Digital Community Organizer

About Faithful America

Faithful America is the nation’s largest online community of grassroots Christians working to reclaim Christianity from the hateful agenda of the religious right and to renew the church's prophetic role in building a more free and just society.

Since 2004, we have consistently made headlines and won real victories in support of love and social justice by using rapid-response digital campaigns that tap into the grassroots power of Christians across the nation.

In this moment of political and theological crisis for American Christianity, we’re working to connect and mobilize our members to protect multiracial democracy, advance social justice, and confront threats to the church’s prophetic calling -- especially the forces of Christofascism and white Christian nationalism.

About the Role

We are hiring a Digital Community Organizer to facilitate the creation of virtual community cohorts of our members, train and support those cohorts, and turn them towards local organizing and mobilization.

Our vision for our community cohorts is for them to be groups where our members can connect with one another online, learn together, and work together in support of a more inclusive church and multiracial democracy – and against white Christian nationalism.

The work of the Digital Community Organizer will be done remotely, which means that the ability to identify and use appropriate digital tools (whether basic tools like Zoom or Facebook groups, or more sophisticated digital organizing toolsets) will be key.

This is a new role. One of the main reasons we’re creating this role is the palpable yearning for greater connection and community we’ve seen in our members.

But the creation of this role is also a response to our recent work counter-witnessing the Christian-nationalist Reawaken America Tour, where we’ve seen how the presence of our members changed the tenor of the local media coverage of those events.

We seek to capitalize on other opportunities for our members to come together to advance progressive, moral positions on social issues like supporting multiracial democracy, LGBTQ equality, immigrant rights, climate justice, and racial justice, while also challenging Christian nationalism and taking back the narrative from right-wing extremists who have hijacked Jesus’ message of good news to prop up their own hateful agendas.

Are you a people person with a background in community organizing, event planning, digital campaigns, or the church who knows how to bring people together and motivate them to take collective action?

Are you a good communicator who is eager to take on the hateful agenda of white Christian nationalism and organize progressive Christians to work for the values of love, equality, and social justice that Jesus taught?

Are you a detail-oriented self-starter who isn’t allergic to technology and can thrive in a collaborative, remote work environment?

If so, please read on!

Responsibilities

• Work to build a network of active community cohorts across the country where our members can develop both a shared sense of community and a capacity to collectively take action in accordance with our mission, vision, and values.
• Take the lead in designing our approach to the community cohort program, serve as the primary staff person for all of the work associated with the program, and take primary responsibility for ensuring we hit related goals including for recruitment, engagement, and mobilization.
• Spur the creation and continued activity of the individual community cohorts by attending and helping to organize cohort meetings, recruiting Faithful America members to join and lead them, and providing ongoing coaching, meeting facilitation, leadership development, and technical assistance.
• Help our cohort members identify and capitalize on grassroots mobilization opportunities (e.g. local press conferences, protests, preaching drives, prayer vigils, rallies, public hearing, and similar in-person events), identify or develop accessible training resources for community cohort members, and provide support remotely as needed to ensure these mobilizations are both effective and a good experience for our members.
• Research, recommend, and experiment with different technology platforms (potentially including new community platforms like Circle or Mighty Networks as well as more traditional digital channels like Zoom, SMS, Facebook groups, or Slack) to build community and the capacity for collective action within the community cohorts. Onboard and train community cohort members on the relevant tech tools and platforms as necessary.
• Support leadership development within the cohorts, build their capacity to become increasingly self-directed over time, and provide guidance and support to help cohort members organize their own churches and communities for our mission and goals.
• Regularly solicit feedback (including through the use of surveys) to better understand the relevant activism priorities, needs, interests and experiences of the community cohort members – and use that feedback to refine the community cohort program.
• Foster a collaborative and respectful approach within the cohorts around internal and external behavior as well as shared goals and strategies, and intervene when necessary to promote alignment with our mission, vision and values.
• Track and periodically report on relevant metrics including for organizing, mobilizing, and engagement.
• Represent Faithful America to coalition allies and other organizational partners.
• Participate in regular meetings, listservs, and conversations with Faithful America staff, contractors, and members – and provide feedback and edits to content produced by other members of the team.
• Other relevant organizing, campaign, research, communications, and administrative duties as they arise.

What Success in the First 12 Months of this Position Looks Like

• In consultation with the Executive Director, you quickly developed and proposed a 2024 work plan that aimed at hitting our goals around the creation of community cohorts, the training and support of those cohorts, and the organizing and activism undertaken by those cohorts. And you periodically updated your work plan when necessary to account for new information (including member feedback) and changing circumstances.
• You have launched at least six geographic or affinity cohorts with sustained engagement from our members.
• The Faithful America members or cohorts you’ve organized have held at least 18 public events that are press worthy, including protesting (or counter-programming) major religious-right or Christian-nationalist events and tour stops.
• Your interactions with the community cohort members and their interactions with you have overwhelmingly been positive, and you have developed good working relationships with key volunteers.
• Through surveys and 1:1 meetings with you, cohort participants have provided mostly positive feedback on their experiences with their cohorts, including increased engagement with organizing efforts and a feeling of connection to or community with other progressive Christians.
• You have experimented with multiple digital tools to connect our members to one another online.

Qualifications

As this is a new role, there’s some room to customize it based on the skills and interest of the person we hire. For that reason, we’re open to candidates with different types of experience profiles and skill sets.

If you don’t check all of the boxes below, but think you can do this job successfully, we welcome your application.

