Grow a grants portfolio that will change the world

The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution needed to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals.

How You Will Make a Difference

In this role, you will direct and build a portfolio of foundation donors and prospects that will fuel our work to transform animal agriculture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve natural resources, and prevent animal suffering on a massive scale. The Associate Director of Foundation Relations will be responsible for:

• Leading on all aspects of portfolio management for foundation donors and prospects in the areas of global health, food security, animal welfare, and other cause areas that you may identify. GFI has a significant opportunity to grow revenue in these cause areas from foundation donors.
• Partnering with the Director of Foundation Relations on portfolio management in the climate cause area, with the opportunity to direct a portfolio of major gift level grants from climate funders of up to $1mm.
• Building strong, long-term relationships with foundation donors granting at major gift levels to maintain and expand their continued support while constantly growing the circle of prospective funders.
• Drafting and editing compelling cases for support, grant requests, and progress reports for your foundations portfolio.
• Maintaining comprehensive donor records for your portfolio in our CRM (Salesforce), complying with our donor privacy policies, and utilizing provided tools to report out on progress.
• Working collaboratively with the Senior Grant Writer to contribute to the foundations team’s annual grant-seeking calendar, documenting all deadlines for LOIs, proposals, and progress reports for your portfolio.
• Ensuring tracking mechanisms are in place in accordance with grant compliance requirements within your portfolio.
• Working collaboratively with GFI’s team of Philanthropy Officers and the Prospect Research Manager to identify and receive referrals of foundation prospects from our network of individual donors, contributing to our shared success.
• Partnering closely with program staff and GFI leadership to coordinate their roles in grant-seeking strategies, proposal and report creation, and meetings with foundation donors.
• Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of GFI's theory of change and programmatic work in order to effectively communicate our impact with foundation donors and prospects.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Who We’re Looking For

The Associate Director of Foundation Relations must have:

• A minimum of eight years of experience in a foundation relations or grant-seeking capacity. Prior experience working with global health, food security, animal welfare, climate organizations or related industries is preferred.
• Experience using Salesforce or a similar CRM system.
• Strong collaborative problem-solving skills in which you seek to understand and make smart decisions through effective communication and leading by example.
• Exceptionally strong written and verbal communication skills.
• A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to building an inclusive workplace where everyone feels like they belong.
• Comfort working remotely and in a rapidly growing and evolving organization.
• Strong support for GFI’s philosophy and mission; demonstrated interest in plant-based & other alt proteins, public health, environmentalism, climate change, animal protection, or hunger relief.
• A commitment to GFI’s values: believe change is possible, do the most good we can, share knowledge freely, act on evidence, and invite everyone to the table.

We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We use a third-party anonymizing tool to redact personal information from submitted applications — including name, location, contact details, and several other factors — to reduce bias and increase fairness in our process. We strongly encourage people of every race, color, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. Since we value a diverse workplace, we prioritize an inclusive climate absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

Research indicates that men tend to apply for jobs when they meet just 60% of the criteria, while women and people from other marginalized groups only apply if they are a 100% match. If you are passionate about GFI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even if you don’t check all the boxes, please apply. We’d appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

The Fine Print

• Terms of employment: Full-time, exempt
• Reports to: Sally Chapman, Director of Foundation Relations
• Location: Remote; United States
• Travel: Up to two weeks per year for organization retreats and 3-5 additional, short trips per year.
• Benefits: Working from home, full medical coverage, optional dental and vision packages, a 401(k) plan with employer match, flexible holiday and vacation plans, opportunity for advancement, respectful managers, and supportive colleagues. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/GFIBenefits.
• This is a U.S.-based position: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.
• COVID vaccination policy: GFI requires all US employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Proof of vaccination will be requested before the start of employment. GFI will consider requests for accommodations or exemptions from this policy on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with applicable laws. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/GFICovidPolicy.
• Salary: $114,000.12 - $118,560 (depending on experience and qualifications)

Application Deadline: February 13, 2024

Anticipated Start Date: April 1, 2024

Decided not to apply? If after reviewing this job description, you have decided not to apply, please let us know why by completing this short survey: https://tinyurl.com/GFIJobSurvey.

Interested in working at the Good Food Institute? Join us for the Career Opportunities Webinar to learn more about our work and ask questions about specific job opportunities! See upcoming webinar dates and more information at https://tinyurl.com/GFICareers.

Application Instructions

GFI uses an anonymized hiring system that redacts key identifying personal information from all applications. We are testing this tool as part of an effort to reduce bias in our hiring process. Following these instructions will help to ensure your application is not delayed by a failed redaction.

• Where possible, limit the creative formatting of your documents. If the name on your resume is an inserted image file or is styled with large spaces between each letter, for example, the redaction is likely to fail. Colors and designs are OK, but wherever possible, the text itself should just be regular text.
• Please use consistent names. It helps to ensure that the name you use in your resume and cover letter is the same as the name you type into the application below. For example, if your name is Jennifer, please sign your cover letter as “Jennifer” rather than “Jenny.”
• Submit PDF or .docx files only. Other file formats, like .txt, are likely to fail redaction.
• Please do not include personal identifying information in your responses to the application questions. Referencing past education, work experience, and mission-alignment is OK.
• Please do not contact the role’s supervisor or any potential member of the hiring team. If you have questions, please email [email protected].

Thank you for helping us to ensure that the redaction process works smoothly and to review your application as quickly as possible!