Foundation Manager

LightHawk is a nonprofit environmental aviation organization. As such, we are an unusual hybrid: our mission is environmental but our method is aviation.

We are also a volunteer-based organization with more than 120 volunteer pilots who donate time, expertise, and the use of their aircraft.

Founded in 1979, LightHawk celebrates its 25th year of flying for the environment in 2004.

Our environmental mission is fulfilled through our partnerships: we collaborate with more than 140 partner organizations each year, providing environmental services including matching volunteer pilots with requests for flights; assisting in project planning; and providing education and support in the use of flight in environmental campaigns, conducting effective media flights, using the aerial platform for photo documentation and data acquisition, and other areas.

Each year LightHawk facilitates more than 800 flights supporting over 500 missions that carry more than1400 passengers in nine countries in North and Central America.

Providing the crystal clear understanding of environmental issues that the view from above offers is what we do best.

The diverse types of missions we support include guided educational flights for passengers who range from local stakeholders to members of Congress; media flights for reporters, photographers, and filmmakers working on environmental stories; technical flights to support scientists working on habitat and species surveys, satellite data ground-truthing, and other research projects; and surveillance flights that help identify and document changes in land use.

Our administrative headquarters is in Lander, Wyoming, but most of our staff is located within our major regions of operation: Rocky Mountains - UT, AZ, NV, NM, CO, ID, MT, WY, Alberta (limited)Pacific - CA, OR, WA, limited operations: AK, British Columbia, Baja California Northeast - CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VTMesoamerica - Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras,Nicaragua, Panama

Duties:
LightHawk seeks a talented, experienced, and energetic individual to research and write requests for foundation funding, as well as progress reports to existing foundation funders.

Following several years of internal strengthening and growth, LightHawk is poised to benefit dramatically from enhanced, in-house grantwriting efforts that will build on our established foundation fundraising efforts and enable us to meet our organizational budget needs. Approximately one half of our funding currently comes from foundations.

The chief areas of responsibility in this position are:

• Develop and write letters of inquiry, proposals, and reports with close coordination by the associate director and in consultation as needed with other staff;
• Conduct research on target foundations as needed to ensure proposals are appropriately focused and submitted on time;
• Collaborate with the associate director and board members to identify potential funding sources and forecasts, and to track and report on foundation trends and opportunities;
• Interact with foundation staff as needed on prospects, requirements, and details;
• Maintain and communicate a detailed record of all activities and outcomes and develop summaries and projections as needed using written reports and software tools, including Excel and advanced development databases.
• Actively participate as a member of the development team to ensure the achievement of overall goals;
• Ensure confidentiality of fundraising information;
• Take on other related tasks as assigned by the associate director.

Qualifications:
The ideal candidate for this position will be highly qualified in at least 4 of the following 5 key areas:

• A proven track record (minimum of three years experience) in direct foundation grantwriting and reporting in the environmental nonprofit sector;
• Exceptional writing and communication skills, including top-notch skills in designing proposals and reports in cooperation with program and other staff;
• General knowledge of environmental issues, and of environmental grantmakers, on local, regional and national levels.
• Knowledge of Mesoamerican environmental issues and grantmakers also desirable;
• Excellent organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail; and
• Substantial experience conducting foundation research, maintaining foundation and grantseeking data, and managing foundation relationships in coordination with appropriate staff.
• Ability to work in a home-based office environment, ideally in the Rocky Mountains region and within a reasonable day's drive of our headquarters in Wyoming
• Intermediate to advanced user of Microsoft Word and Excel and development database software; highly experienced with e-mail communications and web research; and able to troubleshoot basic software and hardware problems.
• Ability to travel away from home for 2-4 days at a time, 2-3 times per year, primarily in the US but possibly also in Mesoamerica.

Terms:
This is a half-time, home office-based position, with potential to become full time in a year to two years.

The candidate ideally will live within reasonable (several hours) driving distance of LightHawks headquarters in Lander, Wyoming, and must be able to provide his or her own dedicated office space. (For example, locations might include Bozeman, Montana or the Boulder/Denver area.

LightHawk will provide needed equipment and cover basic associated telecommunications, supplies, travel, and other work expenses.

This is a unique and flexible working environment that can be highly attractive for some, but does not suit everyone.

The qualified candidate will have a demonstrated history of full-time employment and a strong work ethic, will be well organized and highly productive in a substantially self directed work environment, and will be able to maintain a sense of community and connection with fellow staff members on a daily basis primarily through e-mail and telephone communications.

LightHawk indexes its salaries based on regional cost-of living and wage markets.

The pay scale for this position therefore ranges from approximately $35,000 to $45,000 (full-time equivalent) annually (note that this is a half-time position, and thus would pay $17,500 to $22,500), depending on both location and experience.

Excellent benefits are offered.

We expect to fill this position in February 2004.

Application Instructions:
Telephone interviews will be conducted with qualified applicants and finalists may be required to attend, at their own expense, an in-person interview to be held in selected locations, to be determined.

We encourage qualified applicants to send a rsum, cover letter, 3 professional references (who will be called only after interviews), and a relevant writing sample to LightHawk by e-mail with "foundation manager position" in the subject line.

Due to the volume of interested applicants, it is strongly requested that you do not telephone our offices unless specifically invited to do so for an interview.