Application Guide
How to Apply for Funder Relations Manager
at Climate Justice Alliance
🏢 About Climate Justice Alliance
Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) is a frontline-led coalition uniting over 80 organizations to advance climate, racial, and economic justice. Working here means supporting grassroots power-building and just transition initiatives, not top-down environmentalism. CJA’s remote structure and commitment to equity make it a unique place to align your fundraising skills with transformative social change.
About This Role
As Funder Relations Manager, you will steward a $6M+ foundation portfolio, writing grants and ensuring compliance while supervising a resource mobilization team. Your work directly fuels frontline communities fighting for climate justice, making every grant secured a win for systemic change. This role balances strategic relationship-building with operational rigor to sustain CJA’s growing movement.
💡 A Day in the Life
A typical day might start with reviewing grant deadlines and assigning tasks to your team, then drafting a proposal for a climate justice funder. You’ll have a check-in with a program officer to discuss reporting requirements, followed by a team meeting to align on upcoming submissions. Afternoon could involve reviewing a compliance report and strategizing with the Executive Director on new foundation prospects.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who Climate Justice Alliance Is Looking For
- You have 5+ years in funder relations or grant management, ideally with a portfolio of $6M+ and experience managing complex foundation requirements.
- You are a skilled writer and project manager who can juggle multiple deadlines and synthesize CJA’s justice-centered narrative into compelling proposals.
- You have supervised or mentored staff, with a collaborative leadership style that aligns with CJA’s anti-oppression values.
- You are deeply aligned with climate justice, racial justice, and economic justice frameworks, and can articulate how funder relationships support frontline power-building.
📝 Tips for Applying to Climate Justice Alliance
Tailor your resume to highlight grant writing and compliance experience with foundations, especially those focused on environmental or social justice.
In your cover letter, explicitly connect your past work to climate justice and frontline communities—show you understand CJA’s mission beyond generic fundraising.
Mention specific software or tools you’ve used for grant tracking (e.g., Salesforce, Asana) and how you’ve managed compliance for multiple funders simultaneously.
If you have experience supervising teams, provide concrete examples of how you developed staff or improved team workflows.
Research CJA’s current campaigns (e.g., Just Transition, Green New Deal for All) and reference them in your application to show genuine interest.
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
['Emphasize your alignment with CJA’s justice-centered approach—not just fundraising for environmental causes, but for racial and economic equity.', 'Showcase your experience managing a large foundation portfolio, including specific dollar amounts and compliance successes.', 'Highlight your project management skills with examples of juggling multiple grant deadlines and coordinating cross-team efforts.', 'Express enthusiasm for supervising and mentoring staff, and how you foster an equitable, supportive team culture.']
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → Study CJA’s Theory of Change and their ‘Just Transition’ framework to understand how they operationalize justice.
- → Read recent reports or press releases from CJA (e.g., on COP28, the Green New Deal for All) to speak to current priorities.
- → Look up CJA’s major foundation funders (e.g., Ford Foundation, Kresge) to understand their funding landscape.
- → Review the bios of CJA’s leadership team to understand their backgrounds and how this role fits into the org structure.
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Don’t use generic fundraising language without connecting it to justice—CJA is not a typical environmental nonprofit.
- Avoid overemphasizing individual donor or events fundraising; this role is foundation-focused.
- Don’t ignore the supervision aspect—failing to discuss team leadership experience or philosophy can signal a mismatch.
📅 Application Timeline
This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!
Ready to Apply?
Good luck with your application to Climate Justice Alliance!