Pittsburgh Senior Action Strategist

ioby is a national non-profit crowdfunding platform that mobilizes neighbors across the country to become powerful leaders who plan, fund and make positive change in their neighborhoods. We are creating a future in which our neighborhoods are shaped by the powerful good ideas of our own neighbors. ioby seeks a Senior Strategist based in Pittsburgh, PA. This role is a two-year funded position.

The Senior Strategist will build on an 8-year foundation of work to cultivate and support resident leaders and nonprofit partners in Pittsburgh. This position builds on ioby’s success in activating over $1million in support of the innovative ideas of resident leaders in Pittsburgh.

This role will recruit community projects to fundraise on the ioby platform and provide customized one-on-one fundraising coaching to Pittsburgh project leaders. Simultaneously, this role will be responsible for embedding ioby’s grassroots crowdfunding curriculum into nonprofit programming throughout Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Senior Strategist will own the strategy to achieve and exceed the outcomes defined in the two year grant. You’ll be expected to bring new ideas, strategies, and an attitude of continuous improvement while contributing to a culture of innovation. 

As a tech nonprofit, ioby has a fast-paced environment that constantly evolves to the next level of improved service to ioby Leaders. Our team is distributed across the country so we use a variety of online tools for project management and communication. As an organization with anti-racist ideals, ioby primarily collaborates with BIPOC community leaders who experience funding discrimination. Learn more: https://ioby.org/equity 

For the right candidate, this is an exciting opportunity to be part of a mission-driven, community-based organization that is contributing to a national movement for resident-led community development. For more information, visit ioby.org/about and ioby.org/Pittsburgh. 

Job Objectives: 

• Create and manage the Pittsburgh strategy for partnership cultivation and project recruitment to exceed grant deliverables in this two year funded role.
• Learn and deliver the ioby grassroots crowdfunding curriculum, while adding your own experience and expertise to your coaching relationships.
• Grow the pipeline of Pittsburgh ioby project leaders by: 
• Cultivating and stewarding mutually beneficial, mission-aligned partnerships with Pittsburgh’s community development and civic leadership sectors;
• Planning and teaching workshops that recruit ioby crowdfunding campaigns;
• Training nonprofit colleagues in ioby’s workshop curriculum so that our free resources are embedded in local programming beyond this two-year position;  
• Teaching ioby crowdfunding participants how to employ community organizing tactics to raise donations for their own work in Pittsburgh.
• Positively represent ioby to regional audiences by presenting at industry events.
• Contribute to ioby’s national strategies for resident-led community development. 

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES 

Partnership Development - 45%

• Implement strategies designed to integrate ioby as a valuable tool and resource for resident-led change in Pittsburgh for the long term, including for local fiscal sponsors, nonprofits, government agencies, and other organizations. 
• Strategies to embed ioby will be customized to the partnering organization and will strengthen both referrals and a train-the-trainer program.
• Cultivate and steward nonprofit industry partnerships through mutually beneficial, mission-aligned free programming from ioby’s curriculum. 
• Participate in regional and national coalitions, collaboratives, and networks of thought leaders related to the ioby mission. 
• Direct the planning, promotion, and facilitation of ioby's Pittsburgh fundraising workshops and events. 
• ioby’s workshops blend asset-based community development, grassroots fundraising, online communications and crowdfunding campaign planning to allow ioby leaders to develop tailored strategies for their particular crowdfunding campaigns. 
• ioby hosts and co-hosts events to strengthen relationships with ioby Leaders, partners, and other ioby supporters. 

Recruitment and Training: 45% 

• Leverage a network organizing strategy to reach residents and support them (through 1:1 coaching and workshops) in idea and project development, fundraising, engagement, and implementation.
• Learn and teach the ioby grassroots crowdfunding curriculum, while adding your own experience and expertise to your coaching relationships. 
• Identify potential ioby fundraising campaigns from a variety of groups, including but not limited to nonprofits, civic organizations, faith organizations, neighborhood associations and coalitions by:
• Meeting with local groups with constituencies that have a crowdfunding need
• Reading local publications and attending local events
• Co-hosting events and workshops with partners
• Support, develop, cultivate and celebrate new ioby Leaders to successfully fund and implement their ideas through fundraising coaching. 

Strategic Planning with the ioby National Organization: 10% 

• Work with your manager to develop annual and quarterly strategic plans.
• Contribute to ioby national strategic planning to advance ioby’s mission. 
• Document Pittsburgh's best practices and lessons learned.
• Work with other ioby teams to refine internal business processes.
• Develop a local communications and marketing plan for Pittsburgh.

• Generate content and subscribers for Pittsburgh’s monthly newsletters.

• Record your interactions with all ioby participants and partners in systems that support the future of Pittsburgh engagement with ioby resources and support.

