Associate, Disaster Response

Disaster response is one of the most visible and tangible ways GlobalGiving delivers on its mission. For more than two decades, we have been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support. 

When crises happen—from a hurricane in Texas to an earthquake in Nepal, to ongoing humanitarian crises around the world—the GlobalGiving community is there to support impacted communities. GlobalGiving responds to disasters and crises through trust-based grantmaking and other programmatic efforts to support local and community-led immediate response and longer-term rebuilding and resiliency efforts.

Consistent with our mission to accelerate community-led change, our disaster response work is centered on the following principles:

• We lead with our values, internally and externally.
• We work in partnership with, and look to learn from and support, local and community-led organizations that put the voice of the community front and center in their program design, development and implementation.
• We prioritize support that is aimed at underserved and vulnerable communities for each particular context.
• We work in partnership with local, national, and international organizations that have demonstrated transparency, impact, and community-value in large-scale crises.
• We seek to minimize unnecessarily burdensome administrative requirements for our nonprofit partners in favor of flexible and trust-based grantmaking principles.
• We fund organizations that emphasize strengthening community, economic and environmental resilience, and sustainability.
• We embrace learning, evaluating our impact, and adapting to specific crises and a changing world as needed.

The successful candidate is passionate about addressing root causes of crises and thrives in an environment where you can work with local community leaders making positive change happen in and after times of crisis.

We have a casual work atmosphere where everyone’s input and ideas are valued. We’re committed to work-life balance and offer everyone opportunities to learn, experiment, and grow. Since creative, enthusiastic employees are our most valued resource and the basis for our success, we take great care in how we attract, hire, and support our employees for a successful career. If you care about collaboration, curiosity, communication excellence, and continuous improvement, this position is right for you.

Primary Responsibilities

We are looking for an Associate to join our Global Grantmaking and Strategic Programs (GGSP) team to support our efforts to build and strengthen relationships with community-led organizations in disaster-affected/prone regions, and play a critical role in supporting our trust-based grantmaking through GlobalGiving’s own disaster grantmaking and corporate crisis response programs. You’ll also have the opportunity to work across teams at GlobalGiving to develop human-centered impact content, telling the stories of our nonprofit partners and GlobalGiving’s increasing footprint in disaster response.

You will support wide-ranging projects with an extensive focus on our responses to emerging programs as a result of the increasing frequency of disasters and humanitarian crises worldwide. Specifically, you will collaborate across the team, navigating competing priorities, reliably sourcing and recommending high-impact, community-led nonprofit partners for both internally-driven and corporate-partner-driven programs. You will support our nonprofit partners through responsive engagement, development of resources to assist them in leveraging our funding, and by creating and executing opportunities for them to foster connections and partnerships. This will entail:

• Disaster and Crisis Monitoring: Monitor disasters and crises around the world as they unfold and develop. Conduct outreach to and regularly speak with vetted nonprofit partners in GlobalGiving’s network and new prospective nonprofit partners responding to disasters and crises globally to assist in both assessing needs and nonprofit partner capacity to inform GlobalGiving’s level of response. Monitor disaster events and take necessary action after work hours on rotation with other disaster response team members.
  
  
• Disaster Relief and Recovery Grantmaking Fund Support: Support and collaborate with “Fund Leads” (senior members of the GGSP team) to create/update disaster relief and recovery grantmaking fund strategies through crises and context research, identifying local and community-led organizations on the front line of response, conducting outreach and following up with responding nonprofit partners (existing and new), managing communications with nonprofit partners, and reviewing grant proposals and associated grant reports. The Associate may, at the discretion of management, also play the role of “Fund Lead” for some disaster relief and recovery grantmaking funds.
  
  
• Relationship Building and Growth: Create, maintain, and grow meaningful relationships with GlobalGiving nonprofit partners (both current partners and prospective partners) and relevant strategic partners in the disaster philanthropy space and humanitarian sector. Attend relevant meetings and conferences and host workshops for nonprofit partners and other relevant stakeholders. Travel to visit in person with nonprofit partners as needed (typically 1-2 times per year - US domestic and international).
  
  
• Community Engagement: Provide timely responses to inquiries from nonprofit partners, individual and corporate donors, media and other community members on a wide range of topics relating to disaster relief and recovery. Review nonprofit partner projects on our crowdfunding platform related to disaster response and grant reports related to disaster response within our grants management system.
  
  
• External Communications: Author disaster fund updates for donors and Learn Library (website) content for multiple audiences in partnership with our Marketing and Communications team, acting as subject matter expert and representing GlobalGiving at external convenings, including sector and grantmaking conferences and other relevant gatherings.
  
  
• Program Effectiveness: Support effective and efficient management for new and ongoing work streams by flexibly plugging into tasks that optimize the team’s execution on strategic goals and objectives. Ensure that clear and consistent documentation of policies and processes is maintained and well-organized.
  
  
• Innovation: Through collaboration with internal GlobalGiving teams, partners and peers, support pilot initiatives that aim to improve GlobalGiving’s feedback practices, and enhance support to and among community-led nonprofit partners while deepening our trust-based philanthropy practices.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

For our team to be a great fit for you, the following qualifications should resonate with you:

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, humanitarian studies, communications, social enterprise, crisis management or related fields
• At least 1-2 years experience in a programmatic capacity in philanthropy, international development, or humanitarian response sectors, preferably with experience in international grantmaking and relationship building with nonprofit organizations.
• Experience in disaster response-related work, including community-driven recovery and mitigation efforts associated with strengthening the capacity of disaster-prone communities.
• The ability to think across internal and external processes and systems, solve problems, and learn on the job. Comfort with technology-enabled processes is mandatory.
• The successful candidate will approach his/her/their work with humility, be collaborative, positive, and able to deal well with ambiguity and change. They will be adept at building excellent internal and external relationships and able to respond to issues with clarity and diplomacy.
• Ability to inspire and foster trust and confidence in staff, management, their colleagues, nonprofit partners, and other partners. A passionate belief in the mission of GlobalGiving and a commitment to our core values.
• Willingness and ability to work a flexible schedule each week, understanding that disasters and crises do not always happen during a standard 9am to 5pm work schedule.

Preferred Qualifications

In addition, the ideal candidate would also have some or all of the following qualifications:

• Experience in international grantmaking and/or grant management.
• Demonstrated passion for working with vulnerable communities, and a commitment to GlobalGiving’s mission and values.
• Solid experience utilizing best practices related to community-based disaster relief, recovery, and preparedness are vital. International experience.
• Experience and comfort working in a variety of cultural settings.
• A great sense of humor.  

Benefits

Salary + Benefits

Starting salary range: $57,500 - $63,500

Benefits include flexible work hours, remote work options, up to 5 weeks of paid time off per year, professional development opportunities, and a meaningful job where you can go home at night and say, "Today, my work helped more than 700 kids get their essential health and educational needs met." (One of many true stories.) And of course, we've also got you covered with benefits like health care, dental/vision, paid family leave, paid sabbaticals, commuter benefits, and 401K.

Location

This is a full-time position reporting to the Senior Program Manager of Disaster Response. This role can either be based in GlobalGiving’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., with remote working options, or operate fully remotely from anywhere in the US as long as most of the workday overlaps with US/Eastern time. If you intend to apply as a fully remote-worker, be prepared to speak about your experience with remote employment in the recruitment process.

Applicants must reside in the United States. Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have legal authorization to work in the United States for the duration of this permanent position. GlobalGiving does not sponsor employment visas.

In efforts to safeguard the health of our employees and their families, GlobalGiving requires all employees to adhere to GlobalGiving’s COVID-19 Policy and Procedures upon their start date. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.