About Liberation Ventures 

Liberation Ventures (LV) is building the power to win federal, comprehensive reparations for Black Americans. LV is a field catalyst and intermediary, and exists to support the incredible field of people and organizations across the country building momentum toward that north star. LV is guided by five organizational beliefs.

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LV’s three pillars of work include:

• Mobilizing abundant resources by investing in organizations that accelerate the reparations movement & co-creating grantmaking strategies with practitioners in the field 
• Spreading irresistible narratives by building narrative power, amplifying the stories of our movement, and framing reparations as the issue of our time
• Strengthening movement capacity through relationship and connective tissue building, research, and tailored organizational development support

Liberation Ventures is laying the groundwork to secure racial repair, at scale, in our lifetime. LV is building a multiracial democracy that works for all of us – and realizing a dream in our name, where reparations for Black people unlock true belonging for us all. To find out more about LV’s work, visit Liberation Ventures’ website.

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Position Summary & Why This Role

The person who fills this role will be responsible for stewarding LV’s annual grantmaking process, developing capacity and connective tissue building offerings that support organizations and coalitions across the movement, and ensuring LV’s partnerships with movement are effective and aligned to the broader movement’s goals.

Liberation Ventures is both a funder and a practitioner in the reparations movement. This approach exponentially amplifies our impact on the field, but also creates complex dynamics between our organization and our partners that all our staff consistently have to navigate. This position straddles both roles - funder and practitioner - and thus requires someone with exceptional relational skills and a stomach for discomfort. 

You’ll have to be willing to disagree with people whose approval you seek, take harsh feedback from partners as a funder, hold the tension of building multiracial space in a historically mostly-Black movement, and more. But the tradeoffs will be worth it: you'll work with dozens of organizations that are leading the charge for reparations in the US, helping to coordinate their efforts, strengthen their capacity, and build the connective tissue that makes the movement more than the sum of its parts. You’ll traverse the country supporting inspiring organizers who are redefining what this democracy must look like to serve ALL of us. 

This role reports to the Vice President of Narrative Change. The application will remain open until the position is officially filled.

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Core Responsibilities

Grantmaking steward & project manager (45%). This person will be responsible for executing LV’s annual participatory grantmaking process. Importantly, this role does not include making unilateral grantmaking recommendations or decisions. This role is one part synthesizer, one part steward, one part project manager. This person will ensure that all of the best information from many different sources of insight across the movement is integrated into LV’s grantmaking process. Key responsibilities include:

• Uncovering great reparations work happening across the country that LV should consider resourcing
• Designing processes to incorporate input from across the movement into LV’s grantmaking 
• Managing the process of gathering input on LV’s grantmaking
• Conducting annual trust-building conversations with LV’s current movement partners, and synthesizing information about the impact of the broader movement
• Conducting research and due diligence to support decision making
• Documenting learnings and continuously improving the process year over year
• Identifying gaps/work that the movement needs, and designing and executing processes to use grantmaking to fill those gaps

Grantmaking strategy refinement (10%). Every 2-3 years, this person will lead the process to refresh LV’s Reparations Grantmaking Blueprint. Key responsibilities include:

• Identifying key strategic questions that must be answered in the refresh process
• Designing a process to gather information to help answer each strategic question
• Incorporate insights into relevant strategy and grantmaking implementation documents

Capacity & Connective Tissue Building (35%). This person will own and/or support LV’s capacity and connective tissue building programming for movement partners. Key responsibilities include:

• Managing programs that support LV’s movement partners in non-financial ways, such as the Reparations Fundraising Lab
• Managing LV’s coalition building efforts across the movement (e.g., Reparations Research Consortium)
• Liaise with the rest of the LV team to support movement partners; understand movement requests for LV support, and support the LV team to deliver

Cross-functional Org Support (10%). This person will contribute to special projects across the organization, including but not limited to:

• Impact evaluation and storytelling; annual reporting on LV’s impact
• Contributing to and providing feedback on LV grant proposals and/or reports
• Supporting other LV teams to partner with MPs in thoughtful and generative ways

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Key Qualifications

Mission and Values Alignment: cares deeply about LV’s mission, and can speak passionately, clearly, and personally about the imperative of our work.

• Deep belief in Liberation Ventures’ mission
• Demonstrated commitment to LV’s beliefs in practice. 
• Strong understanding of LV’s field of work — racial, economic, and gender justice and their intersections, and the systems and structures that cause ongoing harm in these areas.
• Able to hold multiple truths at the same time related to running a liberatory organization within a capitalist system, and able to take decisive action from that position.

Exceptional relationship builder: can build trust quickly with all different types of people, across lines of difference, especially race

• Able to see, name, and navigate power and privilege dynamics in a group and contribute to a working environment where all people are equally valued, feel cared for, and are accountable to each other.
• Track record of building strong partnerships with team members at all levels of an organization; relational, collaborative approach to getting work done.
• Resourceful and highly aware of power dynamics across groups/organizations; able to work effectively from a position of power without being extractive or transactional

Exceptional project management skills: strong attention to detail and can effectively manage equitable, streamlined processes with multiple internal and external stakeholders

• Clear and structured written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Track record of exceptional execution and attention to detail; able to act with minimal oversight to move projects from A-Z.
• Highly organized and able to manage multiple streams of work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Able to manage multiple contractors to deliver high-quality, timely, aligned services to Liberation Ventures and/or movement partners.
• Extremely low-ego; no task is too small

Comfort with ambiguity and learning new things; able to approach new questions and challenges with excitement, hustle, and curiosity – maintains a positive attitude of “I’ll figure it out!”

• Able to get smart on new topics quickly and figure out how to do things one doesn’t yet know how to do
• Highly observant and able to track and synthesize many forms of data into a coherent, clear picture/option set

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Compensation and Benefits

The starting salary range for the position is $95,000 - $125,000, dependent on experience. Liberation Ventures provides a comprehensive benefits package that includes unlimited paid time off, employer-paid medical, dental, and vision premiums, employer contributions to a 401(k) plan, and access to health and flexible spending accounts. 

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Work Environment

This position is open to candidates in any location in the US. Liberation Ventures has a flexible, remote working environment. This position requires some travel; approximately 2-3 trips per quarter, including team retreats if this person is not based in NYC.

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How to Apply

We only accept online applications. 

Please note: No phone calls please. Only those selected to participate in our hiring process will be contacted. 

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Equal Opportunity Employment

Liberation Ventures is deeply committed to equity and envisions a just and fair society where everyone can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. As part of our dedication to fostering a more inclusive world, we are an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate against any team member or applicant on the basis of race, skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or parenthood. Liberation Ventures is steadfast in creating and sustaining a diverse, multicultural working environment that reflects our core values.

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“Proof of eligibility to work in the United States must be provided if selected for hire.” 

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