Requirements

Candidates for this position must have a Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a related field, a driver’s license or other reliable transportation, and the following skills:

Community Engagement Skills

• 5 or more years of professional experience in Pittsburgh doing community engagement in a related field, such as community organizing, case management, urban planning, and/or grassroots fundraising, or in an unrelated field with similar job activities, such as social work, ministering, health care and/or job training.
• Very strong networking skills and relationships throughout Pittsburgh
• Strong relationships across, and understanding of, the civic landscape in Pittsburgh and the region (e.g. culture of giving, relationships between and among neighborhood groups, race and class dynamics, and history of government-led civic engagement efforts).
• Particularly strong relationships to support the following project types: Racial and Social Justice, Neighbors Working Together/Building Social Capital, Sharing Economy, Public Art, Food, Safer Streets, Placemaking.
• Comfort in networking and establishing partnerships with local organizations that result in shared programming with those partnering organizations. 
• Experience using asset-based community development in a professional setting, not just a school class. 
• A demonstrated commitment to racial and social justice.
• Ability to work with a diversity of residents, regardless of race, class, age, tech-savviness etc.
• An understanding of the civic landscape in the Pittsburgh region (e.g. culture of giving, relationships between and among neighborhood groups, race and class dynamics, and history of government-led civic engagement efforts).

Fundraising & Coaching Skills:

• Experience in fundraising that will support coaching others in fundraising
• Ability to teach, coach, and encourage residents on an interpersonal level

Communication Skills

• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to tailor ioby's message and fundraising coaching curriculum to particular audiences (e.g. capable of articulating the job of the Action Strategist in layman's terms)
• Excellent public speaking skills and comfort representing ioby to the media, at community gatherings, partner meetings, speaking engagements, and through social media
• Able to generate content and subscribers for a monthly newsletter (written content, pictures)
• Adept at promoting and facilitating trainings, workshops, and events
• Experience using social media
• Accustomed to recording work plans and tasks that can be seen and contributed to by distributed staff

Organizational Skills

• Excellent time-management skills
• Adept at planning trainings, workshops, and events
• Ability to record and prioritize tasks in an organized fashion, within a quickly changing workload
• Accustomed to fast-paced environments that are constantly evolving

Technological Skills

• Experience managing a network of constituents with a CRM or other tool
• 1-3 years experience using a CMS
• Proficiency and comfort using cloud-based collaborative software such as Google Docs, Google Sheets, Dropbox, Asana, FreshDesk, Slack

Passions / World View

• Passionate about their city and a desire to be part of positive change
• Asset-based mindset
• Has a "long game" perspective - understands how their work is situated in a long journey of making ioby the best it can be AND is comfortable with their particular contribution
• Committed to racial and economic justice
• Looks to dismantle systems of oppression (racism, bias, etc.) that reveal themselves as we work
• Willingness to learn and self-teach new technology tools on a regular basis
• Excited by the idea of working on the ground in Pittsburgh, while having all of their work colleagues located across the U.S. 
  

EXTRAORDINARY CANDIDATES WILL HAVE:

• Experience working as part of a remote team and being managed by a remote supervisor
• Experience managing a Train the Trainer program to embed skills or curriculum in partnering organizations. 
• Community organizing experience.
• Masters degree in Social Work, Social Justice, Urban Planning, or other related field.
• Experience in teaching and coaching fundraising.
• Experience working in an organization that relies heavily on technology for project management and communication.
• Experience building relationships with remote colleagues through video conferences and software.
• 2-4 years experience using a Customer Relationship management system to manage constituents, and using customer service software to manage shared inboxes.  
• Comfort communicating across levels of authority and "managing up" to senior staff.
• Experience working in an anti-racist organization.

Benefits

This is a full-time position with a salary range of $55,000 - $60,000 commensurate with experience. It includes a generous benefits package with health, eye, and dental insurance benefits; a minimum of 27 PTO days in addition to holidays; the possibility of employer-matched 401k contributions, and an attractive "Whole Person" policy.

ioby staff are distributed across the country and work from home. ioby’s regular business hours are 9am - 6pm EST Monday through Friday, but this position will require some work outside regular business hours. You’ll be expected to manage your own balanced workweek based on the goals of the position.

This job requires occasional travel within the U.S., including participation in ioby’s staff retreats that take place in New York and other ioby cities. 

Please apply at ioby.org/jobs with your resume and cover letter by February 29th. No calls or emails, please. We anticipate a start date in March 2024. 

ioby's Non-Discrimination Policy

ioby is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. ioby's organizational policies, practices, programs, activities and decisions regarding employment, hiring, assignment, promotion, compensation, volunteerism, internships, and other terms and conditions of employment or voluntary service shall not be based on a person's race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, mental or physical disability, ancestry, military discharge status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, source of income, parental status, housing status, or other protected status, in accordance with applicable law.

Women, people of color, and LGBTQIA persons are always strongly encouraged to apply.

Research shows that women and people of color are less likely than others to apply for a job if they feel they don’t meet every qualification. In keeping with ioby’s equity goals, we encourage you to apply if you are excited about this job description and feel you could succeed in the role, even if you don’t meet every single requirement. 

Read more about ioby’s journey toward equity: https://ioby.org/equity