Farm Commons is hiring a Communications Associate!
A successful Communications Associate will achieve the following:
- Significantly expand the number of farmers accessing our resources and attending our webinars.
- Successfully coordinate communications and meetings for Farm Commons’ Attorney Network program pilot.
- Greatly increase awareness of Farm Commons within the farming and food system community.
- Leverage each point of contact with Farm Commons stakeholders through an integrated communications tracking system.
- Ensure Farm Commons written materials are of the highest quality in terms of readability, consistency, focus, and grammar.
- Raise Farm Commons’ profile in the sustainable agriculture and food systems community.
- Ensure integration of Farm Commons key messages across all communications outlets.
- Assist in the creation of effective farm law education resources.
- Increase fundraising success of the organization through individual giving and grant writing.
To achieve the above goals, the Communications Associate will do the following:
- Lead outreach and advertising of Farm Commons events and resources.
- Develop media for distribution through diverse channels including print, email, social media and earned media.
- Create website content including blog posts and client profiles.
- Schedule and facilitate Farm Commons Attorney Network program meetings.
- Manage communications with thousands of farmers who register and attend webinars.
- Edit written materials for style, grammar, and messaging
- Write educational materials, grant applications, and funding materials from outlines, notes, or drafts.
- Create and implement communications tracking system.
Depending upon the new team member’s skills, the individual may lead creative development of new educational materials on farm law for both farmers and attorneys. The selected candidate may write and deliver farm law workshops for farmers and farm educators. A selected candidate who is licensed to practice law may work under the executive director to provide legal representation to clients as needed or as time allows. As a start up, duties are diverse and will evolve over time. The selected candidate will be expected to identify opportunity and use his or her unique strengths to define the position.
To effectively carry out tasks and meet goals, the Communications Associate should have the following qualities.
Required:
- Excellent ability to communicate efficiently and accurately while maintaining friendly, customer-focused attitude.
- Excellent writing ability in a wide variety of contexts from promotional brochures to detailed technical manuals.
- Experience creating and implementing communications/outreach strategies that incorporate both online and offline channels.
- Highly goal oriented – articulates goals, monitors progress towards reaching them, and adapts strategies to ensure goals are met.
- Very self-disciplined and able to work from home.
- Careful attention to detail.
- Comfortable working in an evolving start-up environment. Must be flexible and able to adapt to changing circumstances.
- Passion for sustainable farming and food systems.
- Comfortable directly engaging (including over the phone) with individuals from very diverse geographic, political, and educational backgrounds.
Strongly preferred:
- Experience in sustainable farming and/or sustainable food systems development.
- Experience with web content management platforms such as wordpress or drupal.
Desirable:
- Educational training or experience as a paralegal or attorney
- Visual thinking or design skills
Knowledge of farm law is not a prerequisite of this position.
The Communications Associate reports directly to the founder and executive director of Farm Commons. Farm Commons does not have a physical location and the position will be served remotely with daily communication with the executive director online or over the phone. The selected candidate must have high-speed access to the internet. Individuals located throughout the United States may apply. Evening and weekend work plus occasional travel is required. The position is full-time and salaried. The team member’s exact work schedule is flexible; daytime hours will be necessary to effectively communicate with the executive director. This position will begin on approximately December 1, 2014. Compensation is in the $40,000 annual salary range. The Communications Associate will be eligible for personal time off and a modest benefits package. As with the majority of nonprofit and private sector jobs, continued employment is dependent on the continued generation of revenue. Farm Commons values an open workplace and we are happy to discuss our finances with top candidates.
This position offers tremendous opportunity to the right individual. We are a mission-driven organization and the new team member will have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of sustainable farmers. Farm Commons has a strong track record for a young nonprofit and is posed to make a significant impact in the sustainable food and farming community. The selected candidate will work in the middle of the emerging world of sustainable agriculture law.
To apply, candidates must submit a single pdf file containing the following documents: a cover letter, a resume, three references, and two writing samples. Candidates with a legal background: Please note that the writing samples should demonstrate your ability to write for non-legal audiences, not attorneys or judges. If candidates wish for any limitation on Farm Commons’ ability to contact references, please state it in the cover letter. Paper applications will not be accepted. Please send the single pdf file toRachel@farmcommons.org. The application deadline is Monday, October 27th, 2014 at 5pm. Please apply early if possible.