WEPOWER - Senior Director of Organizing and Campaigns

Senior Director, Organizing & Campaigns

About WEPOWER

WEPOWER is building a team full of dreamers and doers to advance our mission. We activate community power to (1) reimagine social systems, (2) develop grassroots leaders' and organizations' capacity as agents of systems change, and (3) provide support with campaigns, coalitions, and innovative initiatives that transform community visions into reality. We build powerful relationships with community members and amplify their voices to inform critical decisions that impact their lives. We train community members to design new policies, organize, and seek public office, lead policy and systems change. We provide early-stage companies with access to coaching, capital, connections, and community as they create jobs in the communities with whom we partner.

In our first five years, WEPOWER has activated nearly 400 community leaders, won a historic ballot measure that guarantees millions in public funding annually for early childhood, supported approximately 100 businesses with access to capital, coaching, and connections, and launched a one-of-a-kind investment fund. We envision a future where systems are accountable to powerful communities that have been historically oppressed, and nurture our freedom, well-being, dreams, and joy. We are building a powerful movement led by everyday people, and we have bold plans to get us there. Join us! 

Our team is… 

• Values-driven 
• Community-centered 
• Innovative 
• Problem-solving 
• Focused 
• Collaborative

About the Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Senior Director of Organizing & Campaigns (SDOC) is an exempt full-time employee who will be located in St. Louis, MO. The SDOC will be responsible for coaching and developing the organizing team, community leaders, and coalitions towards policy and political campaign wins for the 2024 election cycle and beyond.

You Will…

DRIVE STRATEGY

• In consultation with the CEO and other Executive leaders, devise and implement WEPOWER's theory of change and strategic plan within yearly departmental plans incorporating methods such as team capacity building, leading with empathy, and organizing, mobilizing, and power building. Organizing, mobilizing, and power building planning and implementation should include but not be limited to political power mapping, coalition building, relationship building, year-round voter education, and electoral and direct action campaigns.
• Facilitate the creation and stewardship of razor-sharp campaigns using your deep campaign, power analysis, and issue-cutting skills, centering volunteer and community leaders in the design and iteration process. This is about building a culture of campaigning that electrifies and focuses on campaigns being led by a values-based coalition of leaders and organizations directly impacted by the social system of focus.
• Collaborate with the Director of Communications to ensure a strong public narrative, media relations, and storytelling strategy supports coalition building and campaigns.
• Manage campaign budgets in collaboration with the Executive team to support implementation of the Organizing & Campaigns departmental plan.
• Work in collaboration with the Development team to help shape grant writing and reporting in alignment with the values and organizing model of WEPOWER, while also connecting current and prospective financial supporters to coalitions and campaigns.
• Co-create data informed metrics of success around leadership development and coalition and campaign growth and effectiveness and ensure responsiveness to the local and state political climate and conditions.
• Analyze EveryAction and NGP VAN data within the appropriate community contexts and track progress toward strategic metrics and goals, ensuring best practices around data collection, privacy, integrity, and security.
• Identify opportunities for cross-collaboration with other organizational departments related to the organization’s overall mission.

COACH AND DEVELOP THE POWER BUILDING TEAM AND ISSUE-ORIENTED COALITIONS

• Build capacity within the Organizing team to develop WEPOWER’ s volunteer leadership base and coalition, as they work to accomplish electoral and direct action campaign goals.
• Manage the leadership of the Organizing team as they work to achieve early childhood and economic justice power by building a powerful base of leaders starting in East St. Louis, St. Louis City, and St. Louis County. The Organizing team will be supported by you with a focus on topics such as:
• Establishing key relationships that go beyond transactionality and facilitate movement cooperation as part of the relational organizing metrics you set
• Building (volunteer) leadership teams and strong coalitions
• Identifying issues of importance/concern within the community
• Navigating day-to-day problem solving
• Conducting research actions and power analyses,
• Articulating compelling, well-researched, community-oriented public narratives
• Growing the number of active institutional members represented on coalitions.
• Continuously improving coalition infrastructure in areas ranging from decision making, membership intake, budgeting and fundraising (with clear support from the Vice President of Development), organizing, and mobilization. 
• Prioritize investing in relationships with Organizing team members in order to deeply understand their interests, motivations, strengths, growth edges, and professional goals.
• Identify and advocate for professional development opportunities to nurture the growth of members of your team.
• Foster a healthy culture and collaborative decision making environment on the Organizing team. – This includes ensuring a sharp vision and clear responsibilities – to realize ambitious campaign goals, mitigating urgency for urgency’s sake, and injecting the compassion necessary to bring out the best in people, mutual respect, and consistent wellness practices.
• Along with your team, community leaders, and coalitions, serve as a liaison with local, regional, and state movement organizations, community allies, and policymakers.
• Drive a commitment to collaboration between the Organizing team and vendors:
• Ensuring collaboration with the communications team and programmatic leads for the creation and stewardship of a strong public narrative strategy that supports coalition and campaign goals. 
• Partnering with consultants and contractors to ensure strong policy research and development ahead of campaign demands being finalized. 

You Are... 

