Administrative and Development Coordinator

Job Responsibilities

http://www.bostonwomensfund.org/

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Administrative and Development Coordinator is responsible for handling a wide range of administrative, development and executive support related tasks for the executive director and will be expected to work independently. The Coordinator will organize and coordinate office operations and development procedures in order to ensure organizational effectiveness and efficiency within the area of administration and development. This person must be exceedingly well organized, flexible and enjoy the administrative challenges of supporting a small progressive foundation of diverse people.

SCOPE

The Administrative and Development Coordinator reports to the Executive Director and is responsible for providing administrative and development-related coordination for the Boston Women’s Fund. This includes maintaining the development and office database with programmatic efficiency, supervising office support staff and volunteers as well as maintaining electronic and hard copies of development and office records.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently released research on charitable giving among states. As a native of Massachusetts who has worked at several non-profits, I was confident Massachusetts would place high on the list where I could be proud. After all, doesn’t Massachusetts always seem to fall somewhere in the best 20% of all those research polls, from income, to education to job prospects.

I was disappointed, and honestly felt shocked, to find Massachusetts and the rest of the New England states to be the 6 least philanthropic states. People in New England give the smallest percentage of their income to charity, on average 2.8% of their income goes charity.

Politics of Giving, Chronicle of Philanthropy (http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Politics-of-Giving/133609/)

ARE YOU AN ALLY FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE?

Nicola Curtin, an assistant professor of psychology at Clark University, is conducting an interview study with people who do community engagement, activism, advocacy, or volunteer work that they think of as being “ally” in nature. The goal of this study is to understand how people who do community-based work think about their engagement, themselves, and what it means to be an ally.

There are different ways that one might think of being an ally. One of the dictionary definitions, for example, is “someone who is associated with another as a helper” another defines ally as a “friend.”  Another way to think of allies are as people who work for social change that most directly benefits others– groups to which they do not themselves belong. You might have a different definition of what it means to be an ally.

However you define the term, if you would be interested in being interviewed as a part of this study, please contact Dr. Curtin’s Lab group at (curtinlab@gmail.com). You have any specific questions about the project please contact Dr. Curtin at ncurtin@clarku.edu. Interviews are expected to last between 1.5- 2 hours, and participants will be compensated for their time with a gift certificate.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and you can withdraw from the study at any time without penalty, or choose not to talk about anything you don’t wish to discuss. No one from any organization with which you are affiliated will know about your participation, unless you choose to tell them about it.

(Not a part of nor supported by the Boston Women’s Fund. BWF is just passing along information about the study.)

The Center for American Progress recently released a report on “The State of Women of Color in the United States: Although They’ve Made Incredible Strides, Many Barriers Remain for This Growing Population.” Women of color are a growing part of the U.S. population, but they still face considerable systematic disadvantages. While the report contains many facts and statistics, it does not address how we change the system and improve the status of women of color in the U.S.

Teen Dating Violence in Boston, by Meg, BWF Intern

1 in 11 adolescents in the US fall victim to dating violence, yet it seems to remain a low priority issue by many schools across the country. A new study published by Ball State University has identified the critical need for school counselors to receive formal training on teen dating violence, as 81% of school counselors in the study reported that their schools do not have protocols in place to address this problem.

There is, however, some good news to report right here in Boston. For the third year straight, the Boston Public Health Commission together with local social service agencies host the ‘Break-Up Summit’ to help teach high school students how to identify healthy and unhealthy relationships. The Summit also emphasizes how to effectively communicate relationship boundaries as well as how to treat your significant other with respect, even when breaking up.

The Boston Women’s Fund (BWF) is pleased to announce that it funded twenty-one Massachusetts community-based organizations and projects for a total of $355,000.

The grants, which cover many communities across the Greater Boston area and beyond, are aimed at bolstering the strategic endeavors of women and girls as they leverage their collective grassroots power in their coordinated efforts for racial, economic and social justice.

Project HIP-HOP at a Youth Jobs Rally

On July 1^st, An Act Relative to Gender Identity also known as the Transgender Equal Rights Bill will become effective in Massachusetts.  This is a historic moment as Massachusetts becomes the sixteenth state to pass legislation protecting the rights of transgender people.

The Law defines ‘gender identity’ essentially as the identity that one wishes to identify oneself as, rather than assigning physiological gender to everyone. On July 1^st, the definition of hate crimes will be expanded to include those based on gender identity. Discrimination based on gender identity will be illegal in the areas of housing, employment, public education and credit.

The Act, passed in the House and Senate in mid-November 2011, is the result of many years of hard work led by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, and thousands of transgender people and allies.  Although they faced severe opposition and prejudice, their tenacity prevailed and finally Massachusetts will treat transgender citizens as a legally protected class.

We at the Boston Women’s Fund would like to celebrate this achievement of social justice.  However this wonderful accomplishment is also a reminder of what is left to be done, for the protection and equal rights of transgender people everywhere, and for our shared goal of eradiating all types of discrimination.