Partnerships & Operations Associate, Acumen America

Acumen America is looking for a Partnerships and Operations Associate to join our San Francisco based team.  We’re looking for someone with a minimum of 3 years of experience to support fundraising, fundraising ops, and internal operations. The right candidate is bold, creative, has a natural ability to multitask, is a self-starter, and can excel in a fast-paced, startup environment. This role is in San Francisco The team currently operates a hybrid work schedule and works from the office two days a week.

About Acumen America
In the U.S., inequality and poverty are persistent barriers to progress across the economic and social landscape. Launched in 2015, Acumen America catalyzes innovations tackling poverty through high-impact investing and systems change initiatives.  By filling the capital gap for the earliest-stage innovations, supporting underrepresented founders, and taking a multi-sector approach, we aim to scale high-impact innovations across the country that serve low-income communities. The entrepreneurs we back are building market-based, technology-enabled solutions to increase access to high-quality products, services, and opportunities for economic mobility. Through our work with our portfolio companies, we aim to be a laboratory for entrepreneurial solutions to poverty in America. Since our launch, we have invested in 44 companies reaching over 85 million low-income Americans, directly impacting over 6.5 million Americans.

We believe in the power of a diverse portfolio, and 63% of our companies have a founder of color and 44% have a female founder. The team is responsible for finding, vetting, structuring and managing investments in companies that serve low-income Americans in our three interconnected portfolio sectors: health, financial inclusion, and workforce development. Beyond investing, we’re driving systems change by facilitating partnerships and action, including with our Medicaid Innovation Collaborative program. Acumen America is a small and growing team based in San Francisco.

Acumen America is the U.S. subsidiary of Acumen Fund, the global nonprofit organization founded in 2001 with the mission of investing in businesses whose products and services address challenges faced by low-income populations around the world. To date, Acumen has invested approximately $260 million in 215 companies that have impacted over 648 million lives.

About the Role
The Partnerships and Operations Associate will join a growing team building a portfolio of game-changing companies focused on tackling poverty in the United States. In addition to our direct investing, we provide strategic support and resources to accelerate the impact of our portfolio. This includes fundraising, communications, partnerships, events management, financial operations, and other special projects that convene entrepreneurs, funders, corporations, policymakers and others addressing inequity. Acumen America is building a leading portfolio of early-stage entrepreneurs tackling poverty in the US.  The organization is scaling quickly and this position is entrepreneurial; preferred candidates will be excited by a start-up environment.

The Partnerships & Operations Associate will be a versatile and highly organized individual responsible for a broad range of tasks from helping draft concept notes and grant proposals to supporting the organization’s operations and event planning and management. The Associate will work closely with the VP of Partnerships and Operations and collaborate with other internal and external stakeholders.

Accountabilities
This role will cover many facets across the funding partnerships and operations of an impact venture firm. Some of the responsibilities will include:

Partnerships/Development Support:

• Assist in identifying and researching philanthropic prospects aligned with our investing areas using publicly available sources, databases, information from staff, supporters and contacts and any other sources as appropriate
• Assist lead-building process by identifying and creating reports on sector-wide fundraising trends and local philanthropic events
• Help prepare donor pitch materials, including sample case studies, draft grant proposals and grant reporting.
• Track fundraising pipeline and maintain funder database
• Manage grant reporting timelines and submission processes
• Support donor relations and communications 

Donor Management & CRM

• Manage Salesforce and Airtable administration and additional CRM systems 
• Maintain and update donor profiles with key information, interactions and giving history
• Create and pull necessary reports for fundraising analysis
• Draft necessary grant processing and reporting documents
• Craft agendas/briefings for key donor meetings
• Manage donor stewardship touchpoint tracking and reminders
• Manage and execute grant reports

Operations: 

• Support on day-to-day administrative operations of the organization
• Support with review and reconciliation of end-of-month financial reporting 
• Track philanthropic contributions and liaise with finance team on payment processing and documentation
• Coordinate internal meetings and team communications
• Identify opportunities to leverage technology to streamline fundraising and operational processes

Events Management & Communications 

• Support with internal and external event planning and management including logistics, vendor selection, and budgeting
• Support internal and external communications including social media, and branded content; maintain outreach lists; coordinate with external vendors on select projects

Skills and Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in fundraising or sales support, operations, project management, investment platform, or similar roles
• Operational skills including problem-solving and project management, including the ability to work and deliver projects independently, proactively and within deadlines.Experience with or strong interest in implementing technology solutions to improve operational efficiency; Familiarity with AI-powered productivity tools is a plus
• Capable multi-tasker: Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, with strong attention to detail and deadlines.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Comfortable sourcing, negotiating, and managing external partners for events or firm needs.
• High Level of Organization: Able to bring structure to ambiguity, prioritize effectively, and track progress.
• Highly collaborative and able to effectively work cross-functionally
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to proactively anticipate needs and take action; notices opportunities to create new systems and procedures when necessary
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to be a “storyteller” of our work
• Excellent relationship and interpersonal skills—courtesy, tact, empathy, patience and strong teamwork
• Commitment to, and enthusiasm for, the organization’s mission and business model, and respect for our core values: generosity, accountability, humility, audacity, listening, leadership, integrity, respect
• Curiosity – proactive and continuous learner; always questioning, researching and testing ideas and assumptions
• Self-directed: works with team members, takes initiative independently, can follow through, can deliver on a deadline
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values
• Permanently authorized to work in the U.S, must be based in San Francisco

Location
San Francisco, CA        

Deadline
Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis through May 7, 2025.

Compensation
The salary range for this role is $80,000 to $100,000 USD plus a performance-based bonus. This range represents the present low and high end of pay range for our Associate band. Actual compensation will vary based on various factors including but not limited to experience.    

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