Administrative and Finance Assistant

About Us North Branch Nature Center’s mission is Connecting People with the Natural World. We envision a world where people of all ages learn, teach, and play together in nature, supporting healthy, resilient communities and ecosystems. More than 15,000 people visit North Branch Nature Center (NBNC) annually to be immersed in the natural world through environmental education, natural history, and community science programs. Our 28-acre preserve of forest and fields is nestled in a gentle bend of the North Branch of the Winooski River, just two miles from downtown Montpelier, Vermont, and is also popular as a year-round place to walk, ski, swim, or simply to do nothing beside the river. We are committed to making our natural areas, our organization, and our entire community a more inclusive and equitable place. Our Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion steps taken to date are detailed here.

The Position NBNC’s Administrative and Finance Assistant (AFA) works with the Finance Director (FD) to support the finance, administrative, and human resources functions of the organization. This part-time position focuses on keeping NBNC’s financial, employee, and corporate records and files accurate and up-to-date and assists with related projects, such as researching new benefit options, insurance, and regulatory requirements, as needed. Depending on the background and skills of the Administrative and Finance Assistant, the position can focus more heavily on bookkeeping or on supporting NBNC’s HR functions and other administrative tasks, by mutual agreement.

Responsibilities include: Bookkeeping and Financial Management

● Working with the FD and Office Manager, the AFA enters and properly codes all transactions in Quickbooks.

● Compiles and submits payroll data to NBNC’s payroll service biweekly based on timesheets.

● Ensures payments to retirement accounts are made and recorded accurately.

● Creates, sends out, and follows up on invoices. Human Resources Support

● Assists with onboarding paperwork and processes for new employees, annual benefit-plan selection, background-check processing, and other employee-related paperwork.

● Researches employee benefit options as needed.

● Researches employer legal requirements as needed.

● Fields questions from other employees regarding benefits, paychecks, personnel policies and related Human Resource issues

Other Duties as assigned, which may include:

● Assists with maintaining NBNC’s corporate registration paperwork with both State and Federal agencies.

● Assists with maintaining and updating insurance policies as directed.

● Assists with maintaining archival administrative files.

● Quarterly, may compile data on payments to independent contractors for tax and unemployment insurance reporting.

● Biweekly and quarterly, may enter into Quickbooks wage-cost, benefits, taxes, insurance, and other shared expense allocations to program budgets, based on timesheets.

● Helps manage certain aspects of NBNC’s technology, including NBNC’s email, computer, and phone systems. Qualifi cations

● Organized, efficient, reliable, trustworthy and detail-oriented, with strong interpersonal skills, integrity, and a commitment to collaborative teamwork and to NBNC’s mission.

● Experience with Quickbooks (ideally Quickbooks Desktop) preferred.

● Bookkeeping and/or accounting coursework or past work experience preferred, particularly in a nonprofit context.

● Fluency with computers, Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office, and Google Suite products required. Strong technology skills preferred.

● Human Resources experience desired.

● Strong writing skills preferred.

Position Details

Compensation and Benefits: Hourly, at $19 per hour.

Benefits package includes paid time off, paid sick leave, a SIMPLE IRA retirement plan, NBNC program fee waivers, pro deals, and a flexible work-from-home/office policy.

Job status: Part-time at an average of 20 hours perweek, non-exempt, year-round position.

Reports to: NBNC Finance Director. Supervises: No supervisory duties.

To apply: To apply, please send a cover letter, current resume, and contact information for three references to lauren@northbranchnaturecenter.org by March 20th to be part of our priority review. Start date: May 1, 2023.