Development Assistant

Position Status: Full-time, Non-exempt
Salary: $55,000
Location: Hybrid; 2+ days a week in Brooklyn, New York office
Last update: April 4, 2024

Chicken & Egg Pictures is seeking a Development Assistant (DA) to join its team. Reporting to the Head of Development, this individual supports the day-to-day fundraising and administrative activities of the development team. The Development Assistant will play a critical role in providing comprehensive administrative and systems assistance to the team as well as providing key support on all fundraising activities, events, and processes.

Please note: Chicken & Egg Pictures is not a production company. We are a nonprofit media organization that supports documentary filmmakers through grants and mentorship programs.

Who We Are

Chicken & Egg Pictures is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides a global community of women and gender-expansive documentary filmmakers with creative and financial support to realize their cinematic visions and build fulfilling careers in a gender inclusive media industry. We envision an equitable and just world shaped by the power of documentary films. Our work responds to the reality that sexism, racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia can still slow or even halt too many people's careers. Our mission lays the groundwork to disrupt these barriers.

Filmmakers need resources, opportunities, and access to thrive in an unbalanced film landscape. So we match strategically timed grants with creative mentorship and community, building peer networks and bringing artists together to learn from and champion one another. This support system is tailored for the unique challenges women and gender-expansive people experience in their filmmaking and career trajectories.

Since our founding, Chicken & Egg Pictures has awarded over $12 million in grants and devoted thousands of hours of creative mentorship to over 500 filmmakers from around the world. Films supported by our work have been nationally and internationally recognized with the industry's highest honors, including Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and Peabody Awards. And they have raised visibility and driven social change on urgent issues.

Since 2013, the organization has been led by Chief Executive Officer, Jenni Wolfson. Under her leadership, our budget has grown and our programs have expanded, and our stellar team has won honors including the Social Impact Media Awards, Vanguard Award, and the International Documentary Association's Amicus Award; we were also a finalist for the Nonprofit Excellence Awards. Additional information about us and our current programs may be found on our website:

See our Strategic Plan here:

What You'll Do

RESPONSIBILITIES (including but not limited to)

The DA will provide administrative and project management support on the following:

Schedules, Calendars, & Travel

• Manage, coordinate, and prioritize calendaring and scheduling needs of the team including drafting, sending, and accepting invites, troubleshooting conflicts, and initiating and closing out follow-ups
• Maintain departmental calendars including new information, updates, and follow ups
• Manage all travel logistics and activities
• Provide back-up support to the Executive Office, as needed

Meeting Preparation & Management

Provide support to the Head of Development and Development Manager on the following:

• Prepare for meetings including gathering and/or drafting documents and agendas for distribution to meeting participants
• Prepare logistics for in person meetings and development events including identifying and securing facility, catering, supplies, security access, and technology
• Take notes; take action, follow up, and track post meeting next steps; draft and share meeting recaps to participants
• Conduct research, develop presentation decks and materials, and provide any other key information that is necessary to ensure team members' are fully prepared

Systems & Process Maintenance & Improvement

Maintain and contribute to innovative improvement on the following, with appropriate colleagues:

• Revenue forecasting and document tracking
• Departmental systems
• Development records
• Tracking sheets
• Contact lists

Development Support

• Track, maintain, and follow-up on the timeline, administration, and submission of grant proposals
• Conduct prospect research and prepare donor packets and presentations
• Assist with donor correspondence, grant proposals, and reports
• Oversee #GivingTuesday campaign and engage with donors who contribute less than $1,000
• Coordinate contribution acknowledgements, grant agreements, donor gifts, and thank you letters
• Help develop and implement strategies to prioritize and strengthen diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in development activities
• Track and review the budget for development expenses

Other

Provide support and assistance in other tasks and special projects, as assigned
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• 1+ years of office working experience that includes 6+ months of office management or administrative support experience
• Prior experience working within a non-profit organization (either as a staff member or volunteer)
• Excellent attention to detail and time management ability; anticipates obstacles and proactively considers alternative solutions
• Exercises a high degree of confidentiality and discretion, professionalism, integrity, and ethics
• Strong skills in the following:
  • Project Management: tracking, driving, reporting, and engaging the necessary stakeholders, tools, resources, and information to produce desired results; ability to move nimbly among a variety of projects with varying timelines
  • Communications: written, verbal, and listening; managing expectations; understanding who are the key stakeholders; curious, asks questions early; anticipates and prepares next steps and outcomes
  • Technology: Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides)
• Good judgment and decision-making skills with the ability to escalate concerns/challenges appropriately and in a timely manner.
• Proactive problem solver and enjoys troubleshooting and surfacing creative solutions to achieve desired outcomes.
• Strong team player; is respectful, inclusive, values diversity, highly collaborative, proactively seeks and provides thought partnership, assistance, and/or resources with/to colleagues.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS (not required)

• Proficiency in Salesforce, Classy, and Calendly

What Else You Should Know

Deadline: Applications submitted by Monday, April 15 will be reviewed by the hiring team. Applications submitted after this deadline will continue to be accepted but may not be guaranteed review. Early submission of your application is recommended. First round interviews will take place in late April.

Location and Hybrid Work Policy: This position is based in Brooklyn, New York. Staff are working a hybrid schedule with a standard schedule of at least two days a week in our Brooklyn office.

Compensation: $55,000 for a 40-hour week. This is a non-exempt position that is eligible for overtime.

Chicken & Egg Pictures offers a salary informed by the organization's Total Rewards Philosophy and Practices, grounded in market data.

Benefits: 100% employer paid premium coverage of health, dental, and vision insurance, plus life and short and long-term disability insurances. Flexible spending accounts for medical, dependent care, transit, and parking expenses. A 403(b) plan with a matching employer contribution. Annually 15 vacation days (20 at the two-year mark), 10 safe and sick leave days, and 4 personal days. The office is closed for 10 holidays, in addition to December , and offers a Summer Fridays schedule. Professional development opportunities and home office stipends offered. Employees are eligible for a paid 6-week sabbatical after every 5 years of continuous employment.

Sponsorship: This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must be authorized to work in the US without the need for a visa sponsorship.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Chicken & Egg Pictures is an equal opportunity employer. As such, we strongly encourage and seek applications from all backgrounds, including but not limited to women and gender-expansive individuals, people of color, bilingual and multicultural individuals, people with working class backgrounds, people with disabilities, as well as members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

We take great pride in providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, disability, genetics, protected veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, marital or familial status, arrest or conviction record, status as a victim of domestic violence, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

E-Verify: We participate in the E-Verify Program.

Applicants with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified applicants with disabilities may participate in the application process. Please reach out to with any requests.