Jobs & Internships
Current Job Openings
Job Title: Director of Operations
Location: Chicago, IL
Reports To: Executive Director
Posted: 11/19/2019
Position open until filled.
Established in 2006, Read/Write Library collects, preserves, and provides access to Chicago community media in order to inspire and promote cultural production, civic engagement, and ownership of community narratives. Our nonprofit offers a growing collection of over 6,000 local publications, free browsing hours, an open source catalog, and public programs that reach hundreds of youth and adults each year. We strive to raise the visibility of work produced by Chicagoans of all backgrounds in order to encourage inquiry into the historical record and to reveal connections across neighborhoods, generations, and cultures. We recognize the contributions that all community members make to co-creating a city and believe that learning to value them plays a vital role in building empathy, community pride, and the ability to see oneself as a change agent.
Read/Write Library is the only library of its kind in the world. We are growing quickly in Chicago and as interest in our model expands to other cities.
We are seeking a process-minded Director of Operations with experience in scaling an organization to be an essential member of the executive team. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Director of Operations will lead the strategic development and implementation of short and long-term goals within the organization. This role requires that you be a fierce advocate for the value of our work and the community voices represented in our collection as well as a focused and pragmatic leader who understands how to prioritize, partner, and analyze our outcomes to scale sustainably while staying true to our mission.
Primary responsibilities are as follows:
Administrative
- Work with Executive Director to plan, coordinate, and execute the annual budgeting and strategic planning process.
- Work with Executive Director on budgets for individual programs (during this growth phase, the Executive Director will continue to oversee programs and partnerships).
- Research, establish pricing, and report on results of earned revenue projects.
- Identify new opportunities to diversify revenue and reduce costs.
- Work with Executive Director on planning the structure of the organization and develop and oversee HR processes for employees and contractors.
- Assist with board relations and present financial reports at board meetings.
- Oversee financial record keeping, including coding through Quickbooks (basic bookkeeping ability is sufficient to start).
- Maintain payroll.
- Maintain organizational paperwork, record keeping, general operations, and compliance.
Development
- Help maintain Salesforce CRM (training available) and assist Executive Director in donor relations.
- Assist in identifying individual and foundation funding opportunities.
- Assist in any financial reporting requirements for grants.
- Create and manage sponsorship program and relationships.
- Create and manage supporter membership program.
Qualifications
- Comfortable working with Google Docs and Microsoft Office Suite, with advanced expertise in Excel. Quickbooks or other accounting software experience required. While not required, the following skills are a plus: Salesforce or other CRM; Asana, Basecamp, or other collaborative project management/productivity tools.
- Experience managing people and building successful, motivated, accountable teams.
- Broad experience with the full range of business functions, including strategic development and planning, budgeting, finance, and human resources. Confident in making revenue and expense projections and analyzing results. Marketing experience a plus.
- Cultural competence, experience in collaborating with diverse communities, and a commitment to inclusive, equitable, and anti-oppression principles required.
- Enjoys problem-solving and challenges; able to act and react as necessary, even if limited information is available; not afraid to take charge of a situation; can overcome resistance and take unpopular stands when necessary.
Hours and Compensation
- Part-time, 20-hours/week. W-2 employee status
- $20/hour
- Flexible schedule and work-from-home days
- Our goal is to increase both the hourly rate (or salary) as well as number of hours per week as soon as possible. The Director of Operations will directly contribute to the growth of the organization and higher compensation for this role.
How You Can Be A Competitive Applicant
- Be familiar with our work. The Programs and Press sections of our website are a good place to start.
- Love what we do. What we do requires a lot of effort. Passion will make that effort easier to sustain.
- Include a thorough, unique (not a form letter), thoughtful cover letter that shows how your prior experience prepares you to meet the qualifications. If you do not have a specific qualification, tell us about the work you have done that gives you confidence that you can learn it. We value people who proactively pursue educating themselves and constantly learn on the job.
- Be open, honest, and follow directions.
What You Can Expect In the Application Process
- We will actually tell you whether you advance in the process. If you don’t, we’ll notify you either way as a courtesy. We do not have the capacity to provide each applicant with a rationale for our decision.
- Our process has multiple rounds: (1) resume & cover letter, (2) work product sample, (3) interview, and (4) accuracy confirmation and reference check. If you do not feel comfortable with delivering a work sample, then please do not apply. Work samples are part of the hiring process ONLY and will not be used by the organization. You retain all rights to your work sample.
- Please do not mislead us on your application. If you do, we will remove your application from current and future consideration.
- Please note: We intentionally do not have education requirements, nor will we ever ask you for your previous salary.
- We are an equal opportunity employer and members of groups underrepresented among museum and library leadership are especially encouraged to apply.
How To Apply
Send your tailored cv/resume and cover letter in a single PDF file to .info@readwritelibrary.org. Your cover letter must at minimum address (1) why you want to work for us, (2) why you are qualified, and (3) what you have done that evidences how you are qualified. Please limit your cover letter to no more than two pages and your cv/resume to be as compact as possible.
Please put “Director of Operations" as the email Subject line.
All documents should be named as follows:
LastnameFirstnameOperations.pdf
Internships
We welcome interns throughout the year in library science, arts management, communications, and more. We approach our internships differently than most organizations and structure them to match not just our needs, but the skills that interns want to develop. Interns do not need to be currently in school or looking for college credit.
Read/Write Library accepts up to 2 interns at a time to ensure the quality of the intern's experience.
To inquire about interning with Read/Write Library, please fill out this form and email info@readwritelibrary.org with any questions.
Past Job Openings
Why is this here? We keep past positions posted to help you get a sense of the work we do and also to help level the playing field for arts positions in Chicago and beyond.
