labor Statistics and other reputable indices to adjust for cost of living. Praxis is committed to hiring the best candidates for our positions, wherever they are based in the United States, and provides regular cost-of-living pay changes. Praxis also offers substantial employee benefits beyond salary and takes a holistic approach to setting compensation.
This position is non-supervisory, but may become a supervisory position sometime in the future as our team evolves.
We are seeking candidates with community organizing or frontline grassroots advocacy campaign experience and operational and general management duties for nonprofit organizations. Experience working with comprehensive (“Model A”) fiscal sponsorship or nonprofit financial management and accounting is strongly desired, as is experience with or exposure to healing justice theory and modalities.
Praxis works overwhelmingly with communities of color and constituent-led organizations. Candidates whose lived experiences reflect those of the partners we work with are strongly encouraged to apply.
Duties and responsibilities
General relationship management
Serve as the primary point of contact and liaison between Praxis and our fiscally-sponsored projects and other grassroots partners, acting as a trusted, credible, and consistently supportive partner to project directors, staff, volunteers, constituents, advisory board members, and more.
Fiscal sponsorship coordination, technical assistance, and operational support
Coordinate all fiscal sponsorship support and communication for our projects.
Maintain responsive and supportive ongoing communication with all projects, answering questions and coordinating input from other staff and/or escalating high-level issues as appropriate. Conduct recurring check-in meetings with contacts while responding to timely needs as they come up.
With support from the Assistant Director, deliver partner centered, culturally competent, responsive technical assistance to our projects in the areas of operations, organizational development, finance, compliance, fundraising, and strategy.
When called for, help mediate conflicts with and internal to our projects, demonstrating non-marginalizing, non-patronizing, non-violent communication.
When appropriate, serve as point person with independent contractors or funders of our fiscally sponsored projects or otherwise pertaining to the fiscal sponsorship program. With support from the Assistant Director, coordinate consultation and service delivery from our key external resources including attorneys, consultants, brokers, and vendors.
Collect feedback from our projects on an ongoing basis and make and implement policy, process, and approach recommendations driven and informed by their needs. In partnership with other staff, identify and implement new systems and technology as needed.
Design and prepare reports, presentations, and analysis to present to our projects to support our partnership and their goals; conduct research and synthesize information and data as needed.
Train and orient new and existing projects to our systems and processes in a partner centered and culturally competent manner. Design and implement training and learning tools and curricula.
Assist in vetting potential new partners in fiscal sponsorship and conduct onboarding.
Engage in professional development and networking to improve the fiscal sponsorship program, representing the program and Praxis at meetings and conferences and as part of coalitions and affinity networks related to this work.
With support from the Assistant Director, stay up to date on professional standards, laws, regulations, policies, and technology related to fiscal sponsorship, nonprofit operations, and capacity building.
Prepare and present information to Praxis leadership or our Board of Directors regarding the fiscal sponsorship program.
Other duties as assigned by the Assistant Director or requested by the Accounting Manager or Program Coordinator for Finance & Operations.
Grassroots network technical assistance and capacity-building support
Provide administrative, organizational and programmatic support to Praxis' remote and in-person Learning Circles, annual Roots & Remedies conference, and related events.
Collaborate with Praxis Programs team in developing agendas, session content, evaluations, and co-leading facilitation for Praxis’ remote and in-person events.
Obtain and coordinate external resources for Praxis’ programmatic activities.
Oversee and manage grassroots network participation in Praxis-led convenings, including participant communications and management of travel, logistics and participant honoraria. Delegate tasks or otherwise collaborate with Praxis program staff and technical assistance partners in service of overseeing communication and logistical processes.
Develop and establish communication channels with our grassroots network of community organizations to gather feedback, needs for support, technical assistance or capacity-building, and updates on community priorities on an annual basis.
With support from the Assistant Director and the Program Director for Research & Training, deliver partner centered, culturally competent, responsive technical assistance to our grassroots network in the areas of operations, organizational development, finance, compliance, fundraising, and strategy.
In partnership with the Programs team, design and prepare briefs, reports and presentations of findings from grassroots network events and communications to advance the Praxis network’s health, justice and racial equity agenda.
Other duties as requested by the Program Director for Research & Training.
