Join our team
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We're hiring!
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE
Organization: GRIP Training Institute
Location: Hybrid: San Francisco Bay Area/Berkeley, CA / Remote
Type: Full time, Non-Exempt (40 hours a week)
About: https://grip-traininginstitute.org
DO YOU?
Do you want to be on a team who works toward the dismantling of the mass incarceration system, and strives to turn violence and suffering into opportunities for healing? Do you want to work with proven leaders in the growing global movement toward Restorative Justice? Do you want to make an impact on the lives of justice impacted people? GRIP Training Institute is seeking a Development Associate to join our growing team.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Development Associate reports to and partners with the Development Director in three primary areas:
- Donor Administration, including creation and maintenance of donor records through donors’ lifecycle, including updating donor contact information, history of donations and acknowledgements, any follow ups with donors, etc.
- Donor Engagement and Communication, including creating and updating written materials for donors; and working directly with other domains to develop marketing and communication materials to support fundraising campaigns.
- Donation System Administration & Reporting , including ensuring data integrity of our donation system (reconciliation with our financial system) and accuracy of information. Generating performance metrics, Board level reports, information to assist Development Director with campaigns, and required reporting to our grants, foundations, etc.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
The Development Associate is responsible for providing campaign and project coordination management to support GRIP’s development activities, ensuring compliance with restricted funds, data integrity and accuracy of our donor and donation information. Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Donor Administration
- Capture and maintain donor information, such as contact information, preferred name, preference for mode of communication, subscriptions, etc.
- Route and track major donor acknowledgements with Executive Director and/or GRIP Founder.
- Reconciliation of donations against donor commitments.
- Revenue reconciliation of donations received against monthly revenue.
Donor Engagement & Communication
- Support Development Director and Major Gifts Officer in the planning and execution of donor events and campaign execution.
- Drive grassroots fundraising efforts via social media. Implement digital or small mailing campaigns for grassroots donors (donors under 1k)
- Support the pipeline of donors to qualify, support our grassroots donor goals and spread word about GRIP’s work/restorative justice
- Assist in Mailchimp newsletter development, proofreading and delivery.
- Build and share GRIP success stories with our donor community and stakeholders.
- Organize existing media for development/communications team members to prepare for appeals and donor outreach.
- Coordinate and arrange all details for Prison Visitor Program and be able to host visitors and donors
Donation System Administration & Reporting
- Timely and accurate gift processing in CRM (Bloomerang) and other tools.
- Perform system maintenance, including disabling access of terminated employees, reports used are generating quality output, data integrations are functioning, etc.
- Generate scheduled and ad-hoc reports as needed to support campaign execution, compliance and leadership reporting.
- Updating GRIP Training Institute web pages to reflect latest campaigns and donor acknowledgements.
Discovery/Research
- Support doing monthly discovery on prospective donors and foundations
- Creation/management of a system of qualification of donors
- Create profiles/Donor brief for qualified prospects for us to review monthly
KEY PARTNERSHIPS
This role partners with the Director of Development, Communications, Finance, and Program Teams to engage and deliver great experiences for our donors, organizations and partners that enable and support our development campaigns. This role is expected to work across multiple internal organizations.
WHO YOU ARE AND KEYS TO SUCCESS (the must-haves)
To be successful in this role, you will excel in these areas:
- You are passionate about the work we do and the work of raising money: You will resonate deeply with the work of restorative justice inside prisons. Our organization is about transforming lives and you will likely have a sense of introspection and practices of self-reflection. We work hard to live what we teach, and are looking for someone who can engage as a part of our team. You also love raising money and have experience already in a non-profit (or business development) setting.
- You have 3+ years fundraising experience in a non-profit organization.
