Work with UnionDocs
UnionDocs is a Center for Documentary Art that presents, produces, publishes, and educates. We bring together a diverse community of artists, dedicated journalists, big thinkers, and local partners on a search for urgent expressions of the human experience, practical perspectives on the world today, and compelling visions for the future. In doing so, we embrace the broad spectrum of documentary approaches and disciplines; from social-issue to experimental, from personal to archival, from essayistic to observational, all impulses towards “creative actuality” are given space and attention. These efforts spring from the belief that documentary art— when paired with thoughtful context and open debate— is an invaluable tool for understanding the complexities of contemporary life and creating a more just and equitable society.
Growing steadily from grassroots since 2005, UnionDocs operates out of a 3-story building in the Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which houses our exhibition and production facilities, administrative offices, and artist residency. We serve a hyperlocal audience, attract people from across and beyond New York City, and increasingly, participants travel internationally to join our singular workshops and labs. International audiences also find us through our energetic social media, online and print publications, live streams, and budding online film distribution. In a typical year, we support over 36 filmmakers in our labs, facilitate 28 workshops, host +100 events and screenings, produce 8 short docs, publish two volumes of the scholarly journal World Records, and direct over $600k to artists in grants, honoraria, commissions, and fiscal sponsorship.
Learn a bit more about what we do…
Grants & Finance Assistant
Position Overview
UnionDocs seeks an organized, efficient and detail-oriented administrator to support our grant application calendar, maintain basic online bookkeeping records, tracking invoices, online sales, bills, expenses and bank reconciliations reports, aid with budgeting, and the creation of other financial documents, and oversee transactions in the fiscal sponsorship accounts of about about 50 documentary film projects, communicating directly with filmmakers and producers.
This position will work out of a new space called Fatwood Studio that is located in peaceful landscape, only minutes from downtown Carrboro, NC. They will have monthly in-person work sessions with management and connect regularly to the Brooklyn-based team, but must be comfortable working independently alongside the artists at Fatwood.
Ideal candidates will be motivated to maintain and improve on our documentation and financial control systems, and will be passionate about UnionDocs’ mission and programs. They will value our DIY community-based approach and grassroots history, while also being inspired by our ambitious plans, and be excited to provide the artists with whom we work, with a solid business foundation and professional experience. UnionDocs tends to work with powerful online technologies and services (such as Airtable, Xero, WooCommerce, Stripe, Square, & Gusto) that streamline record keeping processes and reduce the burden of administrative efforts. Ideal candidates will be open to learning new tools and contributing to efforts outside of their previous experience. Specialized professional experience as a bookkeeper or with financial management is not a necessity, we are willing to train someone who has the right potential.
While fundraising and development efforts are led by our Director of Development and involve the whole team, the Grants & Finance Assistant will be charged with organizing the process and breaking down the grant application into action items. For instance, they will list the tasks and sections to be completed in a grant, and draw from our history of previous grant applications and reports to create first drafts, assign research tasks, and request revisions from specific members of the team. They will help maintain our databases of grant information, and program monitoring, and contribute to the execution of new fundraising strategies.
This is a new position that is crucial for UnionDocs’s successful operation. It allows for much independent working with possibility for remote and work from home. It offers the opportunity to make a major impact at a dynamic and growing organization. This position directly reports to the Director of Development.
Responsibilities
Finance
& Records
– Track and categorize income for labs, events, workshops, rentals, subscriptions, residency, fiscal sponsorship, and other revenue categories. Process online orders.
– Manage the appropriate documentation of expenses with contracts, receipts, bills, and other filings.
– Reconcile Xero accounting software each month with our bank accounts and credit cards, as well as across Stripe, Square and other accounts.
– Keep budgets, fiscal sponsorship accounts, and other finance tracking documents up to date. Provide our CPA with the information they require to complete our annual audit.
– Collect and organize contact and business information for all payees, customers, and others. Collect and organize program performance, and demographic data.
– Handle communication regarding payments, disbursements, invoicing, documentation for film projects engaged in our fiscal sponsorship program. Draft agreements, log payment tracking, draft crowdfunding campaigns.
– Perform basic HR functions with employees and contractors, as it relates to finance. Draft payment for executive approval and support our payroll process.
Grants
& Development
– Oversee grants calendar and reporting deadlines, act as a project manager for action items and each grant requirement, aiding in cooperation across the team.
– Create draft grant narratives, outreach letters, and budget tools, based on previous applications. This responsibility is more about finding the right existing language information than articulating persuasive arguments.
– Support development efforts for individual outreach and foundation communication, research for prospective grant opportunities and add to our growing database.
– Manage financial aspects of our crowdfunding site, donate.uniondocs.org.
– Generate Donor letters, and communication.
Qualifications
– 3+ years of experience in relevant administrative capacity.
– Ability to work both independently with a minimum of supervision and effectively coordinate with a team, as a detail-oriented self-starter with commitment to excellence and high standards of accountability.
– Exceptional organizational skills and ability to balance multiple priorities and deadlines in a fluid and fast-paced environment.
– Basic understanding of bookkeeping principles and a willingness to learn and master our systems.
– Computer proficiency, including, Google Drive, Airtable, social media, and wordpress. Training available for quick learners.
– Good interpersonal communication and communication skills, positive attitude towards teamwork.
– Commitment to UnionDocs’s mission and knowledge of arts and cultural sector.
