Operations Manager

Location: Remote. Candidate must be willing to work on an East Coast time zone schedule.

Reports to: Managing Partner

Role Overview: Rights CoLab is seeking a key member of staff to serve as the focal point on all operational issues, from fundraising to project execution to liaising with our fiscal sponsor.

Rights CoLab is a leanly structured, collaborative organization that incubates new human rights initiatives connecting business, finance, and civil society. This position will support the operational backbone of the organization, under the direct supervision of the Managing Partner, who is one of three co-founders.

Major responsibilities

Fundraising and Donor Relationship Management Support

• Support cultivation and stewardship of donor organizations by maintaining a moves management system (with CRM and task management).
• Lead donor prospect research, writing memos that enable strategic decisions on whether and how to pitch Rights CoLab projects and programs that fit donor priority areas.
• Set the agenda for, facilitate, and ensure follow-up for internal fundraising strategy meetings.
• Organize and distribute information necessary to prepare for donor discussions and asks.
• Support writing and editing of grant applications.
• Manage donor reporting in collaboration with project managers and fiscal sponsor.

Budgeting, Financial Management, and Grant Management

• Lead the development of the annual organizational budget and mid-year re-budgeting process. Consult with co-founders to incorporate programmatic needs into the budget.
• Manage the forecasting of donor prospects and fundraising targets to inform annual fundraising strategy.
• In collaboration with the fiscal sponsor and other Rights CoLab staff, oversee monthly review of spending, including coding of expenditures by program and grant.
• Ensure timely spend-down of all restricted grant funds in compliance with grant terms and in collaboration with project managers.

Management & Administration

• Support the Managing Partner to manage all aspects of the relationship with the fiscal sponsor, including fiscal management, digital security, and human resources.
• Attend convenings as requested by the fiscal sponsor on issues such as digital security, budgeting, human resources, etc.
• Maintain, support, and provide ideas for continuous improvement of Rights CoLab’s use of key collaboration systems, including internal communications (Slack), CRM (Little Green Light), task management (Asana), knowledge management (Notion) and document management (DropBox and Google Office).
• Develop and maintain Rights CoLab policies and procedures.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and human resources procedures for Rights CoLab staff in collaboration with Managing Partner and fiscal sponsor.

Qualified candidates will bring

• Minimum 5 years of non-profit experience with superior skills in budgeting as well as creating and managing financial spreadsheets.
• Experience supporting fundraising for an organization with an annual budget of $1 million or more.
• Superb organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ease with keeping multiple projects in play and moving forward effectively.
• Excellent writing, editing, proofreading, and grammar knowledge and skills at native English level.
• Excellent listening and verbal communication skills.
• High degree of professionalism, empathy, tact, sensitivity, and level of confidentiality.

Exceptional candidates will also bring with them

• Familiarity with the funding landscape for human rights, business & human rights, and climate justice.
• Experience living and/or working with civil society in Rights CoLab’s key regions of focus (East and Southeast Asia, Africa, or Latin America).
• Experience with organizational budgeting and grants management.
• Experience or willingness to learn about working within a fiscally sponsored organization.