FILLED- Common Ground seeks part-time Grants Associate

Organization Overview

Common Ground is an educational center for environmental learning and leadership in New Haven, Connecticut, and dedicated to a more socially and environmentally sustainable society. Common Ground is uniquely positioned to do this. Rooted in the City of New Haven, it’s 20 acre site includes an urban farm and abuts the 1500 acre West Rock State Park, sharing hiking trails, wildlife, and diverse natural habitats with the surrounding forests. Common Ground weaves together three core programs to achieve its mission:

1. Common Ground’s college preparatory Charter High School uses the site and the City as an organizing principle of its curriculum which is guided by an ecological framework that recognizes the connection and interdependence of all living and non-living things.
2. The Environmental Education Center receives more than 12,000 community members/year who participate in festivals, field trips, after-school programs, and other educational opportunities on site. It runs a Schoolyards Resource Center, helping 19 New Haven Public Schools develop and maintain gardens and bird habitats as educational laboratories.
3. Our Urban Farm is a key resource for both the high school and community programs, as well as for the greater New Haven community. It includes both production and educational gardens used to demonstrate and teach lessons in agriculture.

Common Ground has a commitment to examining the intersection of social, environmental, and food justice issues; how systems of oppression, including white privilege, impact the organization’s work; and how resistance to those systems can offer windows into a more sustainable society. For more information on Common Ground, see www.commongroundct.org.

Job Description

The part-time Grants Associate will be a new position and integral part of a small team that raised $1.5 million last year for a growing, and evolving, complex organization working at the intersection of social, environmental and educational leadership. Team members are passionate about connecting people and institutions that care about these issues to Common Ground.

The Grants Associate will be the backbone writing support for the Development team as Common Ground works to expand its portfolio of grants. Reporting directly to the Director of Development, the Grants Associate’s work will include:

• Research grant opportunities that might benefit Common Ground:
  • Identify and qualify potential funding sources.
  • Develop and maintain a grants communications calendar to include deadlines for applications and reports, using GiftWorks database.
• Develop an in-depth understanding of Common Ground’s programs.
• Write grant proposals in accordance with grantor standards or requirements.
• Manage relationships with a portfolio of grantors.
• Support Program Directors, and the Director of Development, in completing all deadlines for applications and reports.

Qualifications

• 3 or more years experience with grantwriting with philanthropic and/or government grant proposals preferred.
• Strong project management skills in planning, prioritizing, and coordinating multiple projects simultaneously.
• Experience developing budgets.
• Proficient with spreadsheets, and GiftWorks (or other customer relationship management database).
• Prior programmatic and writing experience with environment and/or education sectors preferred.
• Passion for bringing a diverse community of children, young people and adults together to support Common Ground’s mission.

To Apply:

Please email or send a resume and cover letter to Kimball Cartwright at kcartwright@commongroundct.org, or at Common Ground, 358 Springside Avenue, New Haven, CT  06515.  Attach files as Word or PDF documents and include “Grants Associate” in the subject line of your email.  Applications will be reviewed as they arrive and the position will be filled as soon as possible.

It is the policy of the New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. and Common Ground High School that no person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or otherwise discriminated against under any program, including employment, because of race, color, religious creed, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, marital status, civil union status, sexual orientation, mental retardation, and past/present history of mental disorder, learning disability and physical disability.

It is the policy of the New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. and Common Ground High School to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to age, color, marital status, civil union status, national origin, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender in all personnel actions, including recruitment, evaluation, selection, daily interactions, promotion, compensation, training and termination.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended, it is the policy of the New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. and Common Ground High School not to discriminate against protected qualified applicants and employees with disabilities in all aspect of employment.