Social Action & Advocacy

T’ruah is seeking a full-time Operations and Finance Assistant who will work closely with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will provide crucial administrative support  for the organization’s nonprofit business operations, including virtual and in-person events, financial reporting and accounts payable administration, technology and online services, merchandise sales, and data management.

The ideal candidate is a highly organized, self-motivated, detail-oriented communicator with a commitment to maintaining standard operating procedures.

Who We Are
T’ruah trains and mobilizes more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism, together with all members of the Jewish community, to act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.

To learn more about our work, visit www.truah.org or find us @truahrabbis on Twitter and Facebook.

What You’ll Do 
The Operations and Finance Assistant reports to the COO and is responsible for the following:

General Administrative Support

• Provide administrative support to the COO on special projects as they arise, which cut across the various areas of work outlined below
• File operations mail, distribute it appropriately, or take needed action
• Monitor our main office email inbox, responding to constituents as appropriate or forwarding emails to appropriate staff members
• Provide other administrative support to the Operations and Finance Department, as needed
• Other duties, including leading special projects, as assigned

Financial Reporting and Accounts Payable

• Produce financial reports on a regular basis, including reports to facilitate electronic deposit bank reconciliation and actuals-to-budget reports
• Receive and review vendor invoices and staff payment requests before sending to the Financial Manager for payment
• Report recurring expenses

Virtual and In-person Events

• Liaise across departments to assess the operational impact of any planned new programing
• Monitor event planning and execution to ensure standard operating procedures are followed
• Serve as system administrator for our online payments and event registration system (“Click & Pledge”)
• Create event registration forms in collaboration with staff running the events
• Support virtual and in-person event coordination and execution as needed
• Manage all logistics for our annual staff retreat

Data Management

• Serve as system administrator for our online email blast and advocacy system (Salsa)
• Assist in maintenance of data and constituent contacts in Salesforce
• Participate in organization-wide efforts to improve/coordinate supporter engagement data goals and processes

Internet Technologies

• Help maintain and train staff in using T’ruah’s ecosystem of consumer software and online services (Google, Asana, Zoom, Office 365, Expensify, LastPass, etc.); periodically research new technologies and best practices
• Create all needed accounts for new hires and onboard them to these systems
• Order, provision, and ship laptops to new hires

Merchandise and Sales

• Create merchandise and educational materials order forms in collaboration with staff initiating the sales
• Liaise with order fulfillment services vendor to process all purchases of merchandise and educational materials
• Provide customer service to patrons, as needed

Legal and Compliance

• Liaise with nonprofit fundraising registration services provider to complete annual registration process
• Obtain event insurance as needed for in-person events

You will collaborate with many colleagues in addition to the COO including the members of the Operations and Finance Department, Programs Department, and Development Department.

Who You Are & Keys to Success
To be successful in this job, you will be or have:

Highly organized, motivated, and detail-oriented.

• Manages a high volume of work with efficiency. Has, or can create, a system for keeping tasks from slipping through the cracks. Able to juggle competing demands from a variety of teammates and prioritize without sacrificing quality. Plans backwards to make deadlines. Asks for help when needed.
• Meticulous attention to detail. Notices and fixes errors that others might overlook. Acknowledges mistakes and turns them into learning opportunities. Has a track record of leaving things better than you found them.
• Strong sense of ownership and resilience. Plans ahead and finds alternative paths, when needed, to get to the finish line. Bounces back from setbacks and rejections. Holds a high bar even when things are hectic.
• Keeps key stakeholders updated across the organization, while maintaining self-directed ownership of a project.

Committed to accurate and updated data as a driver for effective action.

• Demonstrated capacity to learn new digital tools. Able to take ownership of data systems and to collaborate with other staff in improving those systems.
• Keen eye for data integrity, notice discrepancies and seek improvements.
• Patience and ability to teach other teammates how to use data as best as possible.

Connects details to the big picture.

• Systems thinker. Sees how different parts of the work fit together, rather than dealing with them as isolated tasks, and proactive about managing cascade effects.
• Enjoys the details for the sake of the big picture. This role is very micro-scale, and the most successful candidates will derive job satisfaction from knowing how the small pieces add up to fulfilling T’ruah’s mission.

Strong written and oral communication skills.

• Communicates well with teammates and external partners, orally and in Zoom/phone/email/text/chat, including sharing context and asking questions to understand others’ perspectives. Does not get overwhelmed with lots of email. Brings a customer service mindset to interactions with members, donors, and general audience.

Racial diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) values.

