Advisor, Corporate Social Impact

Tides is Hiring!

Tides is a group of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations committed to building a world of social justice. Founded in 1976, Tides accelerates the pace of social change, working with innovative partners to solve the world's toughest problems. Tides focuses on equality and human rights, a sustainable environment, health individuals and communities, education, and economic development. Tides' services include donor-advised funds, fiscal sponsorship, and shared spaces in San Francisco and New York City. For more information, please visit www.tides.org.

2021 was a landmark year in Tides’ 45-year history. We are experiencing a unique and powerful opportunity for transformative change for the future in how we lead and impact social justice and shared prosperity. Taking committed actions to prepare for this change, we have welcomed an expanded and largely new executive team, partnered with a top-notch social impact consulting firm to revitalize our strategic plan, and focus our operational excellence initiatives, and grown our core staff significantly. These investments will help Tides to better serve our partners and bring our vision – of a world of shared prosperity and social justice – to life.

The Role:

The Advisor, Corporate Social Impact (CSI) is a core member of the Tides Corporate & Strategic Initiatives team. Tides advocates for an integrated approach to corporate social impact, encouraging partners to actively leverage all of the company’s assets for social good. With the evolution in this sector and Tides’ own growth in corporate partnerships, this new member of the team will fulfill the essential role of supporting a portfolio of partners in implementing their CSI programs. The CSI Advisor will also play an important role in supporting Tides’ strategy with this segment. Additionally, the CSI Advisor will contribute to the overall operational excellence of the team through excellent collaboration, sharing best practices and a knowledge of the broader corporate impact landscape.

The CSI Advisor works in a matrix management structure to support Tides clients. Success depends on building strong, trustworthy cross-functional relationships with staff from other departments, including Grants Management, Finance, HR, IT, Legal and Compliance, and strong interpersonal skills with clients. The CSI Advisor is responsible for uplifting and embodying Tides core values - Respect, Accountability, Creativity, Creativity, Equity and Empowerment in all areas of work, engagement with team members and Tides partners, as well as helping to advance Tides’ impact goal.

This position is classified as part of the collective bargaining agreement (SEIU 1021).

What you will do:

Partner Management

• Serve as relationship manager of and deliver high quality service to an assigned portfolio of corporate partners, who come to Tides with complex social impact needs and a desire to leverage a range of structures and solutions, including donor advised funds, collective action funds, social impact consulting and more.
• Serve as relationship lead on a cross-functional partner service team that may include Finance, HR, Grants, Legal, Business Process and other teams to support partner objectives.
• Resolve or escalate issues of concern as raised by corporate partners or internal stakeholders in a timely and proactive manner.
• In partnership with finance staff, provide financial analysis to clients; advise on organizational, fundraising and budget planning, monitoring, and presenting budgets and cash flow. Provide accurate and timely financial statements to partners to inform their grantmaking and investment activities.
• Develop a strategy for creative engagement and exceptional service delivery that accelerates the impact of each partner and delivers a richer client experience with support from Tides team.
• Provide administrative and programmatic guidance for assigned portfolio to achieve partner objectives while supporting Tides’ impact goal.
• Assess risk factors for partner activities, such as insurance, contracts, grants, advocacy, and lobbying, in conjunction with the Tides Legal, Risk Management and Compliance team.
• Oversee contracts and grant management for assigned portfolio to ensure compliance in partnership with Tides’ legal team.
• Conduct field research, partner trainings, onboarding, and orientation as needed

Segment Engagement

• Contribute to the refinement of Tides’ corporate segment strategy
• Contribute to various aspects of the segment strategy implementation, such as best practices for partner communication, engagement, and proactive advisory support to drive impact
• Contribute to Tides’ effort in creating toolkits and standards as we support corporate partners in measuring grantee impact, developing evaluation framework, feedback structure and tracking systems.
• Contribute to Tides thought leadership efforts, including the partner newsletters, blogs and impact storytelling, engagement events and convenings.

