IT Associate, support

Overview: Groundswell Fund is a public foundation that resources intersectional, solidarity based grassroots organizing work that centers Black women, Indigenous women and other women of color including Transgender women of color. We fund within many social justice movements and are the largest funder of the U.S. Reproductive Justice (RJ) movement. For more than a decade, we have enabled foundations and individual donors to increase the impact of their giving by offering a different kind of philanthropic model. Different in who we are: A program staff of women of color, transgender people of color, and gender-nonconforming people of color who come directly out of community and labor organizing and have a combined 70+ years of grassroots organizing and civic engagement experience within communities of color; a board comprised of grassroots leaders shaping strategy alongside funders and donors. Different in who we support: primarily Black and Brown women, including transgender women of color who are organizing at the grassroots. Different in how we support the field: not just through grants, but also through capacity-building support focused on boosting grassroots power, and funder organizing that lifts up our grantees to a larger audience of funders and donors who can move resources to their work, whether or not these resources come through our doors. Groundswell moves at least 80 percent of the dollars that come in our doors back out to the field.

Since 2003, Groundswell has moved more than $60 million to the field in grants and capacity-building support; increased the giving of dozens of national and local foundations; and helped bring thousands of new individual donors into the RJ movement. Our grantees have been instrumental in the passage of more than 250 pro-RJ policies at the state and local level and in blocking many regressive policies, and they have built a growing grassroots base of support for RJ across the U.S. In 2017, we expanded our funding to support multi-issue organizing led by WOC and transgender people of color across other social justice movement sectors, from environmental and economic justice, to immigrant and LGBTQ rights, and on. We also launched a 501(c)(4), Groundswell Action Fund, now the largest c4 fund in the country centering WOC-led c4 work.

Position Summary: This position has been updated from the previous posting. The IT Associate Support monitors, operates, coordinates, assists and trains staff in the operation of their laptop, applications, and equipment for our virtual organization. They are the first line of technical support for staff, exercising judgment in selecting and applying solutions, and determining when to refer problems to our technical help desk partner. The IT Associate will be cross-trained in all areas within the IT department.

Responsibilities:

• First line of technical support for staff: Troubleshoot, diagnose problems, implement corrective action procedures and/or escalate to technical help desk partner as needed

• Assist staff in performing routine maintenance and inspection of their equipment • Assist in hardware and software upgrades

• Maintain IT policy and coordinate help desk issues

• Assist with documenting support procedures and guidelines

• Assist with documenting of the database procedures and guidelines

• Provide technical support to staff on laptops, iPhones, zoom and other applications

• Provide technical training and advice to staff on applications, database and devices

• Assist in set up of laptops, peripherals, and applications

• Assist testing new applications, protocols and/or devices

• Assist with creating and run complex queries, reports, mailings and exports to support staff

• Perform database related tasks for staff, such as updating information and providing data information from requests

• Cross train in all areas within the IT department

• Assist with database support as needed

• Other duties as needed

Qualifications:

Experience and Education

• 2+ years of experience in a computer technical support role

• Working knowledge and expertise with a variety of software, hardware, and applications Skills and Attributes

• Committed to Groundswell’s mission.

• Proficient in PC computers, MS Office Suite: Word, Excel and Outlook, and Gsuite

• Strong analytical, problem solving and verbal and written communication skills

• Ability to troubleshoot software and hardware issues

• Team-oriented attitude to help other colleagues and departments with technical problems

• Strong interpersonal communication and relationship-building skills

• Ability to manage time and effectively prioritize numerous projects at one time

• Excellent time management

• Self-motivated and self-managed: the ability to work independently, take initiative, and manage up

• Able to work independently with minimal supervision

• Impeccable discretion and ability to keep confidentiality

• Excellent, professional verbal and written communication skills, and interpersonal skills

• Comfort working across cultures and difference, including experience and comfort working with people of color and transgender and gender non-conforming people

Computer Skills: To perform this job successfully, an individual should be very comfortable with technology, including Microsoft Office 365 and suite of programs, Gsuite, Slack, Asana, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Zoom, and PC computers.

Travel: When travel is safe again, must be available to travel at least 4 times a year for overnight events/meetings across the U.S.