1. A Results-Oriented Strategic Leader.  You are a principled leader who defines challenging yet feasible objectives for yourself, inspiring others to do the same. You look actively for the most efficient way to achieve goals, but are careful to prioritize a results oriented mindset that reinforces the autonomy for members of the team to get work done in the way that feels most intuitive and supportive to their needs and goals. You independently seek alternatives when certain actions have not led to the desired result and seek to implement them equitably with buy-in from directly impacted stakeholders. You promote a culture of inquiry and search for the lessons in both successful and unsuccessful outcomes and mobilize means and people, even when others need to be persuaded of its necessity. You actively seek to improve how you do things and support others in practicing this critical self-reflection, extending grace as you and your team work through new solutions, programs, and initiatives.
2. A Practitioner of Anti-racist, Anti-ableist Values. Not only are you self-aware of the intersections of your social identities, cultures, biases, and perspectives, but you prioritize support and encouragement of those who are also committed to practicing actively anti-racist and anti-ableist values in their daily lives and in their movement work. The sum total of your lived experiences, both work and volunteer, demonstrate a knowledge and appreciation of diversity and equity. You make continuous efforts to develop your understanding of the intersections of privilege and oppression that impact the ability and opportunities for people to show up and be their authentic selves in a given space, whether a direct report, organization leader, or volunteer leader. You have the ability to adapt to and work collaboratively with diverse people in a range of situations, respecting the different communication styles they may have. You actively work to identify and uproot tenets of white supremacy within electoral and issue advocacy spaces, adopting appropriate interventions to create environments, policies, and practices to ensure diversity, equity, justice, and fairness.
3. A Manager who Grows with Their Team. You provide clear, concise, actionable, bidirectional feedback to support direct reports in their professional development and foster your growth as a leader and manager. You are fluent in the art of delegating significant responsibility and authority that will help develop their abilities, with a keen understanding of their strengths and areas for growth. You express confidence in others’ ability to be successful and take time to highlight improvements that team members make toward hitting their personalized professional goals.

Your Qualifications and Experience

• A minimum of six years experience in community organizing including leading and winning multiple policy advocacy and/or electoral campaigns. 
• Experience (minimum 3 years) with designing and iterating volunteer leadership and leadership development programs ideally focused on organizing with specific focus on any aspect or combination thereof within the voter engagement pipeline (e.g. education, persuasion, and turnout). 
• Experience (minimum 3 years) coaching and developing high-performing teams. 
• Experience leveraging tech platforms such as EveryAction and VAN to drive organizing strategy, base building, and voter engagement. 
• Demonstrated commitment to and experience working within Black and Latinx communities to advance racial, gender, and economic justice and their intersections, both inside and outside of organizations.
• Demonstrated project management and organizational skills.
• Desire to be part of an evolving organization and contribute to its growth/reputation.
• Willingness to work some nights and weekends as campaigns heat up.

We evaluate candidates on the whole of their experience and skills, and we encourage people to apply even if you do not meet all of the “requirements.” We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color and multi-racial/multi-ethnic people, people with disabilities, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans/nonbinary/gender non-conforming communities.

Work Environment 

Fun. Fast. Focused. Values-driven. Community-centered. Collaborative. Innovative. Lots of brainstorming and imagining what’s possible and then chasing each possibility until it is reality!

As a startup, being part of the team at WEPOWER requires extreme commitment and agility, AND we value each team member’s personal life circumstances and priorities. We will work together to ensure the organization prioritizes the health, social-emotional wellbeing, and morale of each team member! Living our values regarding the importance of rest, team members have the authority to structure flex time as work ebbs and flows.

Given the nature of campaigns, some evening and weekend work will be expected, but break weeks after intense work periods (e.g. election day) is available for team members and highly encouraged. Additionally, this is a remote office environment, but it’s strongly preferred that the final candidate be based in or willing to relocate to the St Louis area.

There will be 24-hour access to an office space with printing, open workspace, private meeting rooms, and a conference room. 

Travel

You will engage in limited travel (roughly once a quarter) with the exception of professional development experiences that align with your short-term and long-term development goals and areas of interest. 

Compensation

The salary and benefits package is highly competitive with other organizations of similar stature and size. The salary range is $85,000-$100,000 and commensurate on experience. Benefits include:

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Health benefits plus dental, vision, and affordable family coverage. 
• 403b Plan: To save for retirement. 
• Paid Time Off: 10 days of vacation, 8 sick days, 2 rest weeks with an additional 2 weeks off at the end of December, and 8 holidays each year. 
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage
• Paid Parental Leave: New parents get this time to spend with their family. 10 weeks if you've been here a year or more. 
• Cell Phone Reimbursement 
• Wellness Stipend: Up to $50/month reimbursement for spending on physical and mental health needs.

Equal Opportunity Employer

WEPOWER is an equal opportunity employer and a fierce advocate for equity in the workplace. We value diversity in all its forms and aim to create an inclusive culture. WEPOWER encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, ancestry, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, hair texture, or other status protected by law.

Apply

Interested candidates can apply here and submit their resume as well as their responses to the pre-screening questions below.

Pre-screening Questions

1. Why are you interested in working for WEPOWER? (250 words max)
2. Can you tell us about the largest volunteer leadership program you have managed? How did you ensure that the program was inclusive and representative of the communities you served? (250 words max)
3. How do you incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into your management philosophy? (250 words max)

Process

• Phase One: Submit resume, including pre-screening questions. 
• Phase Two: Interview stage with Meso Solutions, equity-forward hiring firm supporting this search.
• Phase Three: Interview stage with WEPOWER selection team
• Phase Four: Performance activity
• Phase Five: Concurrent final interview, meet & greet stages
• Phase Six: Background check and reference checks