Associate, Social Impact

(Submission Deadline: April 2nd at 12pm CT)

About Lever for Change

Lever for Change (LFC) connects donors with bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems—including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change. Using an inclusive, equitable model and due diligence process, Lever for Change creates customized philanthropic challenges and other tailored funding opportunities for donors. Top-ranked challenge finalists become members of the Bold Solutions Network—a growing global network that helps secure additional funding for these important projects. Founded in 2019 as a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Lever for Change has influenced nearly $2.5 billion in grants to date and provided support to more than 500 organizations. To learn more, visit www.leverforchange.org.

About the Role

As an Associate, Social Impact at Lever for Change, you will be responsible for supporting the programming, communications, and operations of a growing network of 500+ social change organizations to unlock funding for their missions through capacity-building programming, strategic partnerships, and storytelling. Reporting to the Officer, Social Impact, you will also provide support to Vice President, Programs & Social Impact and Vice President, Programs, Data, & Learning. This is an exciting opportunity for a creative, hard-working professional to work in a fast-paced and dynamic environment and to directly support the organizational strengthening and programmatic activities of a philanthropic start-up.

The Objectives You Will Meet

As the Associate, Social Impact, you will have four major areas of responsibility: supporting the programmatic needs of the Bold Solutions Network, storytelling, facilitating a small awards process, and organization-wide support of evaluating social impact metrics. Success in these areas involves meeting the four growth dimensions for the role listed below.

Building Positive Working Relationships

Partners with colleagues across teams to support social change organizations with unlocking funding and building organizational capacity.
Maintain and build relationships with external social impact partners.

Information Monitoring

Maintains accurate, well-structured contact and organizational information across databases for programmatic success.
Collaborates with other teams and partners to evaluate program success using qualitative and quantitative data.

Communication

Oversee various forms of communication to promote programming and opportunities to a global network of social change organizations.
Assist with the development of social impact storytelling to engage donor audiences.

Planning and Organizing

Assist with developing skill-building programming with a network of technical assistance providers.
Execute and manage workplans and deliverables for cross-team processes and programming.

How You Will Meet These Objectives

Project Management

Support the Officer with developing an organizational capacity building curriculum on topics such as leadership development, organizational strategy, and fundraising for nonprofit organizations
Serve as a project manager for the development of social impact partner contracts and invoicing
Serve as project manager for a small gifts fund
Assist with nominations for external funding and development opportunities for Network membership, including grant prizes, fellowships, and grant matching programs
Support the Programs team with technical assistance for finalists in open calls

Network Engagement

Manage and create social impact storytelling products such as blogs, articles, and reports in conjunction with the Communications team to promote Network members to donor audiences
Oversee communications to Network members, including a monthly newsletter, promotional materials, webpage, and social media posts
Maintain a digital collection of capacity-building and application resources
Support Social Impact officer with developing program-related memos, presentations, and reports for Senior Leadership

Learning

Manage measurement and evaluation of social impact programming effectiveness and membership experience
Support Data and Learning team with Bold Solution Network data collection, maintenance, and analysis for programmatic success
Keep abreast of current events, developments and issues in the field of philanthropy in order to maintain a balanced and objective perspective to support grantees and top-performing applicants

Who You Are

At Lever for Change, we welcome and embrace a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches to work. We also understand the importance of being transparent in our expectations.

Minimum two years of professional project management experience ideally in philanthropy, NGO/nonprofit sector, organizational technical assistance, or related field.
Minimum of a BA/BS
Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills
Positive “can-do” attitude and a willingness to do what is necessary to get the job done
Well-developed organizational skills and attention to detail
Demonstrated ability to follow tasks through to completion in a timely manner
Able to manage multiple tasks and projects under tight deadlines
Able to take initiative and work proactively
Excellent and effective interpersonal skills in working with colleagues at all levels; able to use discretion and maintain confidentiality; cultural sensitivity and demonstrated ability to work diplomatically with diverse constituencies
Technologically savvy. Experience with Salesforce, AirTable, and Asana a plus
English fluency (spoken and written) required
Demonstrated competency in interpersonal communication with grantees and high-level donor clients

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

The work environment is a home office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable a person with physical disabilities to perform the job.

Must be able to navigate throughout various offices of the building
Communicating with others to exchange information and perform duties
Ability to read materials on a computer screen
Repeating motions that may include the wrists, hands and/or fingers
Moderate noise level consistent with an office environment

This is a remote position, with the organization’s primary office located in Chicago, IL.

Annual salary for this role will start at $93,100. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: OUR INVESTMENT IN YOU

15% retirement contribution
Fully employer-paid health insurance (for you and dependents)
Generous paid time off and holiday schedule
Robust parental leave
Life and disability protections
Tuition and professional development support
Stipends and reimbursements that support modern work

This represents a significant additional financial investment beyond base salary — and reflects our belief that people are our most important asset.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Lever for Change jobs

Associate, Social Impact