Associate Director, Planning

About the Organization

ClimateWorks Foundation is a global organization committed to our mission: to end the climate crisis by amplifying the power of philanthropy. Since our founding in 2008, we have awarded over $1.8 billion in grants to more than 850 organizations working to advance climate solutions around the world. We helped grow the field of climate philanthropy to where it stands today, establishing infrastructure, global networks, and momentum for continued growth. Through our Global Programs and Services, we equip philanthropy with global knowledge, networks, and solutions to drive climate progress.

• Scaling solutions: Our collaborative Global Programs — focused on solution areas including carbon dioxide removal, cooling, industry, transportation, and more — produce results that are bending the greenhouse gas emissions curve. From the U.S. to Europe, China, Brazil, and beyond, we collaborate with a diverse community of funders, NGOs, and climate leaders to accelerate just and equitable climate solutions.

• Guiding and supporting funders: Our Global Services provide funders with comprehensive resources to assess, build, evolve, and execute high-impact climate-giving strategies. Our Global Intelligence service equips funders and the climate community with climate insights to pinpoint opportunities for impact and philanthropic insights to help identify investment priorities. We facilitate Global Collaborations that enable funders to increase individual and collective impact. Our Global Grantmaking services enable funders to invest in climate solutions around the world. 

• Fostering collaboration, exploration, and growth: Our collaborative approach and commitment to learning ensures that we continuously explore innovative ideas and emerging opportunities — all with the aim of scaling philanthropy-supported initiatives to help end the climate crisis.

As experts in climate science, public policy, economic and social analysis, and strategic philanthropy, ClimateWorks’ staff understands the multi-faceted challenges and opportunities of climate change. We are researchers, strategists, collaborators, and grantmakers who care passionately about our mission. For more information, please visit www.climateworks.org. 

Department Summary

The Operations and Planning Team is responsible for designing and implementing processes that support inclusive and effective decision-making at ClimateWorks and help teams to prioritize, collaborate, and achieve their goals. This includes managing the Annual Planning process for teams to agree on priorities and align activities with available funding and our strategic plan; ensuring the success of our hybrid work approach by overseeing in-person events and managing hybrid-related policies; and driving key organization-wide projects and priorities related to Organizational Health, Leadership, strategic implementation, and project management practices. The Planning team partners with teams across the organization, and collaborates especially closely with the Executive Team, Human Resources, Information Systems and Technology, JEDI, and Communications teams.

Job Summary

CWF seeks an experienced, thoughtful, and collaborative Associate Director to manage the annual planning cycle. The Associate Director will report to the Senior Director for Operations and Planning but work closely with teams across ClimateWorks. The Planning Process is designed to drive alignment, resource allocation, decision-making, and prioritization across ClimateWorks. As our work has grown in complexity, scale, and urgency, we are seeking dedicated capacity to ensure that we are leveraging our planning process to inform decision-making throughout the year, track progress against our organizational strategy, and identify areas for learning and improvement. In this role, the Associate Director will collaborate across teams to continue refining our approach to planning, support teams in completing and managing their annual plans, analyze the results and findings from our planning processes, and track follow-on projects emerging from planning. 

Essential Tasks  

• Managing the cadence of our Annual Planning Cycle, working across Operations and other functions to identify and communicate planning and decision-making timelines
• Leveraging the planning process to identify key opportunities and challenges for CWF Leadership, providing support in responding to them as requested
• Driving learning opportunities throughout the year, bringing what we’ve learned into our practices around planning
• Holding the pen on all planning templates, ensuring meaningful alignment with other CWF teams (including JEDI, SIL, Finance, Marketing and Communications, Philanthropic Partnerships, and Programs) 
• Overseeing a clear process for teams to receive feedback on their plans and use planning to drive decisions around prioritization
• Supporting efforts to align annual plans with organizational strategy and priorities
• Tracking key themes and trends in our work, to inform leadership discussions and actions 

