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Voice of Witness (VOW) is an award-winning, San Francisco-based nonprofit that advances human rights by amplifying unheard voices. Through our oral history book series and education program, we center the voices of people impacted by injustice, teach our ethics-driven oral history methodology, and partner with human rights advocates to:

  • build agency within marginalized communities,
  • foster thoughtful, empathy-based critical inquiry and understanding of the issues faced by marginalized peoples, and
  • inform efforts to protect and advance human rights.

For over ten years, VOW has illuminated human rights issues in the U.S. and globally. Our oral history book series amplifies the voices of people impacted by the criminal justice system, migration, and displacement. Our education program serves over 20,000 people annually, and we provide oral history training to other nonprofits as well as to educators, advocates, writers, and journalists.

Voice of Witness was cofounded by author Dave Eggers, writer & educator Mimi Lok, and physician Lola Vollen.

Available Positions:

Director of Institutional Partnerships & Strategy

Full-time, exempt, salaried position

Salary: $80k – $90k DOE 

Medical, Vision, Dental and generous vacation time

Start Date: September 1st, 2019

Voice of Witness is looking for an innovative and strategic development leader to build upon years of growth from current institutional funders, and expand upon new opportunities with private and public foundations, corporations, and consultancy prospects. 

The Director of Institutional Partnerships & Strategy will develop overarching strategy for foundation partnerships in collaboration with the Executive Director and Education Program Director, while also driving a research and development initiative to explore earned income models and opportunities. They will be responsible for researching, recruiting, and securing continuing and new institutional giving sources for unrestricted and programmatic needs, which represent the largest source of philanthropic income for Voice of Witness. 

This position is based in San Francisco and reports to the Executive Director. They will also help provide strategic guidance and work in collaboration with the current individual-giving focused development team composed of a Donor Relationship Manager and Development Assistant. 

 

Key Roles

35% Grant Writing 

  • Collaborates on developing long- and short-term private and public fundraising strategies with executive team for both unrestricted and programmatic needs.
  • Leads the research, organization, and writing of compelling proposals to solicit funding from institutional partners.
  • Authors letters of intent and inquiry and other required proposal-related materials. 
  • Writes interim and final reports for funded programs. 

 

45% Prospect Research & Institutional Partnership Management

  • Builds and manages the current portfolio of  institutional foundations; closes $2.5 million in institutional giving by 2022, with a goal of adding 5 – 7 viable prospects to the institutional portfolio. 
  • Broadens Voice of Witness’s base of support from foundations, corporations, and other institutions by preparing prospect lists, in-depth profiles, and briefings to assist in cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies. 
  • Works to develop social justice-oriented alignment protocols to drive VOW’s partnerships with corporations in a way that honors our mission and the communities we work with.
  • Works with the Board of Directors and other key partners and donors to make connections with prospective institutional funders.

 

20% Research and Development Initiative – Business Development

  • Collaborates closely with the Education Program Director, Education Associate, and Community Partnerships Coordinator to gain a thorough understanding of the work and align potential consultancy partners with specific projects.  
  • Researches, identifies, and pursues earned income opportunities with nonprofits, universities, PR firms, ad agencies and corporate social responsibility prospective clients for oral history methodology trainings. 
  • Manages a modest  existing consultancy portfolio, maintaining and growing at least $210,000 in consultancy revenue by 2022. 

 

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s Degree in a related field such as English, Communications, Economics, Business Administration, etc. Master’s in Business Administration or Non-Profit Management a plus. 
  • 7+ years total in fund development experience, with at least 5 years of successful researching, writing, and securing funds from institutions. 
  • An innovative and strategic approach – you’re not only a skilled grant writer, but a leader capable of thinking outside of the box and generating new opportunities. 
  • Demonstrated ability to steward and maintain strong relationships with institutional funders and program officers.
  • Excellent writing, organization, and project management skills.
  • Proficiency with relational databases, word processing, spreadsheets, and online resources and research tools. 
  • Excellent working knowledge of the institutional giving landscape in the Bay Area.  