- You are seriously detail oriented, tech savvy, and experienced with creating and maintaining effective systems, processes and tools. In this role, you will be managing and strengthening our development infrastructure, including the donor database and grants tracking systems for prospects, grant proposals and reports. Your familiarity with digital platforms (especially Google Workspace), data, modern communication technologies and funder databases will be important. You have a high commitment to accuracy re: data entry, management and reporting.
- You are an excellent writer with overall strong communication skills, including ability to put together material into clear and compelling stories and make a case for funding our work, using both qualitative and quantitative data.
- You can work independently, take initiative, and collaborate well with colleagues. You enjoy working out of your home as well as in the office. You know how to manage your time and projects independently as well as ask for help when needed to keep projects on track. You have the experience and confidence to deliver high quality work.
- You can work with a wide range of different people. You can comfortably collaborate with people from all walks of life, including high net-worth individuals, formerly incarcerated people, government officials, and a staff team with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
- Travel will be required. Must be able to easily travel to different meetings and offices in the Bay Area. Valid driver’s License and access to a car preferred. Must be able to be cleared to enter prisons (CDCR runs a complete background check).
BONUS POINTS (nice-to-haves)
- Three years experience, at least
- Experience with communities impacted by the correctional system and understanding of the impact of systems of oppression on communities of color.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Communications or equivalent job experience is preferred.
- Ability to create high quality marketing materials that highlight GRIP’s achievements, showcase our stories and appeal to potential donors is a plus.
- Comfortable with technology to pull data from multiple sources, compile them and produce nicely formatted reports and/or dashboards.
ABOUT THE GRIP TRAINING INSTITUTE
GRIP’s perspective and the title of our 200-page coursebook is “Leaving Prison Before You Get Out.” ™ Together we learn that being free it’s not just about finding oneself on the other side of the prison gate; it’s not just a geographic fact. At the heart of being free is not where you are, but who you are. We believe that nobody was born armed and dangerous, that violence is learned and that it is a tragic expression of an unmet need. Therefore, it can also be unlearned; GRIP’s methodology facilitates unlearning violent behavior to replace it with an attitude of insight, compassion and service.
Our flagship program, GRIP (Guiding Rage Into Power), is a one-year, intensive program that guides incarcerated people through a journey of deep transformation and accountability. GRIP is a proven model for incarcerated people’s rehabilitation and healing, developed over 24 years in the California State prisons by founder Jacques Verduin, in collaboration with thousands of life-sentenced (with parole) incarcerated people.
The GRIP Training Institute is committed to building and nurturing an inclusive, equitable, respectful and accountable work environment. We welcome people from all backgrounds and walks of life. What we ask of our students inside, we ask of ourselves — to practice the GRIP tools of emotional intelligence, mindfulness, do-no-harm, and understanding the impact of our actions on others.
ANTI-BIAS
We are committed to breaking down systemic structures which contribute to deep inequities in our system. We continuously question our culture, climate and curriculum to ensure all members of our community are committed to being racially and culturally literate, and ultimately anti-bias change makers.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
The GRIP Training Institute offers competitive benefits, including health and dental insurance, paid holidays, paid time off, and staff retreats. Salary competitive and commensurate with experience with a range between $29.00 to $35.00/hr.
To apply, please send:
- UPDATED RESUME
- TAILORED COVER LETTER
- THREE PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
TO: brian@insight-out.org
GRIP Training Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage diversity in the workplace regardless of race, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status. People of Color are encouraged to apply.
INTRODUCTION
GRIP (Guiding Rage into Power) is a proven model for incarcerated people rehabilitation and healing, developed over 25 years in the California State prisons by Jacques Verduin, in collaboration with thousands of life-sentenced prisoners. We offer a training program for people interested in becoming Facilitators. They are called GRIP Trainee Facilitators (GTFs).
Below is an outline of our expectations for facilitators, and the training and support we offer.
