Organizing Manager

Salary

$74,410

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Generous paid time off including 2 weeks in December
• Flexible work schedule
• Annual employee allowance and professional development stipend
• Employer 401k contribution

Position Description

When you think about elections, you might think about popular candidates, “I voted” stickers, and all sorts of paperwork and deadlines. But behind the scenes are thousands of people in state and local governments who are working hard to make sure accurate election information is published, ballots are counted, and voices are heard. We are seeking a dedicated and experienced community organizer and advocate to help foster valuable and lasting relationships with local elections offices across the country. As CTCL’s Organizing Manager, you will implement CTCL’s nonpartisan advocacy strategy to support elections officials in administering inclusive and secure elections.

The ideal candidate thrives in social environments and is eager to get out from behind a screen and into the field. You will visit small towns and major cities across the country to connect with local election administrators and their staff at association meetings, recruit and cultivate partnerships with state and national nonprofit organizations, and build relationships with government agencies to better understand how to connect elections offices with helpful information and public resources. You’ll report to the Advocacy Director and work in collaboration with other members of the CTCL team. This is a new role in a growing department that is focused on the resiliency of election infrastructure and securing public funding for local election offices.

Responsibilities

Community Engagement and Relationship Building

• Spend over half of your time on the ground networking with election administrators and their teams, spending time to better understand their needs, and engaging them in advocacy to expand the public funding of elections.
• Serve as an ambassador for CTCL at election-related events and conferences, providing short presentations on our work, tabling at election tradeshows, and cultivating joy in the election space.
• Grow our list of state and national partners that are eager to support the expansion and deployment of reliable and sustainable federal funding for election administration at the local level.
• Use conference opportunities to promote our initiatives, campaigns, and projects. Leverage the conference platform to gain support and visibility.

Agency Engagement and Grassroots Advocacy

• Serve as a liaison and helpful connector between agencies that can help elections offices and the officials that need support. Proactively learn bureaucratic processes such as grant applications, programmatic requests, and distill guidance into turnkey guides for our network.
• Engage thousands of election officials in campaigns to promote public funding by training them on tactics, guiding them through the appropriations process, and facilitating connections with lawmakers.
• Work with partners to raise the profile of election infrastructure needs by encouraging public communications campaigns, circulating sign-on letters at key inflection points, and brokering strategic partnerships.
• Utilize organizing skills to continue to broaden our umbrella by regularly holding 1:1s with potential partners and developing lasting strategic relationships.

Program Stewardship

• Manage the budget allocated for conference engagement, ensuring that resources are used efficiently and effectively.
• Ensure compliance with legal requirements during conference activities.
• Lead the team’s return on investment (ROI) of conference engagement activities by measuring outcomes such as increased brand visibility, new partnerships formed, and funding opportunities secured.
• Create a repository of best practices, templates, and resources for conference engagement to streamline future efforts and facilitate knowledge sharing within the organization.

Strategic Initiative

• Work with the advocacy team & allies to adapt plans, generate new tactics, and regularly evolve campaigns to respond to ever-changing landscapes.
• Prioritize victory and values, and stay flexible in an often extremely fast-paced campaign environment.
• Regularly deliver results on high-stakes advocacy campaigns.

Commitment to professional growth

• Demonstrate enthusiasm and desire to grow within the organization, to seize leadership opportunities, and to absorb new learnings and skills.

Commitment to priority audiences

• Ensure CTCL programs for election departments prioritize voters with limited access to the election system. This includes voters who are newly eligible, have limited English proficiency, live with disabilities, or are from communities that are impacted by the digital divide or historical disenfranchisement due to race.

Job Requirements

A successful candidate for the Organizing Manager position is someone who thrives in social and dynamic environments and who is relentless in their pursuit of campaign victory. Previous personnel management experience is not required, but personal project management and advocacy skills will be important for success. In addition, while no candidate will possess every quality, the successful candidate will possess many of the following qualifications and personal attributes:

Organizing Skills

• You love to travel and see the country, and are eager to build relationships with individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. You thrive in high-volume networking environments.
• You are an effective communicator and active listener, able to deliver our message clearly and persuasively.
• You are great at building relationships with individuals, groups, and organizations that share our goals or can be brought onto our campaign by building trust.
• You know that you do not own the legislative calendar and can adapt to changing circumstances and adjust your strategy as needed on a short timeline.

Campaign Skills

• You are enthusiastic about making elections more secure and inclusive. You believe in democracy and care about voting.
• You are hungry for victory. You don’t just focus on inputs, but instead work relentlessly to deliver results because you want your work to make a difference.
• You have the skills and experience to build campaigns with a team, including setting campaign goals, developing messaging, and coordinating various activities to achieve those goals.

Management Skills

• You build diverse tables. You seek out allies who can work with us on discrete issue campaigns, knowing that their perspectives may differ on other things. You thrive in fostering strategic relationships among others and building a team dynamic.
• You value the people, not just the work, and approach work with kindness, patience, and an encouraging attitude. You see the potential in others and help cultivate them into their best selves.

Professional Skills

• You are a detail-oriented task-tracker who can manage a personal to-do list and is adamant about accomplishing goals. You are incredibly responsive and enjoy connecting via various digital channels.
• You are comfortable in a virtual professional setting. You can manage your workload in a fully remote setting where you are at times away from your home desk, and are participating in calls while on work travel. You are accountable and self-motivated without an office environment.
• You know that feedback loops can help you create the best work. You create opportunities to get input from colleagues and partners.

Growth

CTCL uses organizational systems to keep staff connected and accountable to each other and the work. These systems include goal-setting, evaluations, and staff retreats every 6 months, as well as staff meetings and 1:1 calls each week. While we maintain structures, it’s also important that CTCL be adaptive to respond to the changing needs of the world around us. This might look like setting goals, evaluating our tactics, and deciding to shift priorities over time. This means the people who work with CTCL are thoughtful in both making plans and also adjusting them based on emerging information.

We stay curious and persistent as the landscape of U.S. election administration shifts. To adapt to new challenges and invest in the excellence of our team, all positions at CTCL provide opportunities for increased responsibility. We focus on professional growth opportunities related to the scope and complexity of your work, specialized knowledge, independence, and leadership.

To Apply

Complete a short application form and upload your resume and a writing sample.

Based on your application and writing sample, a video interview and reference check will be conducted to determine if you are the best fit for the position. The interview will take approximately 45 minutes.

Your writing sample need only be 1-2 pages, and should demonstrate your advocacy voice and communication style – academic writing is discouraged. Examples of writing samples include a campaign one-pager or testimony from a previous legislative campaign.

Only applications submitted through this form will be accepted; materials submitted via email will not be considered.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, with a preference for applications submitted within a week of posting going live (May 7th, 2024).

The Center for Tech and Civic Life is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage people of all races, colors, religions, national origins, sexual orientations, genders, sexes, ages, abilities, branches of military service, and political party affiliations to apply.