Project Manager Scope of Work
Description
The Democracy at Work Institute is seeking a project manager contractor to work with our team to accomplish the deliverables outlined in our two-year CA SEED grant. We are seeking a contractor with expertise in project management, effective collaboration, data collection, and administration. This scope of work begins November 1, 2026, and concludes September 30, 2028.
The contractor will work primarily with our Rapid Response Cooperative Development Program Director. This person will manage the microgrant program, meet with community partners, coordinate and facilitate team meetings, collect report data from community partners and DAWI team members, and support with grant reporting.
Background
In 2025, the California State Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved $7.5 million to continue investing in entrepreneurship for immigrant workers through the Social Entrepreneurs for Economic Development (SEED) program. This funding enables community-based organizations to provide entrepreneurship training, technical assistance, and microgrants to immigrants and individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP).
The Economic Mobility for All (EM4A) Coalition and SEED co-sponsors - California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), Immigrants Rising, Inclusive Action for the City, and Democracy at Work Institute - led the successful advocacy for this funding. Established in 2020, SEED has empowered immigrants throughout California to start and grow businesses, including worker-owned cooperatives, improving people’s economic stability and mobility.
DAWI is a grant recipient of the CA SEED grant and will primarily be in a trainer and backbone role. Our collaborative will develop seven new worker cooperatives and support two growing cooperatives throughout California using DAWI’s Rapid Response Cooperative (RRC) framework. DAWI will lead a 9-month cohort training program for community-based organizations looking to start and grow worker cooperatives. We will oversee technical assistance provision to all of the cooperative development organizations and the worker cooperatives. The grant provides funding to disburse microgrants to the worker cooperatives, which will support their investment costs and training participation. We will track progress utilizing our performance metrics and report back successes and challenges to the funder.
About DAWI
The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding democratic employee ownership as a strategy for racial, gender, and economic equity.
Through research, field-building, training, and advocacy, DAWI supports the growth of worker-owned cooperatives and other forms of employee ownership that build wealth and power in historically marginalized communities. Our work includes developing new models and tools, supporting cooperative developers and worker-owners, and producing research that strengthens the broader field of democratic ownership. Across our programs and internal operations, we strive to embody our organizational values of Excellence, Equity, Entrepreneurialism, Collaboration, and Human-Centeredness.
Expectations of the Role
Areas of support will include the following:
Meeting Coordination
- Schedule team meetings, prepare agendas, facilitate, and ensure notes are taken.
- Schedule meetings with partners to coordinate on data collection and microgrants.
- Track tasks from meetings and ensure accountability across the team and with partners.
- Follow up with individuals, as needed, to ensure tasks are completed in a timely manner.
- Support team members with scheduling partner meetings.
Microgrant Management
- Conduct a microgrant orientation for CBO partners. Ensure all partners have signed microgrant agreements.
- Manage microgrant distribution schedule, document collection, and payments.
- Meet with partners to review required forms for microgrant distribution
- Manage each cooperative business’s microgrant tracker and ensure they have met requirements before disbursing microgrants
- Coach each group on meeting microgrant requirements
- File required documents in GDrive folders
- Prompt partners to invoice DAWI for certain microgrants
- Coordinate with other team members, as needed.
Data Collection & Reporting
- Work with the development team to generate the quarterly and final report to the funder.
- Prompt CBO partners ahead of reporting deadlines and collect required data to be included in funder reports.
- Maintain and organize data collected from CBO partners, DAWI team, and TA partners.
- Collaborate with DAWI’s Data team to prepare, distribute, and collect all baseline and final surveys from worker cooperatives.
Commitment: Contract starts November 1, 2026, and concludes September 30, 2028 (may change pending CA EDD determination of grant program start date). All work will be conducted remotely. Will be working primarily in the PST time zone, as all partners are based in California.
Compensation: $45/hour. Range of 6-8 hours/week. This is a contract position.
Required skills and experience:
- Comfortable meeting new people and building relationships quickly
- Impeccable attention to detail and effective time management skills
- Curious and observant, with the ability to identify inconsistencies or opportunities for improvement
- Organized and able to manage multiple data tasks simultaneously
- Strong organizational and documentation skills
- Comfortable working independently while collaborating with a remote team
- Clear and proactive communicator
- Familiarity with Google Drive applications (Sheets and Docs)
- Understanding of and commitment to anti-racist practice
Desired qualifications:
- Familiarity with the employee ownership sector
- Experience conducting interviews and synthesizing findings
To apply, please send the following to: hr@institute.coop
- A brief cover letter that describes your work experience and values relevant to the position
- One professional reference you have worked with or for project management
- Resume with work history
Deadline: Please submit your application materials by Monday, October 5, 2026, 5pm PT.