Finance and Development Associate

Send a resume and cover letter to info@freedomstl.org in order to apply.

Position Title: Finance and Development Associate

Reports to: Director of Operations and Finance

Location: Saint Louis City, MO

The Freedom Community Center (FCC) is a new, Black-led organization in North St. Louis that was founded to dismantle systems of oppression that inflict harm and trauma on Black communities in St. Louis City, particularly the police and the criminal punishment system. We ground ourselves in the knowledge that the Black survivors of St. Louis have the solutions to the question: What will keep us safe? We seek to build a community-based approach centered in power, healing, accountability, and repair. Given the resources to alleviate immediate economic needs, the space to facilitate communal healing, and the time to dream collectively of alternative approaches, our community of survivors will meaningfully address harm happening in St. Louis City at the individual and systemic level. We dismantle mass incarceration by modeling alternative responses to the criminal punishment system. 

The current punitive approaches to violence such as police and incarceration do not prevent future violence, they create it. At FCC, we take a survivor centered approach to build solutions that interrupt violence at its root. In the place of violence, we make peace and build power. Our approach fosters accountability, healing, repair and transformation. The cornerstone of our peacemaking work is the Free Us Project which is made up of several different transformative justice processes. One of our transformative processes is a restorative justice program that seeks to intervene and work with people who are experiencing or perpetuating harm before they interact with the police or at the beginning of their interaction with the criminal punishment system. In addition, we intervene with individuals who have experienced a violent injury in order to promote repair and reduce the likelihood of retaliation or re-injury.

At FCC, we have an opportunity to seek a different path, one marked by healing, true accountability, and reparative solutions that will transform those involved so that they might participate in imagining an alternative future for themselves and our community. This work is materialized through our Free US project but also through our community organizing branch called Power Builders, where we build power within our community members. We interrupt violence both systemic and interpersonal by forging a different path toward reconciliation, transformation, healing, and freedom.

Position Summary:

Freedom Community Center seeks a relentless, entrepreneurial and resourceful person who excels at managing multiple projects to ensure the day to day operations of FCC are completed, to ensure compliance with existing grants and to bring new resources to FCC’s ongoing development efforts. 

What you’ll do:

The Finance and Development Associate, who reports to the Director of Operations and Finance is responsible for the following: 

  • Grant Prospecting Development

  • Grant Compliance 

  • Donor Engagement

  • Financial Processing (payroll, invoices, bills to be paid)

Who You Are & Keys to Success (the must-haves):

  • Entrepreneurial and resourceful: Consistently overcomes challenges and leverages resources to creatively solve problems. Proposes solutions to issues without much guidance (but isn’t afraid to ask questions). Proactively asks for help, anticipates problems, and course-corrects where needed. 

  • Attention to detail: Notices and fixes errors that others might overlook. Acknowledges mistakes and turns them into learning opportunities. Has a track record of leaving things better than they found them.

  • Project management skills: stays on top of multiple projects, plans backwards, anticipates obstacles, identifies and involves stakeholders appropriately, uses resources wisely

  • Research proficiency: skilled in research of prospective grant opportunities and information associated with winning those grants 

Knowledge of client, donor and financial management systems such as Salesforce, EveryAction, bill.com, Dext, and Quickbooks online are a plus but not requirements. 

If you were here right now you would be: 

  • Researching grants, donors, and development opportunities to engage in the next 6-12 months

  • Writing first drafts of grant proposals and work collaboratively with the development team to ensure completion of upcoming grant submissions 

  • Completing ongoing grant reports  

  • Contacting donors, engaging them in conversations about FCC

  • Updating our Every Action database with donor information (institutional and individual)

  • Completing “must have” finance activities in accounts payable, invoicing, and payroll. 

What Else You Should Know:

This is a full-time non-exempt position based in St. Louis, MO with a hybrid work schedule. The starting salary for the position is $50,000. Freedom Community Center offers competitive health benefits, dental and vision plans, flexible PTO, and life insurance.

The Freedom Community Center is proud to be an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and actively seeks the candidacy of people of color, women, LGBTQIA people and formerly incarcerated individuals. We are committed to inclusive hiring and dedicated to diversity in our work and staff.

How to Apply: 

Interested applicants should submit a resume and cover letter to info@freedomstl.org. In the cover letter, please address the following:

  • Why do you want to work for Freedom Community Center?

  • Please share 1-2 experience(s) that highlights why you would be a strong candidate for the Finance and Development Associate position?

No faxes or phone calls please. Applicants will be notified regarding whether or not they have been selected for an interview. Applications without cover letters will not be processed.