Position: Collaboration Manager

Reports to: Team members by area of work | Position type: Full time, Exempt | Salary Range: $60,000 – $85,000

We seek a Collaboration Manager who is passionate about creating the conditions for transformational change through designing, facilitating, and executing impactful projects across the state of Colorado. This person will work closely with community partners to build capacity within communities to collaborate towards equity—this can look like providing coalition support, weaving strong networks, one-on-one coaching, developing strategies for inclusive community engagement, expanding toolkits, and increasing skills and knowledge for how to drive community change. Learn more about our Community Learning Model and Equity Standards of Practice that is the foundation of our work at the Canopy. This Collaboration Manager position is for you if: 

• You love facilitating groups and holding space to build trust, collaborate across difference, and engage in powerful dialogue.
• You consider the people who are historically excluded from community spaces and think of strategies to create a sense of belonging.
• You seek to center the voices of community members who are directly impacted by inequitable systems.
• You understand the power of narratives to shift systems.
• You are committed to learning, growing, and making mistakes. You see data as a tool to measure progress.
• You like to bring in your life experience, creativity, and personal mark to your facilitation.

About the Civic Canopy

The Civic Canopy is a community-based nonprofit focused on transforming the way we solve society’s big, sticky issues. We do this by engaging and connecting diverse groups of people seeking change in their community and equipping them with tools to create meaningful and lasting impact. Project by project, we aim to shift the culture across Colorado to elevate the often unheard and underrepresented voices, design spaces that foster understanding and trust, and mobilize towards collective action that results in systemic change.

The Canopy Way: Distributed Leadership

The Civic Canopy has shifted from a traditional hierarchical management structure to a network-based model of distributed leadership. This “network” is organized around five pods of our essential functions: Projects, People, Resources, Strategy and Governance, and Communication and Networks. We use methods for consensus decision-making, create clear delegation of roles and responsibilities, and strive towards a culture of transparency, accountability, and honest feedback. The Canopy Way is an iterative and evolving way of operating that is ultimately intended to foster leadership within the organization and to experiment with creative new ways to be an equitable organization.

Essential Job Functions

Project Design, Process, and Facilitation (50%)

• Build authentic relationships with residents, partners and organizations.
• Design processes, tools and supports in alignment with the Canopy’s Community Learning Model.
• Capture project design through writing and visuals in project proposals and scopes of work
• Provide an array of capacity-building services including facilitation, strategic planning, prioritization, skill-based training, data visualization, problem-solving, moving through conflict, and coaching for individuals and groups.
• Facilitate engaging and effective meetings, trainings, retreats, summits, and convenings online and in person.
• Conduct interviews, gather data, and analyze input to design processes that will meet a group’s needs.

Project Management (30%)

• Develop detailed project work plans in Asana and manage the execution of tasks across project teams including coordination with Canopy team members, external partners, and Canopy Associates.
• Write detailed project proposals and scopes of work, negotiate with partners, manage contracts, timelines, invoicing, deliverables, and budgets.
• Manage scheduling with partners and ensure that projects remain on track Manage the details of meeting logistics such as language translation and interpretation, space rental, catering, etc.
• Coordinate collection of evaluation surveys, analyze feedback, and incorporate into learning.
• Monitor and communicate progress on project activities including: project launch, before- and after-action reviews, and time for reflection and learning.

Internal Roles and Responsibilities (20%) – Required for all team members:

• Engage actively in Canopy team meetings, retreats, and pod meetings (some team meetings require travel for in-person full-day meetings)
• Track time and expenses monthly
• Contribute to organization-wide events
• Use and maintain internal systems including SharePoint, Google Drive, Asana, Airtable, and Clicktime.
• Write blogs and case studies that capture stories of impact in the field Depending on skills and interest, this position will be encouraged to contribute to 1-2 other areas of internal operations which may include:
• Generate, post, or analyze social media, website, and/or newsletter content
• Monitor, analyze, and develop tools for evaluation including surveys, rubrics, and/or qualitative interviews
• Manage recruitment and supervision of annual internships
• Plan internal and external events for retreats, team meetings, and summits
• Steward the team’s resources for collective professional development and cultivate opportunities to learn together
• Develop online trainings for Canopy Learning Online
• Develop online network-mapping tool Civic Network

