Campus Organizer- East Lansing. MI

Role: Campus Organizer

Location and Timeline: We are hiring a full-time Campus Organizer to begin by the end of August and continue through mid-November. Locations: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff and Michigan State, East Lansing.   

Who We Are: 

Vote Blue is a field firm specializing in face-to-face canvassing operations. At Vote Blue, we mobilize voters to get to the polls. Our field campaigns have provided the margin of victory in close elections at the local, state, and national levels. Trump and Republicans at all levels of government are stomping on our rights, making everything unaffordable so a few billionaires can get even richer, and dismantling the very fabric of our nation. Vote Blue’s sole focus is on mobilizing and engaging voters to participate in the elections this fall and fight back at the ballot box.

General Overview:

Campus organizers will be charged with recruiting, training, and working with a team of student volunteers on campus to promote environmental advocacy. The Organizer will start by building and recruiting a team of supporters through petitioning on campus, then converting those supporters into volunteers. From there, Organizers will continue to engage volunteers through a series of campaign events and actions. At the end of the campaign, Organizers will debrief with volunteers and community contacts to share information on how to stay involved with climate action in their communities.

What You’ll Do:

• Recruit and Train a Community of Volunteer Activists
  • Be responsible for training and managing 6-8 hourly campus fellows to register voters across campus
  • Call and text supporters and recruit them into grassroots actions. 
  • Identify new supporters and volunteers by gathering petitions, flyering, and conducting in-field recruitment efforts in the community and on local campuses
  • Run grassroots skills trainings to develop effective campaigners among volunteers.
  • Keep meticulous track of a volunteer list so that no potential volunteer falls through the cracks.
  • Develop volunteer leaders who commit to the cause and help lead your student organization
  • Represent the campaign through participation in community spaces and events, while engaging and uplifting coalition and partner organizations.

• Generate Campaign Actions
  • Collecting pledge cards
  • Recruit and train volunteers to generate more petitions and volunteer engagement at events.
  • Recruit and engage with community leaders, organizational partners, and VIPs to build meaningful relationships while generating new supporters, volunteers, and event attendees.
• Organize High-Volume Visibility Events
  • Organize and execute exciting, high-visibility in-person events demonstrating support for climate action. 
  • Educate community members about ways to protect our climate, wildlife, lands, and most vulnerable communities.
  • Nail 100% of all messaging and legal requirements and ensure that volunteers do the same.
• Manage Digital Campaign, Data Management, and Reporting Tools
  • Demonstrate public support by recruiting volunteers to post on their own social media platforms.
  • Send timely and compelling email campaigns to recruit activists to campaign activities.
  • Track every interaction with detailed notes in order to report numbers daily and write weekly reports on the results of the campaign.

Who You Are & Keys to Success (the must-haves):

To be successful in this job, you will excel in these areas:

• Relationship Building: You develop and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with a diverse group of local and statewide community members. You are attentive and empathetic to the communities we serve, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, or ability, and can identify shared values across communities for collective growth. You can build authentic relationships through authenticity and reliability, continuously uplifting others and their goals. You are comfortable and experienced in public speaking to a group about environmental, jobs, health care issues and climate change.
• Inclusive and Collaborative Leadership: You approach leadership with a “power with” mindset that recognizes the impact power hierarchies have in different settings. You can learn from others, see and hear other perspectives, and step in or step back as necessary. You are reliable and accountable, always transparent about your abilities, capacities, and expectations. You honor the time and commitments of others while inspiring them to meet goals.
• Commitment to Equity and Inclusion: You have a proven ability to develop meaningful connections with diverse communities, including a wide range of community organizations, community leaders, and community members. You work with the community and within the workplace to identify areas of improvement for a more equitable environment. You take continued action and efforts to improve your REI knowledge, skills, and tools.
• Drive to Achieve Results: You have experience accomplishing ambitious goals and getting results, even when there are obstacles. You have the experience or ability to plan backwards to meet multiple goals timely and effectively. When there are unexpected changes, you bounce back and adjust quickly, learning and improving from any mistakes.

Skills and Experiences we Expect of all Vote Blue employees:

• Experience bringing a lens of inclusivity to all of your interactions with colleagues and community members.
• Passion for the role that your work plays in creating change in the world.
• Kindness and consideration for others. 
• Drive to work collaboratively: learning from others; stepping-in or stepping-back when needed.
• Transparency: comfort admitting what you do and don’t know, your capacity, and abilities. 
• Task management: Able to adapt to the evolving needs of a project. Able to tackle big-picture projects and break them down into smaller pieces.
• Organized and efficient: Experience or demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects or goals at once in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Acute attention to detail: Track interactions and tasks with detailed notes. Plans ahead for roadblocks and bounces back quickly when problems arise. 
• Effective communication skills (written or spoken) that are clear, concise and honest. 
• Comfortable and excited to speak about the campaign publicly.
• Coach and learning mentality: successful experience or willingness to learn new things and pick up new skills on the job. Able to learn from mistakes and try again. 
• Understanding of how your words and actions affect others, including an awareness of power language and communication accessibility. 
• Ability to work weekends and weekday evenings, occasional holidays. 

Nice-to-Haves, but Not Required:

• Experience working for nonprofits and issue campaigns.

• Data Management and Evaluation Experience: Experience working with various data management systems and tools, mainly Google Suite.
• Experience with Relevant Campaign Tools and Technologies: VAN, Action Network, ThruText, MailChimp, eCRMs like EveryAction, or social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
• Event or Project Planning & Management, Implementation or Evaluation.
• Knowledge or previous experience working on this issue is a plus, but not required.

Salary, Benefits and Perks:

The salary for this position is $55,000 to $67,000 for full-time at 50 hours per week. Pay within this range is determined through an equity calculator. Salary negotiations can introduce bias and perpetuate wage inequality. At the end of the campaign, there may be opportunities for advancement.  We do offer a monthly cell phone stipend of $50. 

We offer a generous benefits package, including paid vacation and sick leave, health insurance, and hands-on training. At the end of the campaign, there may be opportunities for advancement and bonuses.

At Vote Blue, we prioritize equity and inclusion. We are an equal opportunity employer and we strongly encourage Black, indigenous, people of color, women, people with previous felony convictions, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and others who identify with underrepresented groups to apply