TrailNation Collaborative Program Manager in Washington, District of Columbia at Rails To Trails Conservancy

Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC) is the nation’s largest trails organization—with a grassroots community of more than 1 million strong—dedicated to building a nation connected by trails, reimagining public spaces to create safe ways for everyone to walk, bike and be active outdoors. Founded in 1986, Rails to Trails Conservancy's national office is located in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in California, Florida, Ohio, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. For more information, visit www.railstotrails.org. Connect with RTC @railstotrails on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter).

Job Summary

The TrailNation Collaborative Program Manager will be responsible for implementing and managing RTC’s TrailNation™ Collaborative, an initiative that delivers critical learning resources and best practices to a broad, inclusive network of practitioners advancing trail network development across the United States. The Collaborative connects diverse leaders and practitioners, offering cutting-edge trail network practices alongside opportunities to share tools and resources and support one another’s work.

The Collaborative scales RTC’s innovative TrailNation program to catalyze the rapid development of regional trail and active transportation networks from concept through implementation. Using a systematic approach, it applies RTC’s deep expertise and collaborative strategies while remaining responsive to local conditions and emerging opportunities.

Through best-practice sharing and facilitated dialogue on critical issues, the Collaborative demonstrates how local, regional, and state leaders can accelerate trail network development at a national scale.

As a member of the Trail Development team, the TrailNation Collaborative Program Manager will work across the organization to build and strengthen relationships with leaders in the trail network movement and create forums that foster connection and peer learning among practitioners. This position will help RTC demonstrate and scale best practices across the TrailNation ecosystem, including the TrailNation project portfolio, the TrailNation Playbook, the TrailNation Accelerator and the TrailNation Summit. Reporting to the Vice President of Trail Development, this role offers a meaningful opportunity for a strategic, entrepreneurial, and collaborative professional to shape the future of the TrailNation Collaborative and the broader national trail network movement.

Job Location

This position is in our Washington, D.C., National Headquarters and is eligible for a hybrid work schedule (working two days per week in the D.C. office) in accordance with RTC’s policies.

Job Duties

Programmatic Strategy and Participant Cultivation

• Collaborate with the Vice President of Trail Development and TrailNation colleagues to cultivate relationships with current and prospective TrailNation Collaborative participants and integrate learning into TrailNation Playbook updates.
• Lead participant recruitment, communications, and information sharing through calls, webinars, and email.
• Foster respectful, reciprocal relationships that support peer learning, collaboration, and knowledge exchange among participants.
• Develop and track metrics, data collection tools, and evaluation methods to assess Collaborative effectiveness and value to partners.
• Work across RTC teams to support fundraising, communications, advocacy coordination, and program budget management.
• Act as a visible leader and spokesperson for the TrailNation Collaborative, elevating its impact, best practices, and role in advancing the national trail network movement

Content Development and Convening Lead

• Design and deliver meaningful virtual and in-person convenings, including webinars, focus groups, site visits, city swaps, and TrailNation Summits.
• Look for common project challenges and roadblocks from TrailNation Collaborative participants and create speed-to-market content support and other opportunities for developing solutions.
• Support the TrailNation Accelerator in coordination with the Accelerator Project Director, including workshops, site visits, and project-level technical assistance.
• Identify emerging best practices from TrailNation projects and Collaborative partners and position them for broader dissemination through newsletters, TrailNation Playbook updates, webinars, and other content formats.
• Lead and support TrailNation Playbook content development on key topics such as coalition building, trail and active transportation planning, political will building, public funding, communications, and equitable trail development.
• Collaborate with Trail Development, Communications, and Policy teams to align content and messaging and build political will for trail network implementation, including effective use of federal funding.

Trail Grant Program Management

• Supervise and guide strategy for grant-making program that catalyzes trail connectivity including a request for proposals process.
• Work closely with Development Department to support the creation of successful fundraising proposals to support future grant programs.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position does not have any supervisory responsibilities.

Basic Qualifications and Personal Attributes

• A minimum of five years of professional work experience managing duties with coalition building and/or advocacy and partner cultivation and/or nonprofit organizing
• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university focused on urban/regional planning, environmental planning, public policy, public administration or a related field. Master’s degree preferred but not required.
• The ideal candidate will be a self-driven leader with the ability to successfully influence, persuade and motivate people to obtain buy-in and commitment from project partners and stakeholders. They will be a proven problem solver with sound judgement and the ability to meet adversity with tenacity and creativity.
• Advanced, highly organized project management and program leadership skills, including the ability to set short- and long-term planning goals in line with program priorities and available resources.
• Political savvy and demonstrated ability to engage and cultivate a wide variety of stakeholders both internally and externally (government, advocacy, business, elected officials), and experience building diverse coalitions to achieve support and buy-in
• Experience designing, executing and facilitating virtual and in-person convenings that effectively distill practical and actionable learning for busy practitioners and leaders
• Demonstrated comfort and enthusiasm in developing and cultivating new and ongoing relationships with local leaders and practitioners via phone calls and video calls
• Demonstrated experience serving as a public-facing leader or spokesperson for a program or initiative, with the ability to articulate impact, elevate best practices, and advance a broader field or movement.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills as well as an engaging, enthusiastic and empathetic communication style
• Demonstrated commitment to racial equity and diversity
• Consensus-building skills, with the ability to read an audience and be decisive in achieving results
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing foundation and corporate grants, including proposal development, management of deliverables, and budget reporting
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (especially: SharePoint, Excel, Word and PowerPoint), Zoom and Survey Monkey
• Passion for trails, walking and/or biking
• Experience with GIS software and platforms (e.g., ArcPro, ArcGIS Online) (preferred)
• Experience with grant-making and reviewing proposals (preferred)
• Experience with Blackbaud or other relationship management software (preferred)

Work Environment

• Normal office setting with low to moderate noise level.
• Ability to travel domestically (approximately 20%)

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Employer’s Right: RTC reserves the right to revise, change or reclassify this job description at any time in accordance with RTC’s business needs. This job description is not an implied contract.