Company description

We are the non profit that legalized the country’s first home restaurants. Our mission is to establish a just & people-powered home cooking industry.

We’re the COOK Alliance: a coalition of immigrants, stay at home parents, community builders, educators, activists, policy makers, technologists, and home cooks.

We’ve been working to advocate for the recognition of home cooking as dignified and socially invaluable work since 2014. We’ve legalized the sale of home cooked food by passing two California laws and have helped thousands of cooks make money serving their neighbors by building the largest platform for entrepreneurial home cooks.

More than who we are, or what we’ve done, is what we represent: A plate kept warm, a “Dinner’s ready!” shouted up the stairs, a last bite offered up lovingly. We represent the people and the moments of care, where we feel less lonely and more connected in this life.

Job description

We’re looking for an entrepreneurial and compassionate leader* to steward the newly legal home cooking industry towards justice & people power.

About the COOK Alliance

We’re the COOK Alliance: a coalition of immigrants, stay at home parents, community builders, educators, activists, policy makers, technologists, and home cooks.

We’ve been working to advocate for the recognition of home cooking as compensated and dignified work since 2014. We legalized the first home restaurants by passing Microenterprise Home Kitchen (MEHKO) laws in California and are now bringing our campaign nation-wide.

Read more about our mission, values, and history here.

Key Areas of Responsibility

Our incoming Executive Director will lead us into an entirely new phase of our work, as the first home restaurant permits (in U.S. history!) are issued across California. Legalization means that home cooking will soon involve regulators, tech companies, & cities in new ways. We are growing our leadership team to ensure cooks’ voices are heard and that they have trusted representation for advocacy & support— a modern union for the empowered gig worker.

This role will require entrepreneurial energy, creativity, and vision. Our work continues to take shape as part of a broader shift in collective thinking around food & labor in the modern world (from food trucks & “know your farmer”, to AB 5 & gig worker rights). You will join a core team that values collaborative decision-making and prides itself on scrappiness and adaptability.

An Executive Director will help us increase our capacity as an organization that serves cooks and their communities. Your core responsibilities will be building people power and fundraising, but your work will also include refining our brand communications & org management:

Fiscal oversight and fundraising: (40%)

• Grow sustainable funding sources for core operating expenses and staff
• Lead new fund development and grant-writing efforts, including engaging with both individual donors and aligned philanthropic organizations

Building our direct cook engagement model (20%)

• Develop people power through direct cook community relationships, including 1:1 meetings, cook coaching, and resource matching
• Develop localized cook leadership, including a community lead/ cook mentorship network model
• Organize cooks for industry collective bargaining and legislative advocacy

Brand building (20%)

• Refine brand voice and lead public communications (written newsletter, website, press, and speaking engagements)
• Establish partnerships with organizations that can provide resources to cooks and serve as accountability partners for Alliance

Org management (20%)

• Help establish our new Board of Directors, Cook Advisory Board, and community governance/input model

Qualifications

• Deeply invested in the intersecting movements of food, labor, & social justice
• 5+ years experience with direct service organization or community engagement work
• 2+ years experience with fundraising and grant development and management, including active connections in philanthropy
• Excellent written and spoken communications skills (bilingual preferred)
• Ability to build trust within and across a large spectrum of close knit communities (underrepresented cooks, policymakers, private sector).

The COOK Alliance is an equal opportunity employer: LGBTQ, people of color, women, and long-time Oakland residents are encouraged to apply. Note that part of the reasoning behind this Executive Director search is to find more representative leadership for our community.

This is a full time position with benefits (health, dental, and vision) and a flexible time-off policy. Salary is $100,000 contingent on 2020 org fundraising. Please email a cover letter and resume to: jobs@cookalliance.org by February 29, 2020.

* Note that while this leadership position is being presented as a single role, we welcome applications from co-directors and even leadership teams, with the understanding that initial funding will be limited to the range listed above

Compensation

this position is: salaried, more than $100,000

Application instructions

Deadline

February 29, 2020