Events and Volunteer Manager

What We Seek

The Food Project seeks a self-directed, proactive person with a hospitality mindset to play an important role supporting our community engagement efforts. We’re looking for a team player who can flex between strategic thinking and hands-on execution, shares our commitment to equity and inclusion, cares about the details, and has a can-do attitude.

Reporting to the Director of Donor Engagement, you will collaborate with other team members (development, communications, programming, agriculture) to ensure that we successfully build and steward relationships with our supporters, alumni, and volunteers. You will oversee logistics for our series of annual events: fundraisers, donor engagement, and public programming. With guidance from the Director of Institutional Relations, you will help us build and oversee logistics for a robust farm-based volunteer program that engages both corporate and individual volunteers each spring and fall.

Responsibilities

Event logistics (45%)

• Manage planning and day-of logistics for annual series of public-facing events
• Write event outlines, schedules, and scripts, updating existing event management plans
• Update and track event budgets in Excel
• Track invitation responses and registrations in Salesforce
• Manage promotion with Communications team, including invitations, emails, and social media
• Manage event vendors
• Steward relationships with event sponsors, including providing benefits
• Communicate with guests, as needed, before and after events
• Create and maintain a comprehensive annual events calendar for the organization, with associated production schedules

Volunteer management (35%)

• Serve as a primary contact and logistical manager for volunteer groups (Serve & Grow) and individual volunteers
• Recruit and schedule new and existing volunteer groups
• Manage day-of logistics on our farms for group volunteer workdays
• Welcome and work alongside volunteer groups on the farm
• Steward volunteer relationships by updating participant data, sending thank you notes, surveys
• Collect and analyze data about volunteer participation and donations

Administration (10%)

• Budget, Annual Planning, Data Collection and Input - oversee respective budgets, build respective annual plans, review variance reports, data collection and entry, finance allocation, and Paychex management.
• Recruitment - build, maintain and implement respective recruitment processes for ongoing full time and seasonal positions amongst the team as necessary.
• Meetings - Participate in all-staff meetings, training, and provide cross-department support.

Organizational Health (10%)

• Participate in our justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives.
• Prepare and participate in structured, regular feedback sessions.
• Participate in all-staff meetings, team meetings, and provide cross-department support.
• Participate in annual planning, budgeting, and performance review processes.
• Perform other duties as needed, within capacity.

Qualifications:

We’re looking for an individual who is excited about The Food Project’s mission, and who is motivated to help us engage others more deeply in our organization through events and volunteerism. Someone who has project management experience and skills related to community and/or alumni engagement, hospitality or donor relations is likely to be a good fit for this role.

Preparation, Knowledge, Previous Experience

• 2 years of project management experience: first-hand involvement in initiating, planning, executing, and monitoring projects
• Demonstrable interest in donor, alumni, volunteer, and community engagement
• Experience leading groups safely and productively
• Experience working in multicultural community settings
• Proficient in Google applications and Microsoft Office Suite

Skills, Abilities, Competencies

• Consistent attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills, written and oral, and energy for engaging people.
• High degree of professionalism in interactions with donors and colleagues
• Comfort with a hybrid work environment, working independently either in a TFP office or from home
• Committed to contributing to our organizational culture of learning and well-being
• Committed to values of diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion
• Comfort with learning and using an online database (e.g. Salesforce)
• Dependable, responsible, flexible and open to learning
• 21+ with a valid driver’s license and clean driving record (required for use of TFP vehicles)
• Able to pass a CORI/SORI background check

Don't have every qualification? We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization. If you are excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. We anticipate supporting your professional development.

Location & Schedule

At times we spend at least three days per week in our offices but it is all in accordance with your work responsibilities. Each of our three offices is accessible by public transportation. However, our events are based on farms, and you must be able to provide your own transportation in order to travel to events, as needed, in Boston, Lynn, Wenham, and Lincoln. The vast majority of our in-person events are scheduled between April and November. There are occasional evening and weekend responsibilities.

Full Time Positions’ Summary of Benefits

List for Job Posting/Descriptions

• HCHP Health Insurance: TFP pays 70% of premiums; and provides up to $2,000 in a Health Reimbursement Account
• Principal Dental: 70%
• Principal Vision: 70%
• Paid Time Off including vacation, personal days, paid holidays and sick time
• 403 b plan with match by TFP
• Budgeted Professional Development
• Time off for Jury Duty, Voting, Bereavement, Military Service
• Short Term Disability, Workers Compensation

Note: this is a summary for information purposes; details are outlined in the Employee Guidelines. Offer Letters will state specific benefits on those not mandated by the state/federal government.

Mandated

• PFML Massachusetts: up to 12 weeks of paid family leave; 20 weeks of paid medical leave; 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for family member with a serious health condition; additional for service members and their families
• Workers Compensation: coverage varies based on nature of injury or accident
• Small Necessities Leave: up to 24 hours unpaid time for school activities; accompany children or relatives to routine medical or other appointments

POLICY OF TFP FOR ALL EMPLOYEES FULL TIME OR AT LEAST 30 HOURS/WK AVERAGE YR

• HEALTH & WELLNESS:
  • HCHP Health $2500 deductible plan: employee pays 30% for any level (indiv/family)
  • Principal Dental: 30% by employee.
  • Principal Vision: 30% by employee.
• PTO (Personal Time Off) which encompasses
  • Vacation: first year 10 days; Yrs 2-3: 15 days; Years 4+: 20 days
    • Staff working avg of 30 hrs/week are eligible for vacation pay: see Handbook for details
  • Personal Days: 5 days/annually for all YR staff working at least 30 hours
    • Growers Assistants accrue 1 day/month to a maximum of 5 days
• Holidays: 12 currently for all YR FT & PT (30hrs+)
• Sick Time: 40 hours/annually for all YR FT & PT (30hrs+)
• Jury Duty: paid up to 3 days
• Voting Leave
• Professional Development: $300 per person per year
• Bereavement Leave: up to 3-5 days depending on circumstances
• Leave of absence for military service: 100% paid for up to two week assignments; additional depending on length of deployment
• Short Term Disability: will pay 60% of regular wages up to 12 weeks.