Strategic Partnerships Associate

FUSE is seeking a Strategic Partnerships Associate to support the processes and procedures associated with building and maintaining the organization's relationships with local governments. The Associate will gain valuable knowledge related to data management, project management, and relationship management.

LOCATION

FUSE is a fully virtual organization, and this position can be based remotely from anywhere in the United States.

ANNUAL SALARY

This position offers a non-negotiable annual salary of $63,000 and robust benefits. More details can be provided upon request.

ORGANIZATION

FUSE is a national nonprofit that partners with local governments to address pressing challenges with equitable solutions. We place experienced professionals within city and county agencies to lead strategic projects that are designed to narrow racial disparities, accelerate systems change, and increase government effectiveness. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 400 projects in 58 governments across 26 states, impacting a total population equivalent to 1 in 10 Americans.

When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with local stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve a substantive impact on regional priorities. We then conduct an individualized search for each project to ensure that the selected candidate has the required competencies and is deeply connected to the communities they serve. Hired as a FUSE employee and embedded in a government agency for at least one year of full-time work, the executive fellow receives training, coaching, and professional support to ensure that they achieve their greatest potential for impact.

We are focused on issues such as workforce development, affordable housing, public health, educational access, criminal justice reform, and climate resilience. FUSE breaks down barriers between governments and the people they serve, using human-centered design to engage community members in policy development. We foster culture change within governments to promote data-driven and results-based decision making. We also utilize storytelling to share the insights from our work in order to inspire all civic leaders to think and act differently in pursuing systemic change.

This work is financially supported primarily through fee-for-service contracts with our government partners. Additional support is provided by local funders and national philanthropic investments from groups such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Ballmer Group, Waverley Street Foundation, and others. We are also proud to partner with recording artist and FUSE Board member John Legend on a campaign called HumanLevel, which is using public awareness and policy advocacy to uplift communities that have been disproportionately impacted by institutionalized racism.

For more information: https://www.fuse.org

OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and working closely with FUSE's four Directors of Strategic Partnerships, the Associate will provide administrative and operational support to the team responsible for government sales and contracting and the initial envisioning and design of FUSE's executive fellowship projects. This entry-level position has broad responsibilities carrying out a variety of routine and complex tasks related to data management, sales tracking, collateral development, project description writing, and contracting. The Associate will play an integral role in maximizing FUSE's relationships with current and prospective city and county partners so that the organization is able deepen its work in these communities.

A successful candidate will be detail-oriented and independently motivated to support a diverse and collaborative team in all aspects of their work to build government partnerships. The Associate will gain exposure to the fundamentals of business development and local government operations.

RESPONSIBILITIES - Specific responsibilities will include, but not be limited to the following:

• Support and help improve operations within the Strategic Partnerships team, including ensuring technology utilization by the team, especially Salesforce, and suggesting process improvements where appropriate.
• Help members of the Strategic Partnerships team to have effective internal and external meetings through preparatory research, ensuring that meeting information is regularly being uploaded to Salesforce, and supporting follow-up communications.
• Guide the Strategic Partnerships team calendar to secure priorities, timely planning and execution, and monitor deadlines, in addition to effectively supporting the scheduling of stakeholder meetings.
• Support the coordination of a complex process for developing project descriptions for each fellowship by working closely with Directors and a group of contracted professional writers.
• Manage data input and management in Salesforce, including creating and updating records, email tracking, report generation, and regular data clean-up and refinement.
• Coordinate with Directors on the administrative aspects of contract execution with government partners.
• Work with the Finance & Operations team to report and reconcile all invoicing for government partners.
• Stay apprised of news in partner cities by synthesizing and summarizing current events, elections and political news, and other information to help support the sales process.
• Assist with preparation for national conferences including identifying attendees, scheduling meetings, preparing briefs, and supporting follow-up.
• Collaborate with members of the broader FUSE team to support effective cross-team collaboration and the achievement of organization-wide goals.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Passion for FUSE's mission, a belief in the power of local government to positively impact society's biggest challenges, a commitment to advancing racial equity, and a vision for accelerating systemic change within communities.
• One to three years of experience in project support or process management.
• Superior organizational and project management skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously while following up and following through to meet aggressive deadlines.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to develop effective working relationships with a diverse group of colleagues within a small and collaborative team.
• Self-motivated and pro-active in performing work.
• Ability to learn and work in a deadline-driven, fast-paced, remote environment.
• Proficient with data input and management, and the use of customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. Salesforce experience is a plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, Dropbox, Adobe, and Google Docs.

FUSE is an equal-opportunity employer with a core value of incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into our work at every level. We strongly encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this key leadership position.