Chalkbeat

Chalkbeat.org is an independent, nonprofit news organization that focuses on covering education policy and issues in various cities across the United States. With a mission to provide in-depth reporting to drive change in education, Chalkbeat offers localized news coverage on topics such as school leadership, teaching, and student learning. The website features articles, investigative reports, and analysis written by a team of experienced journalists who aim to inform and engage readers in important conversations surrounding education reform. Chalkbeat.org also provides a platform for community discussions and perspectives, fostering a more informed and accountable education system.

Read all our reporting here . Ahjhané Blackwell prepared herself for a big speech marking the start of a career in welding that, a few years ago, she had no idea she’d want.philadelphia.chalkbeat.orgChalkbeat Philadelphia is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and economic mobility in the city.

The payments would have violated a state law that bans schools from offering enrollment incentives.msn.comChalkbeat Indiana’s Aleksandra Appleton was the only reporter to write a story on a virtual charter school offering cash stipends to families who enrolled their children.

facebook.comChalkbeat Philadelphia, part of the nonprofit Chalkbeat network, is a local news website covering schools and school policy in Philadelphia.

  • Encrypted
    Site is Encrypted

  • Country
    Hosted in United States

  • Latitude\Longitude
    37.751 / -97.822    Google Map

  • Traffic rank
    #23,865 Site Rank

  • Site age
    10 yrs old

  • Site Owner information
    Whois info

  • Founder
    Elizabeth Green

  • Founded at
    New York City,and,Colorado

  • Merger of
    Gotham Schools, EdNews Colorado

  • Region
    Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Indiana, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and Tennessee

  • Official language
    English

  • Board of directors
    Jill Barkin, Elizabeth Green, Shani Hilton, Kang-Xing (KX) Jin, Sue Lehmann, Gideon Stein, Karen Wishart, Roberto Yañez

  • Formation
    2014

  • Type
    Non-profit organization

Traffic rank
#23,865
Site age
10 yrs
Location
United States
Popular Questions for Chalkbeat
Newest job postings for Chalkbeat
via Glassdoor posted_at: 16 days agoschedule_type: Full-timesalary: 120K–135K a yearwork_from_home: 1
Civic News Company, parent company to both Votebeat the growing nonprofit news organization committed to reporting the nuanced truth about elections and voting, and Chalkbeat, the growing nonprofit news organization telling the story of education in America, seeks an Assistant Controller to lead all aspects of Chalkbeat's accounting activities. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the... Assistant Controller will be responsible for oversight Civic News Company, parent company to both Votebeat the growing nonprofit news organization committed to reporting the nuanced truth about elections and voting, and Chalkbeat, the growing nonprofit news organization telling the story of education in America, seeks an Assistant Controller to lead all aspects of Chalkbeat's accounting activities.

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the... Assistant Controller will be responsible for oversight of all finance, accounting and reporting activities.They will lead the day-to-day financial operations and build upon existing infrastructure to increase efficiencies.

Who are you?

A strong finance and accounting leader who is comfortable explaining financial transactions/concepts to non-finance staff members; you are experienced in managing both processes and people and have a mentoring spirit for developing finance and accounting professionals. You strike the right balance between serving as a hands-on presence when needed and allowing team members to be autonomous in the execution of their jobs.

What background and skills do you have?
• Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance or a related field; Master's degree or CPA preferred, but not required
• 10+ years of experience in accounting, including at least 3 years in a supervisory role
• Non-profit accounting experience required; ideally experience at an organization with multiple sites or cost centers
• Knowledge of accounting software required (Intacct experience preferred)
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Google Suite
• Demonstrated knowledge of financial reporting and audit management
• Superior attention to detail, with excellent analytical skills
• Interpersonal skills for building relationships with key internal and external stakeholders
• Comfort working in an environment where many staff work remotely, commitment to maintaining efficient, effective systems and a view of finance as a positive support to our mission, not a bureaucratic obstacle to serving the needs of our team
• Passion for the organization's mission

What will you be responsible for?

Finance and Accounting
• Oversee all accounts, ledgers, and reporting systems ensuring compliance with appropriate GAAP standards and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee all financial, project/program and grants accounting; ensure that expenditures are consistently aligned with grant and program budgets throughout the grant period; collate required financial reporting materials
• Direct annual audit and Form 990 process
• Consistently analyze financial data and present financial reports in an accurate and timely manner; clearly communicate monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements; monitor progress and changes impacting the organization's financial status.
• Maintain documented system of accounting policies and procedures
• Assess current accounting operations and make recommendations to implement new processes and procedures to gain efficiencies.
• Manage organizational cash flow forecasting by working in partnership with budget leads; establish finance and administrative systems to support program operations.

