Job Description

Breaking Bread Community
Board Member – Job Description

About Us:
Breaking Bread Community is a low-barrier non-profit homeless shelter serving people and their pets in Delaware County, PA. We are committed to providing safe shelter, dignity, and pathways to independence for individuals experiencing homelessness. We use a harm reduction model. We believe in building community through compassion, service, and systemic change.

Position:
Board Member (Volunteer Position)
Reports To: Board Chair and Executive Director
Term Length: 1 year (renewable)

Role Overview:

Board Members serve as strategic leaders and ambassadors for Breaking Bread Community. They are responsible for helping to guide the organization’s mission, ensure financial sustainability, and actively contribute to fundraising, donor relations, and organizational growth.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic and Fiduciary Leadership

• Participate in quarterly board meetings and special strategic sessions.
• Provide oversight of organizational policies, finances, and long-term strategy.
• Ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards.

Capacity Building

• Identify opportunities to strengthen infrastructure and operations.
• Leverage personal and professional networks to expand organizational reach.
• Support executive leadership with strategic planning, evaluation, and partnerships.

Fundraising & Donor Engagement

• Make a personally meaningful annual financial contribution.
• Actively participate in fundraising efforts, including donor cultivation and campaign support.
• Identify and connect potential donors, sponsors, and funding partners to the organization.
• Attend and promote fundraising events.

Grant and Funding Support

• Help identify relevant local, state, and federal grants.
• Assist with grant strategy, writing (if applicable), or connections to professional grant writers.
• Introduce the organization to foundations, corporate philanthropy programs, and community giving circles.

Ambassadorship

• Promote the mission and programs of Breaking Bread Community in the broader community.
• Represent the organization at public events, meetings, and through social media.

Ideal Candidate Qualifications:

• Passion for homelessness, housing equity, and community building.
• Experience or interest in fundraising, nonprofit governance, or capacity building.
• Connections to philanthropic or donor networks (preferred).
• Background in grant writing, nonprofit management, finance, law, marketing, or community development is a plus.
• Willingness to engage hands-on and advocate for Breaking Bread Community’s growth.

Time Commitment:

• Approximately 6-8 hours per month, including board meetings, committee work, and event participation.

Breaking Bread Community’s Guiding Principles

1. We are Housing First
2. We are building a world with universal access to safety, self-determination, freedom and dignity.
3. We must make hard choices and compromises when we have limited resources in a flawed system. We must always weigh risk and liability against our mission to save lives and promote justice. But liability should not be the primary lens through which we make decisions. Racism and ableism are often embedded in questions of liability. When possible, we should aim to mitigate risks but not let the question of risk be in the driver’s seat when making operational choices.
4. The people making decisions should have a direct stake in the outcome of these decisions, and decision makers should be closest to the daily internal workings of the shelter.
5. Our social safety net is crumbling all around us. Now more than ever, we need community and kinship.
6. We are making slow and steady progress. Taking on too much too fast will burn us all out. We should be realistic with our goals and create a timeline and strategy for accomplishing our goals.
7. We are equals.

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