Required Qualifications 

• A minimum of 10 years of work experience, including managing complex projects 
• Experience in developing annual plans at the program or organization level, ensuring alignment with longer term strategies and results frameworks
• Demonstrated understanding of non-profit operations, including experience in working closely with finance, fundraising, and programmatic experts 
• Interest in analyzing and interpreting data for decision making
• Excellent collaborative project management skills, experience running cross-team coordinated work projects and processes, including developing and executing on shared goals, deliverables, and timelines
• Excellent communication and writing skills, including with diverse stakeholders from other cultures
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently (both virtually and in-person) with minimal supervision
• Assiduous attention to detail, strong organizational skills, and a passion for creating seamless project plans while also being able to modify them when needed
• Technically-savvy, experience adopting and utilizing technology platforms and a quick learner with new programs and platforms
• Background in managing large projects where contributors were not direct reports
• A commitment to a diverse, inclusive and equitable work environment

Compensation 

ClimateWorks offers an excellent benefits package and a competitive salary that is commensurate with experience (geographic differential applied based on location). 

For US-based position the salary range is as follows:

Tier 1: $130,000 – $135,000 Annually

Tier 2: $125,000 – $130,000 Annually

Location 

ClimateWorks Foundation is based in the San Francisco Financial District. This position is classified as US Flexible. If US Flexible: Exceptional candidates can work from the SF office or from other locations, geographic differential applied to compensation based on local cost of labor.

Commitment to Racial and Social Justice

At ClimateWorks Foundation, we are driven by our vision of creating a thriving planet for all living beings for generations to come. We aim to foster an inclusive workplace that values diverse lived experiences and emphasizes the voices of marginalized people — especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — who are most vulnerable to climate impacts, and whose voices, ideas, and leadership are crucial to winning the climate fight.

To ensure that we are making meaningful progress, we have made a set of diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments across all dimensions of our work to further our mission and realize our vision. For more information, please visit: Fostering Racial and Social Justice in Pursuit of our Mission

Equal Employment Opportunity

Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at ClimateWorks Foundation and as such we are committed to creating a diverse and multi-cultural work environment. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race (including traits historically associated with race), ethnicity, religion, color, sex (including childbirth, breast feeding, and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, uniform service member and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, age, protected medical condition, genetic information, disability, or any other protected status in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, termination, promotions, transfers, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms and conditions of employment.

ClimateWorks Foundation is committed to complying with all laws protecting qualified individuals with disabilities, as well as employees’ religious beliefs and practices. This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, termination, promotions, transfers, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms and conditions of employment. ClimateWorks Foundation will provide a reasonable accommodation for any known physical or mental disability of a qualified individual and/or employees’ religious beliefs and practices, as required by law.

If you require an accommodation, please notify Human Resources. Once ClimateWorks Foundation is aware of the need for an accommodation, it will engage in an interactive process to identify possible accommodations.

Application Process 

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. To be considered for this position, interested candidates must submit a resume and cover letter. This position will remain open until filled.

Employment at the ClimateWorks Foundation is at-will.

Benefits

Benefits

ClimateWorks offers an excellent benefits package:

Healthcare Plans:

Multiple options available through Kaiser & UHC

• HMO - 100% coverage for employee and dependents
• POS - Employee pays difference beyond HMO coverage (3 out of 4 POS options are at 100% coverage for employee and dependents)
• Dental –100% coverage for employee and dependents
• Vision – 100% coverage for employee and dependents

Fertility Benefit

• Fertility care through Carrot Fertility. Access to on-demand doctor-approved content, pregnancy support, and virtual chats with medical, legal, and regulatory experts.

Disability Benefit (long and short-term)

Life Insurance (3x base salary up to $750k for employee only)

PTO

• 20 days (1st year)
• 25 days (2nd - 8th year)
• 30 days (9th year)

Holidays

• 11 Observed and 2 floating

401k Plan

• After 6 months of service, CWF automatically contributes 9% of gross earnings per pay period to retirement fund*
• After 6 months of service, CWF matches 100% of employee contributions up to a max of 6% of gross earnings per pay period*