Financial Strategy Support
• Assist leadership in the annual budgeting and planning process.
• Perform ongoing standard and ad hoc financial analyses to assist management with decision making.
• Support the CFO in engaging the board's audit and finance committees around issues and trends in financial operating models and delivery.
• Collaborate with the revenue/development team to create and maintain financial dashboards to inform fundraising goals.

People Management
• Leverage strengths of the current finance team members, help to clarify roles and responsibilities and develop and implement training programs in order to maximize and reach optimal individual and organizational goals.
• Provide leadership in strengthening internal communications with staff at all levels throughout the organization; create and promote a positive and supportive work environment.

Systems
• Evaluate existing financial systems to gather a comprehensive understanding of the functionality available and coordinate the implementation of budgeting tool
• Assist in the development of a rolling forecast

This is a full-time position with benefits. The salary for this position ranges from $120-$135,000 commensurate with experience and includes a generous benefits package, including a paid winter recess.

About Civic News Company:

At Civic News Company, our mission is helping people understand how America works so they can make it work better. Read more about our mission here
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via Glassdoor posted_at: 19 days agoschedule_type: Full-timesalary: 70K–78K a year
Chalkbeat, the growing nonprofit news organization telling the story of education in America, is seeking a reporter to cover Chicago Public Schools as part of our Chicago team. The landscape of public education in Chicago is entering a fascinating new era. A former teacher, union organizer, and public school parent is now the city's mayor. In 2024, residents will begin electing school board... members to make decisions about the nation's fourth largest Chalkbeat, the growing nonprofit news organization telling the story of education in America, is seeking a reporter to cover Chicago Public Schools as part of our Chicago team.

The landscape of public education in Chicago is entering a fascinating new era. A former teacher, union organizer, and public school parent is now the city's mayor. In 2024, residents will begin electing school board... members to make decisions about the nation's fourth largest school district. This comes as Chicago Public Schools is grappling with declining enrollment and budget challenges. Students and teachers are still rebounding academically and emotionally from the COVID-19 pandemic. And generational poverty, gun violence, and economic disinvestment continue to shape the story of public education in Chicago.

Who are you?

You are committed to local journalism and respect the transformative power of a good story. You're a self-starter who is hungry to break news, eager to understand and inform vital public policy debates, and enthusiastic about creating new models for sustainable journalism. You are excited to follow important news developments in Chicago, but you're just as excited to write in-depth stories that help readers understand how news and policy shifts are playing out for local students, parents, and teachers. You're a strong beat reporter who can develop reliable sources. You've got the ability to write a range of stories, from breaking news to enterprise and long-term projects. Most importantly, you can serve as a guide for our readers — parents, teachers, students and curious citizens — in explaining how schools work.

What background and skills do you have?:
• At least 3 years of experience covering education, government, or public policy
• Familiarity and experience with social media
• Comfort or experience working with data, research, and reports
• Interest in or experience with reader engagement, including finding creative ways to connect with a diverse set of readers and use those efforts to inform our reporting
• Experience with building sources and generating story ideas
• The ability to write clearly, cleanly, and on deadline for quick-take, daily, and longer-form stories

Note: We know that many strong candidates will not have all the skills we list. That's OK. What else do you bring to the table? Please tell us!

What will you be responsible for?
• You'll cover breaking news and enterprise stories about Chicago Public Schools.
• You'll conceive and execute stories that help people understand how breaking news connects to the big picture, and how public policy decisions impact and connect to the people and institutions in Chicago.
• You'll visit schools and classrooms to see how policy decisions are playing out for children and their teachers.
• You'll work closely and collaborate with reporters and other colleagues at Chalkbeat.
• You'll communicate and build relationships with readers and key players in the local community through our regular morning newsletters, social media posts, and the reporting process.

We offer a flexible work environment, with access to shared office space in downtown Chicago and the ability to work from home.

This is a full-time position. The salary for this position ranges from $70,000-– $78,000 commensurate with experience and includes a generous benefits package, including a paid winter recess.

This is a position covered under the Writers Guild of America East collective bargaining agreement.

About Chalkbeat:

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to covering one of America's most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education. We are mission-driven journalists who believe that an independent local press is vital to ensuring that education improves. Currently in seven locations and growing, we seek to provide deep local coverage of education policy and practice that informs decisions and actions, leading to better schools. Read more about our mission and values
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via Glassdoor posted_at: 7 days agoschedule_type: Full-timework_from_home: 1
At Civic News Company, our mission is helping people understand how America works so they can make it work better. Are you a grant writer with at least five years of experience looking for a new challenge? At Civic News Company, high-impact journalism is at the core of what we do. We believe that local-first journalism, rooted in the places we cover, is critical to earning and maintaining our... readers' trust. Civic News Company journalists strive At Civic News Company, our mission is helping people understand how America works so they can make it work better.

