Development Director - Part Time - Environmental Non-Profit

Development Director - Part-Time, Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI)

Dates: February 1, 2021 - August 31, 2021

Compensation: $48 per hour

Expected hours: 20 hours per week

Location: Fully remote

Position Description

The Development Director will develop and implement the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative’s (EDGI’s) fundraising strategy. They will help EDGI build and activate its network to generate invitations for grants, particularly with foundations. The Development Director will work with EDGI’s Coordinating Committee to identify strategic funders and will work with EDGI’s working groups to identify and secure funding for proposed projects. The Development Director will maintain an understanding of EDGI’s mission, vision, and values in order to match the organization with funders that will be excited to work with us. The Development Director will work at the strategic and networking level, creating and maintaining relationships with funders, and collaborating with EDGI members to write grant applications.

 About EDGI

The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is a network of caring and committed members, primarily volunteers, from multiple academic institutions, non-profit and grassroots organizations, as well as professionals from a broad spectrum of other work and life backgrounds. We analyze federal environmental data, websites, institutions, and policies with the aims of improving environmental data and information stewardship and promoting environmental health and environmental justice. We work in collaboration with other organizations and communities concerned about climate change, science policy, good governance, and environmental and data justice. We are a collective, self-organized into working groups. We practice different kinds of collective decision-making and strive to be an equitable and non-hierarchical organization.

EDGI’s working groups operate in four spheres: (1) maintaining vigilance and fostering legibility for changes to environmental governance, (2) visioning and building alternatives for socially just environmental governance, (3) prototyping an alternative organizational structure, and (4) communicating and engaging in various spheres of influence. We monitor tens of thousands of federal webpages and analyze changes to information access and presentation; interview past and present EPA employees to learn about changes within the US agency primarily tasked with environmental governance; analyze deficiencies in EPA enforcement of environmental violations; identify and describe conflicting justice concerns that data manifests and envision more just data enterprises; lead our organization in experimenting with and adopting human-centered organizational practices; and disseminate EDGI’s analyses and information to target audiences. The Development Director will be instrumental in leading our fundraising efforts to be able to sustain and ultimately increase our capacity to carry out this critical work.

For more information about EDGI, please see our website and most recent annual report.

Specific tasks may include:

• Determining a strategy for sustainably funding the organization
• Identifying likely sources of funding and determining the appropriate initial approach
• Identifying existing potential to leverage EDGI members’ networks for funding
• Making initial contact with funders on EDGI’s behalf and accurately representing EDGI’s projects and values
• Coordinating and collaborating with EDGI membership to produce letters of intent, grant applications, and other necessary materials for pursuit of funding

Terms of the Contract:

The Development Director will work approximately 20 hours per week, from February through August 2021, with potential for renewal pending funding.

Application Process

Please email applications to edgi.hiring@gmail.com by 11:59 pm on Sunday, January 10, 2021 with:

• A resume or CV.
• A cover letter outlining why you are a good fit for the position.

We will begin considering applications on January 1st, with an anticipated start date of February 1st. Shortlisted candidates will be asked for contact information for three references. Interviews will be held in early January. The position will remain open until filled.

EDGI strives to acknowledge and reduce barriers for members of equity-seeking groups through fair hiring practices and enaction of our values. We expect everyone to follow our Code of Conduct and principles of friendliness, respect, empathy, and open communication.

EDGI is a distributed collaboration operating under the fiscal sponsorship of the non-profit, Public Lab, with volunteer members across North America.

Public Lab is committed to a diverse, multicultural work environment. We encourage people with different ability sets, people of color, and people of diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions, and identities to apply.

• Five or more years of experience in fundraising for nonprofits.
• Knowledge of environmental and climate change funding landscapes and/or open technology/transparency/civics funding landscapes.
• Working knowledge of the current global debates on environmental and climate justice, and strong interest in working on these issues.
• Experience in remote collaboration and communication; comfort working remotely with colleagues in multiple time zones via Slack, Zoom, and other online tools.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to multitask and meet deadlines.
• Ability to take initiative and anticipate team needs, working without a manager.
• Comfort working both independently and in teams; able to lead initiatives as well as take direction from others.
• Ability to work collaboratively and non-hierarchically.
• Adherence to policies and procedures; support for EDGI’s mission, vision, and values, which include justice; environmental and human health; intersectionality; anti-facism, anti-racism, and anti-oppression; accessibility; participatory knowledge-making; and responsivity and proactivity.