Business & Network Development 

• Build and maintain relationships with philanthropic and programmatic communities; learn from communities of practice and bring back learnings to the department and the Tides Network.
• Build and maintain relationships with corporate social impact practitioners to stay abreast with industry trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities.
• Support the Strategic Partnerships and Partner Services Directors in business development through outreach to potential clients and by working collaboratively on proposals
• Work with Strategic Partnerships team to identify and implement improvements to the partner vetting process, as well as the onboarding of new partners.
• Support other special business development and strategic impact initiatives and projects as requested.

Cross Organizational Collaboration

• Participate in internal cross-functional initiatives that enhance the partner experience, address broader portfolio needs, or system and process changes for partner service delivery at Tides.
• Contribute to timely, periodic issue area briefs in partnership with Communications Team that involve research, knowledge of the field, and incisive synthesis to showcase Tides’ knowledge on important and/ or emerging issues to provide thought leadership and guidance partners in support of Tides’ impact goal.
• Develop expertise in Tides’ service offerings, such as fiscal sponsorship, philanthropy, a specific issue area, and/or organizational development to accelerate impact of Tides and its partners.
• Contribute to new service offerings to scale impact for clients, including strategic consulting, multi- stakeholder collaborative approaches and convenings, in partnership with Tides’ colleagues.
• Contribute to team building activities.
• Pursue professional development opportunities to learn new skills that strengthen individual and departmental knowledge.

What you will bring:

• Strong alignment with Tides’ Vision, Mission and Approach and our organizational values of respect, equity, empowerment, accountability, and creativity
• Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills with a strong ability to facilitate collaborative problem-solving to reach solutions that benefit all parties
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, manage expectations, steward relationships, and provide strategic advising
• Ability to hold self and others accountable for high-quality, timely, and effective client service with a demonstrated commitment to meeting the needs of internal and external clients for a high level of satisfaction
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to work with and manipulate data from multiple sources, assimilate and present information in a clear and concise manner
• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, different communication styles, and a wide range of diverse colleagues
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with a proven ability to develop proposals, make presentations, and communicate directly with clients
• Demonstrated ability to hold information confidential with excellent judgment and to engage in a direct and truthful manner
• Strong motivation and an ability to simultaneously manage multiple assignments

Preferred 

• Demonstrated baseline understanding/knowledge of impact investing and venture philanthropy
• Demonstrated knowledge in one or more of the following subject matters/issue areas: racial and social justice, healthcare, economic development, education, human rights, climate action, impact evaluation.
• Demonstrated commitment to progressive social change and ability to engage in strategic and analytical thinking around issues of social justice
• Ability to manage, track, and understand advanced financial management concepts
• Proficiency with modern technology for nonprofits, such as MS Office, Salesforce, NetSuite

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience directing complex client operations, transforming, and aligning clients around acceleration and impact, and the use of systems and metrics to measure outcomes, can be substituted for a college degree.
• Demonstrated experience working in the philanthropy and/or nonprofit sector, with hands-on experience working with donors/funders
• Demonstrated experience working in a corporate social impact role, with knowledge of corporate philanthropy, employee engagement, corporate communications/advocacy.

Life at Tides

Working at Tides connects you with world-class teammates, enduring relationships, and an inspired sense of purpose - while our employee benefits support our team’s talent and well-being. This is an exciting time to join Tides. In the past, Tides staff have worked predominantly from our offices in San Francisco and New York. Today, our hybrid work model supports staff with remote work from anywhere in the United States.

Important Information

Any Tides Network employee who wishes to use the office or travel to the office must be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and boosted. You are required to submit proof of vaccination to the Human Resources Department at least 2 days before your first visit to the office. Employees who do not have vaccination information on file will not be permitted in the building.

Application Instructions

Please submit a resume and a thoughtful cover letter online. Your cover letter should express your interest in working for Tides and your qualifications for the role. You may also share your detailed LinkedIn profile with us. Tides is an Equal Opportunity employer. We value diversity and inclusion and we look forward to reviewing applications from all who are qualified to apply.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Tides is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. Also pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we encourage and will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Applicants with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. If you seek an accommodation, please advise in writing at the time you apply.