Office Manager

Position Background:

The Chesapeake Bay Trust, a non-profit grantmaking organization, seeks an Office Manager for our Annapolis, MD, location to lead daily administrative and building operations. This role reports to the Administration Manager but provides support to all departments. This is a full-time, salaried position (40 hours per week) and requires in office presence five days a week during core business hours (but exact hours can be somewhat flexible).

Established in 1985, the Chesapeake Bay Trust uses grantmaking as a method to promote community-based participation in the restoration and protection of the natural resources of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay region. In the past fifteen years, the Trust has doubled its grant-making five times through new revenue from a wide range of partners, with current annual grant-making of approximately $25 million. The Trust currently allocates these grant funds through 350-400 awards per year to entities who apply through open, competitive calls for proposals as well as programs such as the Chesapeake Conservation and Climate Corps.

This person will be a key member of a high-energy, collaborative, 45 person staff who work diligently to advance the Trust’s mission and consider the Trust’s core values of grantee focus, accountability and transparency, inclusiveness, collaboration, and innovation. A successful person in this role will be able to independently identify what is needed to keep the Trust running and take initiative to problem solve and advance the Trust in serving its mission. This person should have strong executive presence but also not be afraid to roll up his/her/their sleeves. 

The position will require work in four core areas: full staff support (~20% of time), managing the office and building in the beautiful community of Eastport, Annapolis (~30% of time), and support for the administration team, including liaising proactively and reactively (troubleshooting) with our IT vendor (~35% of time), and supporting events and meetings (~15% of time).

Specific Responsibilities:

Full Staff Support:

• Coordinate logistics for and lead biweekly all-hands Trust staff meetings;


• Develop and implement all-hands Trust staff activities, such as retreats, team building exercises, and celebrations;


• Lead Organizational Culture Committee to ensure the Trust’s values permeate the day-to-day work experience, making work more meaningful, fostering a sense of belonging, and increasing staff fulfillment and productivity;


• Support staff training events as needed (other than onboarding, see below)


• Process professional development registrations and travel arrangements, as needed;

Office/Building Support:

• Manage building and property to ensure that the campus and its facilities are properly organized, supplied, maintained, and otherwise running smoothly. Activities that may be required include arranging for plumbers, electricians, or other contractors to resolve unpredicted issues; developing systems for keeping common areas clean and organized (paper in the copier, supplies in the restrooms; kitchen area presentable in the event of donor pop-in visits); coordinating with landscaper maintenance tasks. This set of tasks will require balancing efficiency with our value of fiscal responsibility. Some tasks will require external contractors/service professionals. Others will be able to be accomplished by the person in this position without incurring the expense of external assistance. 


• Ensure office is presentable for donors and other visitors at all times;


• Maintain and purchase inventory of all office supplies;


• Manage third party vendor contracts for work to support building operations, including scheduling and anticipating preventative maintenance, providing oversight and direction to such vendors, receiving and approving all office-related vendor bills and submitting to Finance for payment;


• Maintain office equipment including printer/copier/scanner service, postage machine, water cooler, telephone system in conjunction with vendors, as needed;


• Reconcile and code corporate credit card used for office expenses;


• Provide support for organizational calendars used for various purposes such as conference room and virtual meeting reservations;

Administration Support:

• Open, process and distribute mail on a daily basis;


• Lead, under managed IT vendor guidance, both routine and troubleshooting tasks that require on-site presence such as back-up drive management and restarting machines/servers;


• Manage staff onboarding/offboarding including leading the Trust orientation, purchase/disposal of computers, telephones, and other technology equipment and assigning/reassigning computer and telephone equipment to staff and common areas, coordinating setup or termination of Office 365 accounts, setup or termination of other software required for staff;


• Maintain inventory of computer and telephone equipment and ensure sufficient level of spare equipment is maintained to ensure continuity;


• Provide oversight and direction to third party vendors that support building technology.

Events/Meeting Support:

• Manage logistics for all onsite meetings or events including tracking attendance, greeting guests, setting up/breaking down, catering, and coordinating other rentals and services (will require occasional evening work);


• Support Development and Communication team on the Trust’s speaker series including researching and proposing event topics, conducting outreach to potential speakers, support on program development, and coordinating with selected speakers leading up to each event.


• Coordinate building tours with appropriate staff;


• Ensure conference room, audio, video, phone, etc. are all set up and working properly and perform weekly readiness check;


• Assist with offsite events, as needed, such as Treasure the Chesapeake annual fundraiser and annual Legislative Meeting;


• Facilitate quarterly Board of Trustees meetings including setup and breakdown of conference room and post-meeting reception and printing of meeting materials;


• Assist with planning and coordination of annual Board retreat, as needed

Qualifications and Skills:

• High degree of proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite of programs (especially Outlook, Word and Excel) and other office applications such as Zoom, MS Teams, and Adobe;


• Ability to tackle multiple tasks in a timely and effective manner;


• Ability and willingness to be responsive to unexpected tasks that can be immediate in nature, requiring prioritization skills;


• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail. The right candidate must be exceptionally thorough and detail-oriented;


• Ability to plan and manage small projects;


• Ability to anticipate issues and problem-solve independently;


• Professional written and verbal communication skills;


• Ability to work both independently and in team settings in an office environment;


• Personal vehicle or access to a vehicle/transportation and valid driver’s license to support office operations or events, as needed.

Salary and Benefits : $55,000-$67,000 

Benefits include: 

• Health Insurance with choice of medical plan and prescription, dental, vision, and life and disability insurance options, along with flexible spending accounts


• 401K retirement savings program with match


• Starting at 10 accrued vacation days, 7 accrued sick days, and 4 personal days annually


• Compensatory time available for overtime hours worked


• Eleven paid holidays per year 


• Individual Professional Development fund

A successful candidate with less experience in some of the responsibilities listed above will be offered a starting salary at the lower end of this range. A successful candidate with more experience in the responsibilities listed above will be considered at a higher starting salary.

Application Instructions and Deadline:

The position will remain open until filled. Please submit your resume and cover letter. In your cover letter, please address your ability, based on your skills and experience, to accomplish the specific duties of the position as outlined above. Your cover letter is the most important piece of your application. We recognize that the skills needed in this position may be gained from a variety of personal, education, employment, and volunteer experiences. Please do not simply list your previous experience. Your cover letter should describe what makes you a strong match specifically for this position, and why this position is a match for you.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Our values guide us to create a workplace where everyone is respected and valued. The Trust strives to recruit, retain, and promote employees that reflect the communities we engage in our work Applicants must have a residential address in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, or Washington D.C and must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. The Trust does not participate in programs that require sponsorship for work visas.

Our accessibility statement is available on our website at Accessibility Statement - Chesapeake Bay Trust