Operations Coordinator

About Read by 4th:

Read by 4th is Philadelphia’s citywide early literacy movement, including an ever-growing coalition of families and their partners working to protect every child’s right to read. Campaign partners work to advance change by supporting families, literacy-rich communities, and systems that put children on the path to reading success.

The Read by 4th coalition is supported by a small backbone team based at the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation. The role of backbone staff includes convening and aligning partners, gathering and sharing data to inform strategy and continuous learning, communications to share resources and to celebrate partners, and other efforts to build an impactful citywide movement.
 

Position Summary:

The Operations Coordinator provides critical administrative and operational support to the campaign. This includes managing our office space and supplies, interfacing with vendors, processing payment authorizations and tracking all spending, maintaining our partner database and tracking our partner on-boarding process, and supporting meeting and event logistics. 

Competitive candidates will have strong organizational skills, will enjoy getting to know and supporting our partners, and passion for supporting early literacy in Philadelphia.

This position is full-time, exempt, and reports to the Executive Director of Read by 4th.
 

Specific Responsibilities:
 

Administrative Operations:

• Maintain a functioning office space including ensuring an inventory of office supplies, and ensuring our supply of partner resources (children’s books and family resources) is organized and accessible
• Manage relationships with vendors, including requests to vendors for print orders and supplies
• Process invoices and expenses for staff and vendors
• Maintain database used to track expenses against annual departmental budget
• Provide reports to the development and finance departments on spending
• Arrange for couriers and delivery of supplies to partners
• Support the on-going up-keep of our digital filing system ensuring key information and documents can be found and used by the full team

Meetings and Events:

• Coordinate logistics for partner meetings and events (both in-person and via zoom), including scheduling, RSVPs, and virtual platforms and/or room reservations
• Coordinate catering requests as necessary

Partner and Program Support:

• Maintain the partner directory database
• Track the on-boarding process for new partners from attending an orientation to connection with an existing working group or steering committee
• Ensure new partners are added to the website and newsletter distribution list

Qualifications:

Skills:

• Exceptional interpersonal and communication (oral and written) skills
• Experience managing logistics for virtual meetings and events
• Familiarity with common productivity and virtual meeting tools
• Capacity to pay close attention to detail while working in a fast-paced environment
• High degree of organization and the ability to plan, track, and execute projects on time
• Ability to coordinate with colleagues and partners, meet deadlines, and manage multiple tasks
• Ability to provide excellent customer service to a diverse array of partners from a variety of backgrounds
• Demonstrated ability to suggest solutions to existing challenges
• Self-starter who knows when to ask for help

Special Conditions:

• This job requires occasional physical labor; applicants should be able to lift and carry boxes weighing up to 40 lbs.
• Occasional travel within the Philadelphia area is required.
• Occasional evening and weekend hours are required (i.e. special events).
• The position is currently a hybrid position with one to two days a week in the office.  It is possible that at some point in the future this position would become fully in-person, however, it is more likely to remain a hybrid position.