Opportunity

Heartland Fund is seeking a Senior Advisor for Climate and Energy to support the new Resource Rural program.

The position requires a strategic leader who is committed to enabling rural and tribal communities to advance their goals for climate resilience and energy security by leveraging newly available federal resources under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and other federal legislation. They will drive the creation of resources, tools, and support to advance the work of place-based partners focused on climate, energy, and economic development goals. 

The Senior Advisor will play a key role in helping place-based partners and grantees track, understand, and apply for the various federal funding opportunities, leverage national and regional organizations and resources that can support local efforts, and advance storytelling and policy engagement goals. 

We are looking for a collaborative team player with a track record of designing new initiatives and marshaling resources to advance priorities in underserved communities, a commitment to equitable rural prosperity, and a passion for promoting climate resilience and energy security in rural communities. The successful candidate will be a service-oriented project manager and a resourceful and strategic leader. 

This is an exciting and dynamic position with opportunities for leadership and rewarding collaborations with local rural and tribal leaders. You will have an opportunity to help develop and implement a brand new initiative with a diverse range of partners. We are actively building a small but mighty team to enable historic, equitable investment in rural America. 

Responsibilities:

The Senior Climate & Energy Advisor will report to the Resource Rural Director and work in close collaboration with the Rural Climate Partnership team. The Senior Climate & Energy Advisor will hold the following responsibilities: 

Place-Based Partner Support

• Serves as primary liaison for designated Resource Rural place-based partners, and Rural Climate Partnership (RCP) staff and grantees seeking to access and/or implement federal funding for climate, energy, agriculture and food systems projects
• Tracks and understands high value climate and energy government funding opportunities for rural and tribal communities
• Cultivates and provides expertise on innovative funding opportunities through supply chain work, green banks, and other avenues to support rural energy development, energy efficiency, climate-friendly agricultural practices, etc.
• Creates tools, templates, communication materials related to climate, energy, and regenerative agriculture funding opportunities
• Develops relationships with key federal staff and intermediaries providing climate-related technical assistance and support, shares relevant information with Resource Rural place-based partners, and facilitates partnerships that can accelerate their work

Strategy Development, Grantmaking & Learning

• Works with partners to accelerate impactful federal funding implementation to advance climate and energy goals in rural communities
• Coordinates identification of  potential grantees, and conducting due diligence and oversight on grants and contracts
• Participates in application and proposal reviews. Presents grant and contract recommendations as needed to the leadership teams
• Monitors grantees and contractors regularly and provides updates on grantee/contractor performance, activities, needs, and opportunities
• Helps develop and implement systems to capture learning, including data collection systems that minimize burden on partners
• Facilitates community of practice and learning opportunities for Resource Rural partners related to rural climate/energy work
• Distills and shares learning with funders and stakeholders in a compelling manner

Communications & Policy

• Helps elevate stories for the Resource Rural Communications Action Center and works with the Communications Director to identify communications opportunities and needs
• Provides program related updates and new content for communications platforms and development materials
• Helps capture insights to drive policy discussions with state and federal agencies
• Identifies policy and advocacy opportunities and works with the Resource Rural Advocacy and Organizing Director to connect advocacy resources to state partners to advance implementation goals

Fundraising Management & Support

• Provides fundraising support to the Resource Rural Director, including but not limited to:
  • prospect and funder tracking
  • management of follow up
  • proposal writing and preparation of promotional materials
• As needed, represent the climate and energy related work to funding partners and prospects.

Organizational Development & Support

• Works collaboratively with Heartland team members to establish effective and efficient work processes, plan meetings, and contribute to organizational learning
• Maintains files, documents and shared communications systems to facilitate project management and partnership
• Fulfills other programmatic duties as requested by the Resource Rural Director

Qualifications:

We realize that some great candidates may not have every single thing on this list - that’s OK!  If this job posting piques your interest, we encourage you to apply.

• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in program strategy development and management - helping organizations design and implement environmental, energy, or sustainability projects or programs, preferably in a rural context.
• Knowledge of major climate and energy related federal programs and the agencies and organizations that are actively working to implement federally-funded projects and initiatives.
• Strong lived or professional experience with rural issues and communities.
• Excellent oral presentation, writing, and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Strong resource stewardship skills (both financial and people).
• Values learning and continuous growth.
• Strong commitment to racial justice and fluency with equity and anti-racist practices.
• Demonstrated ability to listen deeply, hold space for different perspectives, and work with people from a variety of political, cultural, and social backgrounds.
• Working knowledge of a range of communications and technology platforms including Monday, Slack, and Google Apps.
• Willingness to travel regularly across regions in the US. 

Desired: 

• Experience successfully navigating federal grant processes (i.e. grantseeking, post-award compliance and management).
• Demonstrated ability to independently own, manage, and drive complex projects, involving a high degree of cross-org collaboration, and management of staff and/or high-level consultants.
• Experience as a strategist that sets and drives towards ambitious goals and tracks patterns, trends, challenges in order to envision and grow our energy programs.
• Experience living and/or working in rural America on environmental, energy, or sustainability strongly preferred.

Applications will be reviewed and considered on a rolling basis with interviews anticipated to start October 2023.

Desired start date is November 2023.