Internships
We welcome interns throughout the year in library science, arts management, communications, and more. We approach our internships differently than most organizations and structure them to match not just our needs, but the skills that interns want to develop. Interns do not need to be currently in school or looking for college credit.
Read/Write Library accepts up to 2 interns at a time to ensure the quality of the intern's experience.
To inquire about interning with Read/Write Library, please fill out this form and email info@readwritelibrary.org with any questions.
Past Job Openings
Why is this here? We keep past positions posted to help you get a sense of the work we do and also to help level the playing field for arts positions in Chicago and beyond.
Job Title: Director of Operations
Location: Chicago, IL
Reports To: Executive Director
Posted: 10/23/2018
Position filled.
Established in 2006, Read/Write Library collects, preserves, and provides access to Chicago community media in order to inspire and promote diverse modes of cultural production and civic engagement. Our nonprofit offers a growing collection of over 6,000 local publications, free browsing hours, an open source catalog, and public programs that reach hundreds of youth and adults each year. We strive to raise the visibility of work produced by Chicagoans of all backgrounds in order to encourage inquiry into and ownership of the historical record and to reveal connections across neighborhoods, generations, and cultures. We recognize the contributions that all community members make to co-creating a city and believe that learning to value them plays a vital role in building empathy, community pride, and the ability to see oneself as a change agent.
Read/Write Library is the only library of its kind in the world. We are growing quickly in Chicago and as interest in our model expands to other cities.
We are seeking a process-minded Director of Operations with experience in scaling an organization to be an essential member of the executive team. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Director of Operations will lead the strategic development and implementation of short and long-term goals within the organization. This role requires that you be a fierce advocate for the value of our work and the community voices represented in our collection as well as a focused and pragmatic leader who understands how to prioritize, partner, and analyze our outcomes to achieve sustainability while staying true to our mission.
Primary responsibilities are as follows:
Administrative
- Work with Executive Director to plan, coordinate, and execute the annual budgeting and strategic planning process.
- Work with Executive Director on budgets for individual programs (during this growth phase, the Executive Director will continue to oversee programs and partnerships).
- Research, establish pricing, and report on results of earned revenue projects.
- Identify new opportunities to diversify revenue and reduce costs .
- Work with Executive Director on planning the structure of the organization and develop and oversee HR processes for employees and contractors.
- Assist with board relations and present financial reports at board meetings.
Oversee financial record keeping, including coding through Quickbooks (basic bookkeeping ability is sufficient to start).
- Maintain payroll.
- Maintain organizational paperwork, record keeping, general operations, and compliance.
Development
- Help maintain Salesforce CRM and assist Executive Director in donor relations.
- Assist in identifying individual and foundation funding opportunities.
- Assist in any financial reporting requirements for grants.
- Create and manage sponsorship program and relationships.
- Create and manage supporter membership program.
Qualifications
- Comfortable working with Google Docs and Microsoft Office Suite, with advanced expertise in Excel. Quickbooks or other accounting software experience required. Salesforce or other CRM experience a plus, as is experience with Asana, Basecamp, or other collaborative project management/productivity tools.
- Experienced in managing people and building successful, motivated, accountable teams.
- Broad experience with the full range of business functions, including strategic development and planning, budgeting, finance, and human resources. Confident in making revenue and expense projections and analyzing results. Marketing experience a plus.
- Cultural competence, experience in collaborating with diverse communities, and a commitment to inclusive, equitable, and anti-oppression principles required.
- Enjoys problem-solving and challenges; able to act and react as necessary, even if limited information is available; not afraid to take charge of a situation; can overcome resistance and take unpopular stands when necessary.
Hours and Compensation
- Part-time, 20-hours/week. W-2 employee status
- $20/hour
- Flexible schedule and work-from-home days
- Our goal is to increase both the hourly rate (or salary) as well as number of hours per week as soon as possible. The Director of Operations will directly contribute to the growth of the organization and higher compensation for this role.
How You Can Be A Competitive Applicant
- Be familiar with our work. The Programs and Press sections of our website are a good place to start.
- Love what we do. What we do requires a lot of effort. Passion will make that effort easier to sustain.
- Include a thorough, unique (not a form letter), thoughtful cover letter that shows how your prior experience prepares you to meet the qualifications. If you do not have a specific qualification, tell us about the work you have done that gives you confidence that you can learn it. We value people who proactively pursue educating themselves and constantly learn on the job.
- Be open, honest, and follow directions.
What You Can Expect In the Application Process
- We will actually tell you whether you advance in the process. If you don’t, we’ll notify you either way as a courtesy. We do not have the capacity to provide each applicant with a rationale for our decision.
- Our process has multiple rounds: (1) resume & cover letter, (2) work product sample, (3) interview, and (4) accuracy confirmation and reference check. If you do not feel comfortable with delivering a work sample, then please do not apply. Work samples are part of the hiring process ONLY and will not be used by the organization. You retain all rights to your work sample.
- Please do not mislead us on your application. If you do, we will remove your application from current and future consideration.
- Please note: We intentionally do not have education requirements, nor will we ever ask you for your previous salary.
- We are an equal opportunity employer and members of groups underrepresented among museum and library leadership are especially encouraged to apply.
How To Apply
Send your tailored cv/resume and cover letter in a single PDF file to info@readwritelibrary.org. Your cover letter must at minimum address (1) why you want to work for us, (2) why you are qualified, and (3) what you have done that evidences how you are qualified. Please limit your cover letter to no more than two pages and your cv/resume to be as compact as possible.
Please put “Director of Operations" as the email Subject line.
All documents should be named as follows:
LastnameFirstnameOperations.pdf