EXPECTATIONS OF GRIP FACILITATORS
Training Model
The primary way that GRIP Facilitators learn the content and process of facilitating GRIP is by “apprenticing” alongside more experienced facilitators. This process includes joining a GRIP Tribe in order to learn the curriculum & facilitation skills needed to become a certified GRIP facilitator and eventually run a GRIP Tribe of your own. GTF’s will be provided with tasks and goals to be completed on the path towards their certification, including coaching and supervision from both the staff of the tribe they are training in, as well as our GRIP staff.
Personal dedication to the work of inner freedom
There are particular skills, experience and qualities that we look for in selecting GRIP facilitators. Perhaps most important, we look for your personal dedication to the work required to become free — not only for the incarcerated people in our groups to walk out of the doors of prison, but for them and us to be free from the patterns of thinking and acting that have caused suffering and harm in all of our lives, whether we are incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated or outside facilitators.
Personal Practice
Hand in hand with dedication is the commitment to personal practice. We are looking for people who have a proven record of looking inside themselves, are aware of their triggers and issues, and are dedicated to being authentic, transparent, and willing to be vulnerable. Perhaps you have a personal mindfulness practice; perhaps you regularly do something else to help you to ground your being, look inside, reflect on your habits of thought and action, and heal old wounds. The best way we can teach is to embody and model the healing journey that the curriculum represents.
Resources and Training
In addition to the hands-on, in-depth training time inside prison, the GRIP Training Institute also invests in the development of its facilitators in multiple ways:
- Semi-annual Facilitator retreat/trainings (usually March/Oct)
- Monthly conference call trainings with senior trainers
- Articles and readings
Preparation and Team Expectations
The quality of what we deliver to our students is dependent on us as facilitators being at our best when we walk through the doors of the prison. We want to do everything we can to ensure you are extremely well prepared, no matter whether you are an outside GTF, an inside GTF or a Certified Facilitator:
- Participate in monthly planning calls with your GRIP facilitator team
- Study the monthly lesson plans, the curriculum and facilitator guidelines for each session
- Prepare the sections you will lead
- Do your part to review homework and quizzes, and respond to the students
- Take turns written reports on your group after each class
- Give and receive feedback from your colleagues
- Communicate with your prison’s GRIP coordinator any issues or needs that come up with your group, and respond to requests from them promptly.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
In the course of the training program, you will learn and be expected to demonstrate the following, in order to become a certified GRIP facilitator:
- A GRIP content expert — You understand and can teach the GRIP materials. You have internalized the GRIP curriculum: are able to give personal examples to demonstrate tools and concepts.
- Facilitation skills — You are able to engage others; process with students; read the room and engage the students and your colleagues; recognize group dynamics and skillfully interact with them; you know the difference between instructing, facilitating and processing. Feeling comfortable presenting in public, in front of the class.
- Commitment and accountability to the program — You have excellent attendance at classes, debrief or planning meetings/calls; trainings; you respond to quizzes/homework assignments on-time; and are reliable with follow-through.
- Openness to learning — You are honest about areas of personal growth; participate in trainings, do assignments/readings. You know your strengths and weaknesses. Openness to work with all human beings regardless of gender, sexual identity, gang affiliation, yard designation, crimes committed, race, ethnicity, spirituality, country of origin, etc.
- Teamwork — You understand team dynamics, share the class workload, give and receive feedback, handle conflict as soon as it emerges and in a transparent manner, collaborate. Ability to lead and to follow others’ leads. Step back, step up.
- Commitment to your own healing journey and self-care — You have a support community and practices; use colleagues and supervisors to debrief, do your own inner work using GRIP tools; are willing to be vulnerable about the journey.
- Healthy understanding and use of power — You understand your own privilege and power in your role as facilitator; demonstrates commitment and capacity to act from a power-with stance, not power-over.
Compensation & Benefits
- An hourly wage of $20
- Ability to earn overtime when requested
- Reimburse GRIP Trainee Facilitators for mileage and food/lodging expenses
- Potential to become a Certified GRIP Facilitator with opportunities for advancement