• Knowledge and familiarity with DEI principles. Recognizes ways that race and other identities intersect in the work, both with communities we serve and with fellow colleagues. Willingness to talk about identities such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, ability, or gender in plain, specific terms. Understands the historical context for racial inequity and its present-day implications.
• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Able to reflect on and describe the impact of one’s own identities—and those of others—in a given situation, decision, or process. Demonstrates awareness of growing edges. Able to hear, reflect, act on, and learn from feedback re: identity and equity.

Alignment with T’ruah’s values: 

• You are comfortable representing T’ruah’s mission, campaigns, and positions.

The following skills and experiences are a plus, but not a requirement:

• Prior experience in administrative support, or in nonprofit business operations
• Experience with Click & Pledge
• Experience with Salsa
• Experience with Excel and/or Google Sheets

Systemic inequities in hiring have caused many women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. If you don’t have all of the qualifications listed above but are extremely organized, passionate about our mission, and believe you have applicable and transferable skills from other industries or experiences, we encourage you to apply for this job. We’d love to hear from you. In your cover letter, be sure to explicitly highlight how your experience, skills, and personal qualities have set you up to succeed in the role.

What Else You Should Know 

Status

This position is full-time.

Salary

This position is in T’ruah’s $51,000 – $60,000 salary band. We set salary within this band through a collaborative process using a standard rubric based on years of experience.

Location

The job location depends on where you reside: If you live anywhere other than the New York Metropolitan Area, the position is remote. Those living in the New York Metro Area will have our New York City office at their disposal, and some amount of in-office work may be required in the future.

Travel

All staff are expected to attend a semi-yearly team-building retreat, and to attend our annual fundraising gala. Beyond these, there is no expected travel for this position.

Benefits include:

• T’ruah pays for 100% of the employee’s premium and 50% of one dependent’s premium on our recommended medical insurance plan
• Employer-covered basic life and AD&D insurance valued at $10,000
• Optional benefit plans available at employee expense: dental, vision, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, supplemental life insurance, and supplemental AD&D insurance
• Automatic employer contributions of an amount equal to 3% of your salary to your 403(b) retirement account beginning one year after the date of hire – whether or not you make elective deferral contributions
• 15 vacation days a year in your first year of employment, increasing to 20 days a year at the start of your second year of employment
• 34 holidays a year, which includes Jewish and most Federal holidays, Summer Fridays, and a floating holiday
• Paid leave of up to 12 weeks for the birth or adoption of a child

Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)

T’ruah is committed to DEI at every level of our organization, including our Board of Directors. For the past several years we have been actively working on becoming an antiracist organization. We recently published a set of organizational values reflecting this commitment.

Equal opportunity employer

T’ruah isn’t just an equal opportunity employer. We are actively seeking to build a diverse and inclusive team with a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. T’ruah does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, personal appearance, family responsibility, political affiliation or any other status protected by applicable law. Women, transgender people, veterans and people of color are encouraged to apply.

Compliance with eligibility verification law

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

Our Timeline
Applications will be accepted until the end of the day on February 23,  and interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis. Our ideal start date for this position is as soon as possible.

How to Apply 
Complete 1 AND 2, below:

1. Submit your responses to these screening questions.
2. Submit the form on this page, including:
   Click “Attach resume” to upload your resume.
   (Note: Ignore “Attach file” to “Attach another file”; no cover letter is required.)

About the Application Process
We are committed to assessing applicants solely on the basis of the extent to which you possess the skills, knowledge, and experience required for the position.

Screening Questions
For an entry-level role such as this one, there is no specific experience required. The skills and knowledge required for the position (listed above) cannot be meaningfully assessed by reading your resume and cover letter; they must be evaluated by speaking with you. It is not feasible for us to speak with all applicants, so we have devised the screening questions as a tool for gauging your skills and knowledge. Having rated each answer choice of every question on a scale from 1 (least desirable) to 5 (most desirable), we have effectively created an expression of our idiosyncratic preference for the ways in which the employee in this position generally applies the skills and knowledge required for the role. The highest-scoring applicants will be invited for an interview.

Interview
Our interview questions – which will be the same for all applicants – will ask you to provide specific examples from prior work settings in which you applied the skills and knowledge required for the role. Upon assessing applicants’ responses, we will invite finalists to submit written job simulation exercises.

Job Simulation Exercises
Whereas the interview reveals how you have applied the required skills and knowledge in the past, the job simulation exercises will provide insight into how you would apply them at our organization in situations specific to the position for which you are applying. For completing these exercises – which should take you approximately 2 hours – we will compensate you $50.

Finalists
In selecting the top finalist for the position, we will take into account: 1) your responses to interview questions; 2) your job simulation exercises; and 3) the extent to which you possess the skills and experience listed as “a plus” (above). We will extend an offer to our top finalist.