Catalytic Growth Director
6-Month Contract to Hire
Remote (Chicago preferred)
About Unlocking Communities
Established first in Haiti in 2018, Unlocking Communities (UC) is a nonprofit social enterprise that partners with low-income entrepreneurs to achieve economic, social, and environmental transformation in their communities. To achieve this work, we employ a multifaceted approach to local economic development. Catalyzed by the success of our Community Sales Program, our work has grown to include our Business Plan Incubation Program, our time-sensitive Community Needs Response initiatives, Global Franchising Partnerships, and our forthcoming water filtration factory in Haiti. We work within and alongside developing communities to tackle pressing social and climate-related issues such as coal pollution and a lack of sanitation and access to clean water in order to increase local economic prosperity. To date, we have impacted over 200,000 people in Haiti and Ukraine.
Global Overview | Haiti Overview | One Pager
Unlockingcommunities.org | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
Position Overview
Unlocking Communities is a dynamic organization dedicated to unlocking the potential of communities to address climate change and create sustainable solutions. We are seeking a motivated and experienced Catalytic Growth Director to join our team on a 6-month contract-to-hire basis, with the potential for a full-time position. As the Catalytic Growth Director, you will play a pivotal role in driving our growth and impact by leading grant writing efforts, developing strategic partnerships, and spearheading innovative programs.
This position will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer.
Unlocking Communities works remotely, has teams based in Chicago, Illinois and Hinche, Haiti, and works with consultants globally.
Position Responsibilities
Grant Writing (50%)
- Researches and identifies new government, corporate, foundation, and private funding prospects to match UC priorities.
- Generates high-quality proposals, narratives, applications, and supporting documents in response to solicitations consistent with the requirements and guidelines of the funding agencies for requests ranging from $20,000 - $5,000,000.
- Leverages AI to automate the grant writing and pitch deck-building process.
- Generates revenues for UC programs through timely submission of well-researched, well-written, and well-documented grant proposals.
- Maintains primary responsibility for grant schedules and tracking grants.
- Serves as a liaison to all funding agencies and organizations.
- Works with appropriate personnel to research, develop, write, and submit letters of inquiry, concept papers, and grant proposals.
- Coordinates and follows up on the progress of submitted proposals.
- Coordinates with the COO to create expenditure and income budgets to accompany proposals.
- Maintains a master file on pending grants and contracts.
- Remains up-to-date on current issues relative to grant proposals.
Partnership Management (25%)
- Identifies and cultivates strategic partnerships with organizations, academic institutions, government entities, and other stakeholders in relevant fields.
- Collaborate with potential partners to explore joint initiatives, resource sharing, and knowledge exchange opportunities.
- Coordinates and responds to partnership leads from the CEO and COO.
- Aligns partner's skills with the needs of Unlocking Communities to be mutually beneficial.
- Leads the due diligence process prior to signing partnership agreements.
- Drafts partnership agreements in collaboration with the COO.
- Supports the CEO with conference preparation and follow-up to maximize value at the convenings.
Strategic Priority Leadership (25%)
- Based on the catalytic growth anticipated by the organization, this position will work on one area of interest to the successful applicant. Areas of focus could include:
- Carbon credit program design and implementation
- Business curriculum training and implementation
- Entrepreneurial sales model incentives
- Innovative financial modeling (debt/equity/plastic credits/carbon credits)
- Mobile application design and management
Position Qualifications
- Loves keeping up on the latest philanthropy, climate change, and social justice trends.
- Strong knowledge of climate change issues, policies, and solutions, with a demonstrated commitment to environmental sustainability.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft persuasive grant proposals, reports, and presentations.
- Strong networking and relationship-building abilities, with the capacity to engage and collaborate with diverse stakeholders.
- Motivated self-starter who can work collaboratively and independently with purpose and accuracy in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience working in a cross-cultural environment.
- Experience working remotely preferred.
- Experience using Google Suite, Asana, and Salesforce (or similar platforms) preferred.
- An appreciation of the catholic social teaching roots Unlocking Communities has.
Additional notes:
- All Unlocking Communities employees are responsible for completing basic administrative tasks (scheduling, expense tracking, etc.).
- This position is open-ended in scope and will evolve over time.
- If the successful candidate is not based in Chicago, they will be responsible for attending quarterly three-day meetings with the team in Chicago. The successful candidate is responsible for covering all travel and lodging expenses related to these meetings.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor candidates for US work authorization at this time.