Executive Assistant

Executive Assistant

REMOTE

Project Overview:

Urban Initiatives (UI) seeks a detail-oriented critical thinker with superb written and verbal communication and organizational skills to support the executive leadership team as they engage in external relations. This person will help manage external relationship movements with a primary focus on fundraising activity to support the organization to achieve the bold vision to impact 100,000 youth across Chicago annually by 2025.

More specifically, UI seeks support from an experienced Executive Assistant starting in April 2023 for 5-20 hours per week.

The Executive Assistant will support the executive leadership team, mainly the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), by managing the calendar, overseeing correspondence, preparing for and following up on meetings, activity tracking in Salesforce, and reporting.

The Executive Assistant will also work with the Chief Operating Officer and connect with a group of 30 volunteers.

Ability to work at least one hour per day Monday-Friday (flexible to consider early morning or evening times) and having availability weekly to tackle projects required.

All project drafts are due to the COO on the first of the month for the upcoming month to allow time for iteration.

More specifically this role would have the following responsibilities:

• Support the Chief Executive Officer and other executive leaders with administrative support
• Complete an array of administrative tasks to support the CEO including, but not limited to: scheduling meetings, composing, preparing, and tracking correspondence, organizing and compiling documents for meetings, and overseeing effective follow-ups and next steps
• Manage the CEO and COO’s calendar with accurate contact information and meeting locations, whether in person or virtual
• Assist in the creation of and manage administrative procedures and communications systems to support the CEO in the donor database Salesforce
• Develop reports to support the CEO in effective external relationship management and use reports to suggest meeting and outreach strategy
• Prepare the CEO for upcoming meetings through the generation of meeting outlines and practice sessions
• Oversee timely follow-ups from meetings including closing the loop on all requests
• Follow up on contacts made by the CEO to support the cultivation of ongoing relationships
• Develop materials to support pre and post-meeting communications including but not limited to emails, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoints
• Manage the CEO’s LinkedIn by responding to DMs, managing connections, and posting relevant content at least once a month
• Serve as an administrative liaison to a portfolio of volunteers who aim to raise $10M to accelerate Urban Initiatives’ impact over the next three years
  • Send monthly reports from Salesforce and engage in 15-minute calls as needed to clarify the next steps for the month ahead
  • Schedule meetings, work with the CEO and COO to set agendas and prepare materials in advance of meetings, take notes during meetings, send follow-up action items, generate activity reports, and track committee progress
• Other administrative functions as needed

Desired Qualifications

• Passion for Urban Initiatives’ mission
• Embody UI’s organizational values: teamwork, commitment, fun, impact, inclusion, and initiative
• Previous experience in a role with similar responsibilities
• Desire to be a team player and ability to effectively work both independently and collaboratively
• Demonstrated ability to think critically, be forward-thinking, and determine situational strategies
• Demonstrated ability to serve as a sounding bound to clarify decisions and strategic steps to reach desired goals
• Demonstrated ability to organize and manage projects and manage multiple tasks in a busy environment
• Strong administrative skills, attention to detail, and organization
• Excellence in both written and verbal communications and the ability to effectively communicate through an array of approaches (emails, phone, in-person, presentation, deck, one-pager, soundbites, etc.)
• Commitment to join the UI team on our anti-racist journey, which includes interrupting oppression in our work whenever we encounter it
• Experience with Google suite and Salesforce or similar databases
• This is a contractor position and can be completed remotely and located anywhere in the US

Organization Overview

Urban Initiatives (UI) believes in providing high-quality sport- and play-based social-emotional learning programs to youth throughout Chicago. UI’s mission is to use the power of sport and play to empower Chicago’s youth to achieve academic success, develop social-emotional skills, and build social capital.

UI’s programs are unique because of our commitment to students over time, our intentional emphasis on social-emotional learning (SEL) through play, and the use of our network to help students build social capital.