Qualifications and Competencies

• Minimum 3-5 years relevant experience preferably with facilitation and design of collaborative processes, with an understanding of working with diverse groups of different sizes, and Latinx, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and immigrant communities in Colorado
• Strong competency in concepts of equity, inclusion, power, privilege, diversity, and systemic racism
• Experience managing complex projects on tight deadlines, supporting multidimensional project teams, monitoring progress, and compiling reports
• Experience with community engagement and coalition building
• A creative thinker who is able to translate The Canopy’s mission, vision, and values to a wide array of audiences
• High level of organizational skills with a focus on detail and follow through
• Strong writing and communications skills
• Strong relationship and task management skills
• A gracious learner, who is able to give and receive constructive feedback in order to grow professionally within the role and be responsive and accountable to necessary shifts and pivots
• An adaptable team player who has a tolerance for uncertainty, change, and moving through conflict graciously
• Ability to work some evenings and/or weekends
• Knowledge of and aptitude for learning and using different technology and facilitation tools, preferred
• Basic computer skills and strong knowledge of MS Excel, PowerPoint and Word, or their Google Workspace equivalents, required

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with collaboration technology, including AirTable, Asana, and/or Miro
• Lived experience as BIPOC, low-income, first generation, immigrant, LGBTQIA+, or living in rural areas
• Fluency in one of the languages spoken by many community partners in Colorado: Spanish, French, Somali, Myanmar, Arabic or Amharic,

NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

Guide Relationship

Instead of a direct supervisory relationship, the Civic Canopy uses a system of “guidance” for one-on-one support, coaching, reflection, troubleshooting, and goal-setting. Your Canopy Guide is responsible for leading your annual reflection and feedback process and acts as a support to navigate proposals and conversations around salary changes or changes to roles and responsibilities. As a new team member joins the Canopy, a guide will be assigned to you based on the most closely aligned areas of work. Over time, team members are encouraged to choose the guide they would like to work with, and this can change over the course of your time at the Canopy.

Compensation and Benefits

This is a full-time (40 hours/week) position. The salary range is $60,000 – $85,000, dependent on level of skill and experience, in accordance with our equitable hiring practices that strive for internal parity. The Civic Canopy offers a flexible, hybrid work schedule along with excellent health benefits with 100% paid health insurance. (we use a Health Reimbursement Arrangement which allows teammates to choose the right health insurance for them no matter where they live in Colorado), robust retirement contributions, and a generous paid time off package. *Staff propose salary increases during annual evaluation processes.

We offer an extensive benefits package, including:

• Medical and dental benefits for employee and eligible dependents
• Retirement savings account (401k) with an organization contribution
• Three weeks paid vacation; four weeks after 3 years
• Twelve paid holidays
• Professional development opportunities for growth
• Up to 3-month Sabbatical offered after 5 years at the Canopy

Location, Travel, and Working Conditions

The Canopy actively recruits a diverse, dynamic team of people who reflect the communities we serve—racially, culturally, and geographically. Team members are supported to telecommute from anywhere in Colorado. We hope to provide flexibility and attract skilled teammates from across the state to better meet the needs of communities. This position is considered hybrid with the following expectations:

• Required travel to Denver office at least 1 time per month
• 5-10 days of travel per month across the state of Colorado with some multi-day, overnight trips; mostly driving, some air travel – travel reimbursements are provided
• Occasional evening and weekend availability dependent on partners’ needs
• Work activities require an ability to reach for, move and/or lift 20 pounds, with modifications available. Work is conducted in a wide variety of meeting and office settings, including significant time working at a computer and in-person meetings.

Inquiries and Applications

Please forward any inquiries, nominations, or requests for a confidential networking call to [email protected] 

Applications are due by 5 pm MST on December 8, 2023. 

Applications should include the components listed below as a PDF and should be emailed to [email protected]. We will work to meet the access needs of all applicants. Please contact [email protected] and cc: [email protected] if you require a different format to submit an application. A thoughtful and compelling joint cover letter of no more than three pages that addresses:

• Why are you interested in working with the Civic Canopy and the communities that we support? What inspires you about systems change?
• What brings you to this work? How are your past accomplishments and experiences relevant to this role?
• Your resume
• Three references. For each reference, please include name, pronouns, affiliation, relationship to you, email address and phone number. Please include at least one reference of a current or recent supervisee or teammate.
• References will not be contacted until the final stage of the search and candidates will be given an opportunity to notify their references in advance.
• There will be at least 2-3 rounds of interviews with the final round held in person with our team of 9 people at our Denver office – we hope for these to be scheduled in January and early February 2024 and we will work with you to find a time that works for your schedule.
• Candidates who move forward to the second round of interviews will be given a prompt and asked to prepare a facilitated meeting for 20-30 minutes.

Please send any questions, concerns, or inquiries to [email protected]

Commitment to Equity

The Civic Canopy is a 501(c)(3) organization, and an equal opportunity employer. We believe that communities most impacted by inequitable systems must be centered in the work we do. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from Black and Indigenous women of color, Trans and gender non-conforming people, LGB people, disabled people, and working class people for all of our positions. Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at the Civic Canopy, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.