You could be great for this role if:

• You resonate deeply with Faithful America’s Gospel-based mission and vision for love and social justice, and are excited to organize grassroots Christians to advance these causes and take on the religious right’s hijacking of Jesus’s name.
• At least one of the following is true for you:
  • You have at least two years of experience as a community, labor, or online-to-offline organizer.
  • You have at least three years of professional experience with congregational leadership, group facilitation, or volunteer management.
• You’re comfortable with digital technology, understand the basic principles of building community online, and are not afraid to learn and use new online tools.
• You have at least some familiarity with progressive faith-based organizing/advocacy organizations, as well as a baseline understanding of white Christian nationalism and the religious right.
• You’re an enthusiastic team builder with strong leadership skills. You enjoy working with people and building community, learning peoples’ stories, and helping them identify and use their strengths to make a difference.
• You’re a strong project manager who is highly organized and detail-oriented. You seek to understand the big picture, but pay close attention to the nitty-gritty and keep things from slipping through the cracks.
• You’re an accountable self-starter who can thrive in a collaborative, remote work environment.
• You know how to give and receive feedback well.
• You have strong all-around communication skills, and know how to craft messages that inspire people to take action.
• You can work well with others across various dimensions of personal difference, and have both an awareness of and appreciation for cultural diversity.
• You have a social and political understanding of various types of systemic oppression -- such as white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity (as distinct from overt bigotry or discrimination) -- and are committed to fighting oppression in its many forms.
• You have a growth mentality, you are adaptable and resilient in the face of obstacles, you take risks, and are eager to experiment and apply the lessons learned to your work.

Although not required, a strong candidate will have some of the following:

• More than 3 years experience working in faith-based advocacy or community organizations; religion journalism; or progressive advocacy, political, labor, environmental, or community-based organizations or campaigns.
• Familiarity with the values and mindsets of diverse moderate and progressive U.S. Christian communities.
• A detailed understanding of the current theological, social, and political landscape of the religious right and associated Christian nationalism.
• Experience with online community building tools such as (but not limited to) Mighty Networks, Circle, Discord, Slack, hosting Zoom calls or webinars, moderating Facebook Groups, etc.
• Have led an organizing team and/or developed other people as organizers, including teaching such skills as: how to have an organizing conversation, ask curious questions, use visibility and inoculation effectively, and make tough organizing asks.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and execute successful actions, such as protests, rallies, multi-speaker panels or press conferences, or other forms of campaign events.
• Some experience helping run advocacy campaigns that exerted public pressure on specific, named leaders or institutions (whether in politics, religion, business, or some other field).
• Experience developing effective campaign strategies using methods like power mapping and escalation.
• Experience providing remote technical assistance and training to volunteers or staff.
• Customer service experience or a demonstrated ability to bring in, train, and retain volunteers.
• Experience researching, creating, and presenting campaign plans or other actionable proposals for senior management.
• Demonstrated ability to move groups to decisions and next steps, even when there is no clear consensus or key stakeholders don’t see eye to eye.
• Digital video production or graphic design skills.
• An understanding of the basic principles of online organizing, email advocacy campaigns, or social media, and experience using an email CRM or digital advocacy toolset (e.g., MailChimp, Constant Contact, EveryAction, Action Network, ActionKit, New/Mode, etc.).
• Policy expertise about (or a history of active personal involvement in social movements that work to support) immigrant rights, LGBTQ equality, racial justice, economic justice, the environment, and/or democracy and voting rights.
• Comfort with making “cold calls” for recruitment, partner introductions, one-on-one coaching, and meetings with volunteers.

Compensation

This position offers a salary range of $60,000 - $65,000.

Benefits include a monthly health-care stipend of $550, short-term and long-term disability insurance, access to a non-matched 401(k) program, and benefits for wellness and self-care.

Employees receive 18 days of paid vacation their first year plus 1 additional day each year of employment, unlimited personal sick time, 7 paid caregiver days (e.g. for days without child care, to care for parents or other family members, etc.), 7 paid family leave days, and 13 paid holidays. The Faithful America office may also close between Christmas and New Year’s, and on three Fridays each summer.

Flexible structure

This is a full-time, exempt position that reports to Faithful America’s Executive Director. The workload will average approximately 40 hours/week. Faithful America is committed to supporting a healthy work/life balance for its employees through flexible hours and wellness benefits.

This position involves telecommuting and working in a virtual office, and will require consistent phone and internet access at your home office location. A laptop and phone stipend will be supplied.

We are open to candidates located anywhere in the contiguous U.S.

Occasional travel for things like member events, major conferences, or staff retreats may be required consistent with public health guidelines.

About the Hiring Process.

While the hiring process may be subject to change, we are currently anticipating 2-3 rounds of interviews (each of which will be scheduled for 45 minutes) and one timed skills test that should take less than 3 hours to complete. If we ask you to take a skills test, you will be compensated for the time you spend on it. Finalists will be asked for references.

We are hoping first-round interviews will be completed by early December, with final interviews completed by early January.

How to apply

The application deadline is 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on Sunday, November, 19, 2023

Please apply using Breezy. Applications should include a resume and answers to the following questions in lieu of a traditional cover letter:

1. Why are you applying for this job? (Please be very specific. Suggested word limit: 250)
2. What’s a formative experience you’ve had that informs your desire to work from a Christian perspective either for democracy and social justice or against Christian nationalism and the religious right? Please explain how this experience has influenced you. (Suggested word limit: 200)
3. List which of the bullet points under “Although not required, a strong candidate will have some of the following” (above) you believe you bring to the table, with a few words of explanation if that’s useful. If a single bullet point includes many parts, please be clear about which part(s) are applicable to you.
4. How did you hear about this position?

Please direct any questions to jobs at faithfulamerica.org (but apply only through Breezy, not through the email address). In addition, please send an email to that address if you require any kind of accommodations related to the application process.

Faithful America is fighting for a church and a world that affirm the dignity of every person and don’t use religion as a pretext for bigotry, discrimination, or social oppression. Faithful America is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply for this position. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, nor any basis protected under law.