Equity & Experience Associate

DonorsChoose makes it easy for anyone to help a teacher in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education.

Since 2000, more than 5 million people and partners have contributed $1 billion to support 2 million teacher requests for classroom resources and experiences. Projects range from art supplies to build the set for a school musical, to books and puzzles that affirm students’ identities, to bird seed for an at-home science project. We proudly serve all US public schools, public charter schools, and Head Start centers, and we combat systemic inequity by driving a majority of donations to schools that have been historically underfunded due to economic and racial inequity.

DonorsChoose has been recognized as a best place to work by GOOD Magazine and the Nonprofit Times, while Fast Company named DonorsChoose one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World—the first time a charity has made this list. Our dedicated team works from across the United States bring classroom dreams to life.

DonorsChoose Core Values

EQUITY
Combating systemic inequity is crucial to a brighter future for all. This reality fuels our ambitions and drives us to persevere.

INGENUITY
Complex problems require innovative solutions. We dream big, get creative, roll up our sleeves, and take action. We believe the best products can change the world. 

HUMANITY  
People are the heart of our team and the communities we serve. Our compassion informs our goals and how we work together to achieve them. 

INTEGRITY
We strive to do right. We’re up-front about the facts. We boldly learn and grow from mistakes. 

LEARNING
Education is the beating heart of our organization, inside and out. We’re curious. We listen. We know we don’t know everything. 

GRATITUDE
We begin and end with thanks. We take joy in our mission, our communities, and each other.

About the Equity & Experience Team 

The People team at DonorsChoose cultivates an inclusive culture of excellence by hiring, retaining, and investing in a high-performing team who share an unwavering passion for educational equity. Our work is powered by the belief that diverse and lived experiences across our organization make us better able to do great work. We gather feedback, measure our impact, and iterate on the employee experience to ensure that everyone is celebrated and supported throughout the employee lifecycle.

On the Equity and Experience subteam, we work to ​​give staff the best workplace experience, where they feel respected, welcomed, supported, valued, and connected to the mission. We put people first and center everything we do in our mission.  We’re serious about the Equity part of our team name. Each member of the Equity and Experience team brings a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens to our work; and we strive to create structures and experiences for DonorsChoose staff to do the same.

About the role: 

The Equity and Experience Associate will drive engagement, connection, and belonging through our events and programs. In this role, your main responsibilities will be to:

• Support the planning and execution of our annual all-staff retreats, including coordination of stakeholders, development of internal communications, and designing some retreat programming
• Design, implement, and iterate on our semi-quarterly large community-building event in our NYC office
• Coordinate regular hybrid events that allow staff to learn from external speakers (Speaker Series program) and from their internal peers (Lunch and Learn program)
• Own our internal newsletter and our bimonthly All Hands meeting as key parts of our internal communication strategy
• Lead the charge on “extracurriculars”. This includes supporting our Social Committee, managing our community-building tools like Donut.ai and fun Slack channels (#we-heart-cats is a fav), and piloting different approaches to deepen bonds between staff
• Collaborate across the Equity and Experience team to support staff engagement in our NYC office

Additionally, you will support seasonal and project based initiatives that drive connection and community for our distributed, hybrid team. 

• Coordinate visits to local schools for staff, including finding eligible classrooms and gathering feedback from stakeholders and iterating on the experience
• Deliver and iterate on our existing Employee Recognition programs
• Serve as a consultant for teams as they plan their team retreats and develop ideas to build community on their teams
• Support our team's data efforts by owning regular data pulls regarding the Hybrid Workplace, our gatherings, and our community building efforts
• With guidance, support ad hoc projects on the Equity and Experience team

About you: 

• You’re energized by the DonorsChoose mission. You’re excited to prioritize experiences that help bring the mission and our impact to life for our staff.
• You’re no stranger to event planning for organizations. You’ve got systems and processes to help deliver on standout experiences for the folks who attend your events. You’ve developed a point of view on what it takes to connect people, and you’ve got a whole heap of ideas to back it up.
• You have a deep passion for creating an inclusive and equitable work environment and world. You pay attention to who is participating and who is being served. You take action to course correct when needed. You’re excited to be part of an organization that champions equity in education, and equity within our organization.
• You balance action and reflection. You know when to Get It Done, and when to pause to get more clarity.
• You take joy in making people feel heard and prioritize trust and transparency. You’re comfortable taking in feedback from multiple perspectives and pulling out the insights that will have the most impact.
• You deftly navigate changing priorities and embrace flexibility. You’re not afraid to make mistakes and you make it a point to learn from them.
• You have solid communication and interpersonal skills. You excel at communicating with empathy and clarity both in person and in writing. You enjoy working with others to solve problems and create delightful experiences.
• You take the work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. You demonstrate sound judgment, particularly in sensitive, complex, and ambiguous situations. At the same time, you can laugh at yourself and embrace levity.

Compensation and Benefits

Our compensation philosophy ensures that we are both externally competitive with tech-forward nonprofits of a similar size and internally fair in our pay practices. The following ranges represent the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

The hiring salary range for this role is $49,000 - $55,000.
 

Compensation for this role is competitive with equivalent roles at other nonprofits of our size. In addition, we offer full-time staff 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays, a rich employer-paid individual and family health plan, a matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary), annual professional development stipend, and casual and flexible work environment. To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our careers page.

Hybrid Workplace and Other Details

In this role, you’ll work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office. This role supports our in-person office engagement strategy so it is expected that you will work from the office 2-3 times a week. At times, you’ll work from the office more frequently to support programming and preparation. This can include occasional evenings and weekends to support events. 

We're ideally looking for candidates who are already within commuting distance of our NYC office so please consider your ability to commute when applying for this role.

DonorsChoose participates in E-Verify. We will provide the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and answer the application questions online. Since we’re trying to get to know you through our hiring process, we ask that you please refrain from using AI writing tools to craft your response to our application questions. A cover letter is optional and may be addressed to Danielle Curtis, Senior Manager of Employee Experience & Hybrid Workplace.

A Final Note
 

The DonorsChoose team works toward a nation where students in every community have the resources needed for an excellent education. To do this we hire and support a diverse team of the best and the brightest talent available.
 

We are an organization increasingly representative of the varied races and ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations, religious and political beliefs, and abilities that comprise our nation. DonorsChoose focuses on attracting, retaining, and advancing diverse talent because it makes us more effective, high-performing, creative, and resilient.  

If you are passionate about our mission, highly skilled in your field, and looking for a place where you can bring all of yourself to work, we want you.