Overview of the Alliance

There is an ongoing movement in San Diego County to transform our region’s food system. The goals of this movement reflect the most important challenges of our time—cultivating justice, fighting climate change, and building resilience. Transforming our food system can make inroads in all of these areas. Changing the way we grow food, move food, share food, and think about food ultimately changes the way we treat the planet and each other.

The San Diego Food System Alliance (“the Alliance”) plays a critical role in this movement. We act as network weavers, community organizers, storytellers, capacity builders, and resource mobilizers. We support the people who produce, prepare, distribute, and serve food in San Diego County by providing spaces for gathering and sharing knowledge, a voice in policy and planning processes, and resources for viability. As government agencies ramp up investment in economic recovery and climate resilience, the Alliance plays an essential role in ensuring that this funding is equitably disbursed, and reaches the true leaders of the movement: small farmers, fishermen, ranchers, food businesses, workers, organizers, and the communities they serve.

The San Diego Food System Alliance is a women-led, majority POC, and multicultural organization. We are deeply committed to food justice, food sovereignty, self-determination, and democratic governance. We hope to add team members who are passionate about upholding and growing our culture, and committed to cultivating a food system that belongs to all of us.

Position Summary

The San Diego Food System Alliance is seeking an experienced Grants & Impact Director who can build our organization’s capacity to resource our movement-building work, as well as the work of our partners and peers who make up the San Diego County Food Vision 2030 movement. This position will work closely with the Co-Executive Directors and serve as a key leader for determining how resources can be mobilized to support the work of our organization and our broader community.

Currently, a large part of our resource mobilization strategy includes securing grants for organizational programs and operations, moving funds into the community, and organizing ways to align funders with community needs and values. A significant portion of this strategy is now being implemented through the Local Food Economy Lab. The Lab is a new initiative that centers equity and community ownership, and works to support the viability of small-scale farmers, ranchers, fishermen, food business owners, and the communities they serve in San Diego County. The Lab provides holistic business support services, manages community funds, and helps facilitate access to grants and financing resources.

In addition to supporting the resource mobilization strategy for the Lab, the Grants & Impact Director will also lead the grants process and organizational impact evaluation for the Alliance.

Candidate Strengths

The ideal candidate is a strong writer and project manager with excellent execution, facilitation, and relational skills. The candidate should be able to create and communicate strategies that are aligned with teams and community partners. This role requires persistence and perseverance—it entails organizing a significant amount of dynamic information, decoding complex government documents, and managing bureaucratic processes, all in an effort to resource community-led work.

The Grants & Impact Director must be self-managed, developing their own plans and revenue goals in alignment with organizational needs, and proactively learning, collaborating, and problem-solving with our staff. A strong entrepreneurial drive and passion for our mission is essential for success in this senior-level role.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the entire grants process, including research, tracking, concept development, writing, submission, and reporting, working in close collaboration with Development and Local Food Economy Lab teams
• Develop and continuously update accessible grant tracking tools for multiple uses including internal purposes, Lab beneficiaries, and the broader network
  Analyze complex grant documents and manage bureaucratic processes to creatively align and resource community-led work
• Facilitate generative sessions with our team and community partners around concept development, nurturing strong relationships along the way
• Work with the finance and admin teams to ensure proper grants administration procedures are maintained
  Partner with the development team to cultivate and steward leads
• Lead the research, development, and implementation of a creative and thoughtful impact evaluation framework to reflect the work of the Alliance, collaborating closely with our staff collective
  Support field building activities to facilitate greater alignment of public and private funding towards movement-led and community-led work
• Develop a deep understanding of the Alliance’s work and play a key role in thought partnership
  Support other Alliance operations as needed
• Serve as an ambassador for the Alliance, living out our core values

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher, or equivalent lived experience
• 5+ years in roles related to grant writing, impact evaluation, and development
• Excellent writing skills with a natural ability to learn quickly and synthesize complex information into strong narrative
• Deep capacity to research, read, and analyze technical information
• Strong facilitation, communication, and project management skills
• Self-motivated, very organized, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Ability to solve complex problems with grace, creativity, and empathy
• Deep passion for food system transformation and systems change

Work Environment and Physical Demands

Office space in East Village (Mission Hills beginning July 2023), but flexible to work from home. Work is generally sedentary in nature, but can require moving around and visiting different sites and partners, with occasional lifting up to 30lbs. Reliable transportation across San Diego County is required in order to attend meetings and events.

Compensation

This is a full-time role at a $95k annual salary. The Alliance offers a full range of benefits:

• Health, dental, vision & life insurance
• Flexible Spending Account with match
• Wellness fund
• SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with match
• 20 days of PTO
• Leave accommodations including sick leave, bereavement leave, and paid family leave
• Last Fridays of each month off
• Summer and winter seasonal break weeks
• Adoption reimbursement
• Adding fertility testing & treatment option to health plan in Fall 2023

How to Apply

Please submit a resume, cover letter, grant writing sample, and professional references to jobs@sdfsa.org. In your cover letter, describe your past experiences relevant to this role, as well as your commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Applications lacking any of the aforementioned documents will not be considered. (Email subject: Grants & Impact Director)

Application Due Date: March 20, 2023

The San Diego Food System Alliance is committed to creating a diverse environment, and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applications will be considered regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, sex, disability, veteran status, or gender.

For more information on San Diego Food System Alliance, visit http://www.sdfsa.org/.