Qualifications: experience
Minimum five years of increasingly responsible programmatic and operations work experience in a nonprofit and/or movement setting is required.
Direct experience with community organizing or other frontline grassroots advocacy campaign work and with operational and general management duties for nonprofit organizations is required.
Experience working with comprehensive (“Model A”) fiscal sponsorship or nonprofit financial management and accounting is strongly preferred.
Experience with or exposure to healing justice theory and modalities is preferred.
Proven track record of creating, leading, adapting, and growing campaigns or programs and programmatic strategies for growth, impact, and visibility is required.
Demonstrated success in developing and allocating resources and budgeting for programs is strongly preferred.
Extensive experience working collaboratively with operations, finance, and/or fundraising and development staff and resources to achieve programmatic growth and goals is required. Some fluency in nonprofit financial management and cohesive and productive relationships with finance and accounting staff are essential for success in this role.
Experience providing technical assistance, training, and/or other capacity-building support to grassroots organizations and community organizers is strongly preferred.
Experience or significant professional development in conflict mediation and resolution and/or non-violent communication is strongly preferred.
Qualifications: skills, knowledge, and abilities
Deeply held personal commitment to social justice and commitment to Praxis’ mission.
Exceptional judgement and ability to adapt in rapidly changing situations is required.
Some awareness of how capitalism and white supremacy have shaped the nonprofit and philanthropic fields and professional norms and standards in finance and operations is required. We look forward to hearing your analysis on this topic.
Substantial experience working with diverse partners and communities of color with experience as a community organizer or otherwise working in grassroots organizations is required.
Advanced knowledge of and ability to speak confidently and accurately regarding health equity and social justice in the United States, the social determinants of health, systemic racism and racial terror, white supremacy, grassroots community organizing, and health and social justice policy issues. Knowledge of the criminal justice system and/or criminalization of the immigration process in the United States is preferred.
Advanced knowledge of policy advocacy and the policymaking process, social justice campaign operations and strategy, community organizing, and community-informed policy change is required. Experience with civic engagement and/or enfranchising work is preferred.
Strong interpersonal skills, relationship-building ability, and high degree of comfort with public speaking and facilitation and/or training; extensive training and outreach experience and/or experience in a role in a network or movement-building or movement intermediary organization is strongly preferred.
Research, data synthesis, and technical writing skills are required.
Outstanding verbal and written communication skills and ability to engage in culturally competent and non-marginalizing communication are required. Knowledge of people-centered educational methodologies and outreach techniques is preferred.
Advanced knowledge of one or more of the social determinants of health and/or policy environments and challenges facing communities of color in the United States is required.
Proficiency in Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Tagalog, Vietnamese, especially writing, is preferred.
Exceptional detail orientation and appropriate sense of urgency in dynamic situations is required.
High level of professional ethics and integrity and the ability to maintain confidential information is required. Experience working within politically targeted movements or organizations is preferred.
Fluency with Google and Microsoft Office apps (including high level of functionality in Excel) and other basic office information technology is required, as is enthusiasm for adopting new systems.
Mental and physical demands
Fast-paced work environment.
High level of concentration and attention to detail required.
Time speaking and listening ranges 25–50%.
Leading and participating in frequent remote video and telephone conferences is required.
Some travel including at least quarterly overnight travel (when safe) is required.
All employees driving on Praxis business must hold a valid driver’s license and maintain a clean driving record, safe vehicle, and insurance. Driver record checks may be required as well.
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Praxis Project is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, and gender expression, religious creed, disability (mental and physical) including HIV, AIDS, and AIDS-related conditions, medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, age, marital status, sexual orientation, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.
The Praxis Project will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of qualified employees with disabilities unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on Praxis operations. Please advise of any accommodation needed at the time of application.
How to Apply
https://www.thepraxisproject.org
To be considered for this position, please send a cover letter explaining your interest in and qualifications for this position as well as your resume or CV together as a single attachment to Ariel Cohen at ariel@thepraxisproject.org with the title Program Manager in the subject line. Please also include how you heard about this opportunity and where you are based. Please apply by July 12 as we will begin reviewing applications on July 13. Due to the anticipated high volume of applications unfortunately we do not have the capacity to respond to questions from individual applicants. If the position seems like a fit, go ahead and apply!