Are you a grant writer with at least five years of experience looking for a new challenge? At Civic News Company, high-impact journalism is at the core of what we do. We believe that local-first journalism, rooted in the places we cover, is critical to earning and maintaining our... readers' trust. Civic News Company journalists strive to develop subject matter expertise and produce work that brings issues alive for readers, allowing them to engage in informed debate and take action on issues that matter to them. Our nonprofit newsroom is proud to be independent, always seeking the truth without consideration of profit or ideology, which we believe is crucial to fulfilling the promise of American democracy. Civic News Company is the parent organization of nonprofit newsrooms Chalkbeat, Votebeat.

As Civic News Company expands, we are seeking a Grants Manager to join our team and focus on crafting proposals in five local markets - New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Indiana. The Grant Manager will be responsible for securing institutional support for Chalkbeat and Votebeat projects and programs as assigned. The Grant Manager is a member of a team called a Fundraising Pod. They will work with regional and national development leaders to identify, cultivate, solicit, close, steward, and report on grants from foundations and corporations. The Grant Manager will work to achieve progress on metrics and revenue goals as determined by the Managing Director of Development. The Grant Manager will work with the Prospect Researcher and frontline fundraising partners to build a pipeline of new institutional donors. While the role is fully remote, preference will be given to a candidate based in any of the five markets, with the option to work in any of the bureau offices.

The right candidate has strong experience crafting and securing proposals at leadership gift levels of $50,000 and above. They have experience working with a prospect researcher and frontline fundraisers to achieve their goals. They will be thoughtful, organized, and entrepreneurial, with a track record of grant writing success. A passion for journalism and an understanding of its importance to democracy is preferred. We believe in order to be successful in this role, we need someone who is fun to work with, generous in their view of others, and has a compassionate heart and an orientation towards hustle.

Responsibilities
• Articulating in writing Civic News Company's mission, vision, programs, newsrooms, and future programmatic opportunities for foundation, government, and corporate prospective and existing donors.
• Working with the editorial staff and finance department to develop project action plans and budgets for program implementation and meeting regularly with project leads and finance partners to help ensure that grant requirements are met
• Writing and submitting letters of inquiry, concept papers, proposals, reports, and letters in support of frontline fundraisers as they manage individual, foundation, government, and corporate prospects and donors, and ensuring all information is properly captured in our constituent management system
• Contributing to peer review of written materials produced by frontline fundraising staff in liaising effectively with prospects and donors, including consulting on strategic relationship management
• Maintain timely and accurate fundraising and donor reports for internal and external stakeholders.
• Helping prospect research to identify prospects
• Special projects, including creating cases for support, email communications, and other written outputs in an effort to manage external relationships.
• Using a team-based approach, achieve your annual fundraising goals and key performance metrics
• A demonstrated commitment to DEIB with staff and external stakeholders

What background and skills do you have?
• At least five years of experience in grant writing; a plus if experience in education, democracy, or health related grant writing
• Excellent writing and research skills
• Excellent communication skills, in person, in writing, and on the phone
• Good time management skills, with an ability to handle multiple projects and meet multiple deadlines
• Good organizational and database management skills, experience with CRM systems a plus
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a diverse teams with different lines of management
• Creative energy, self-starter
• Knowledge of the regional philanthropic communities a plus
• Proven track record of securing grants of $50,000+
• Experience working with cross-functional teams.
• Self-starter with the ability to get up to speed quickly and work independently
• Highly motivated, organized, flexible, and proactive
• Proficiency with office software, primarily Google Business Suite
• Passion for equity and the future of journalism is a must.
• Bachelor's degree with significant work experience or a Master's degree in a related field.

This is a full-time position. The role is offering between $65,000-$72,000, commensurate with experience, and a generous benefits package, including a paid winter recess.

About Chalkbeat:

Chalkbeat is the nonprofit news organization committed to covering one of America's most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education. We are mission-driven journalists who believe that an independent local press is vital to ensuring that education improves. Currently in eight locations and growing, we seek to provide deep local coverage of education policy and practice that informs decisions and actions, leading to better schools. Read more about our mission and values.

About Votebeat:

Votebeat is committed to reporting the nuanced truth about elections and voting at a time of crisis in America. Our mission is to help people understand our system of democracy so they can participate in strengthening it. Our approach is to cover and explain the mechanics of voting — no political polls, candidate platforms, or Election Day results; instead, we focus on how elections are run, from early and mail-in voting to voter registration and election security.

Our organization is committed to antiracism, and our staff is taking part in ongoing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging work. Our leadership team of five is 100 percent female and includes four women of color. Our overall Chalkbeat staff is 43 percent non-white.

How to Apply:

Please send PDFs of your resume, a cover letter explaining your interest in local news and the impact it serves, and two samples of your writing that gives us a sense of your work. Include "Grants Manager" in the subject line. Civic News Company is dedicated to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. Civic News Company encourages people of all races, colors, national origins, ancestries, creeds, religions, genders, ages, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientations, and marital statuses to apply
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