 

How to Apply

Qualified applicants may apply by emailing the following by August 16th, 2019, 5pm PST:

Please write “Director of Institutional Partnerships & Strategy – (YOUR LAST NAME)” in the subject line. Please, no phone calls or follow up emails. Only candidates whose qualifications best meet the needs of the job will be contacted.

Communications & Outreach Manager

POSITION OVERVIEW 

Full Time, 40 hours, non-exempt, salaried position 

Salary: DOE  

Benefits: Health, vision, and dental insurance, 16 vacation days, 12 public holidays 

Location: San Francisco 

Start Date: October 1st, 2019 

We are seeking a communications professional to help our dynamic, award-winning organization enhance both our grassroots and broad base audience reach and engagement, and support our fundraising efforts. We’re looking for candidates with a passion for storytelling and social change, who have their pulse on social justice and political issues, and who come with solid experience in nonprofit communications, outreach, and brand building. If you believe strongly in our mission and would like to help us grow as an organization, please consider joining our small yet mighty team.  

 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Brand Communications (30%) 

  • Develop and implement strategies to improve organizational brand visibility and awareness & audience engagement, with particular emphasis on building online awareness.  
  • Maintain editorial governance to ensure all messaging, branding, and the public profile of VOW is consistent and directly supports our mission and goals. 
  • Build opportunities for thought leadership through earned media and speaking engagements in relevant social justice, nonprofit, literary, and education spaces. 

Content Marketing (30%) 

  • Develop and manage annual editorial calendar that engages different audiences across multi-channels, including blog posts, social media, email marketing, web, infographics, monthly newsletter, audio, video, and collateral. 
  • Manage and create engaging content for website, blog, and social media. Create all graphics and visual materials, and ensure new posts and pages are search engine optimized.  
  • Update website and WordPress as needed, coordinating with web host and/or freelance developer for higher level technical issues. 

 Events & PR (25%) 

  • Lead and implement VOW publicity strategy for book releases: 
  • Plan launch events and speaking engagements for editors and narrators, in collaboration with our publisher. 
  • Support book publicity and press outreach efforts and liaise with publisher/publicists, editors, and media. Includes pitching to media outlets. 
  • Provide editors and narrators with media and speaker training as needed. 

Development (15%) 

  • Support donor relationship manager and executive director by executing communications for donor engagement and stewardship, including annual reports, digital fundraising campaigns, community happy hours, and other donor events. 
  • Support grants management and grant writing as needed. 

 Other 

  • Engage in mentoring and professional development opportunities. 

 

 QUALIFICATIONS and EXPERIENCE 

Essential: 

  • Minimum 4 years’ relevant work experience, especially with creating and successfully implementing organization-wide communications strategies. 
  • Highly creative with an editorial, entrepreneurial mindset who seeks to understand what and how audiences consume, and how to create it. 
  • Experience with digital marketing and an ability to use analytic strategies to measure and improve SEO success; ability to analyze and present content and social performance and fine-tune according to the analytics. 
  • Tech competent: experienced with Neon or other CRM software, WordPress, MailChimp, and social media tools.  
  • Excellent written skills. 
  • Strong work ethic, excellent time-management, and organizational skills, detail-orientated and requiring minimal direction.  
  • Prior experience working within social justice/human rights, education, and/or literary organizations.  
  • Polite yet persistent, resourceful, and a sense of humor. Comfortable working in a creative, collaborative, and collegial environment. 

Preferred:  

  • Bachelor’s degree.  
  • Knowledge in graphic design and familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite, including InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. 
  • Familiarity with Chicago and AP styles.  

 

HOW TO APPLY 

 Qualified applicants may apply by emailing the following by September 1st 2019, 5pm PST: 

  • a one-page cover letter 
  • a brief resume to admin@voiceofwitness.org 
  • 3-5 work samples. Must include example of a communications strategic plan + any combination of the following: 
    • media pitch 
    • press release 
    • blog post 
    • op-ed 
    • grant application 
    • messaging document 
  • 3 references will be requested 

Please write “Communications & Outreach Manager – (YOUR LAST NAME)” in the subject line. Please, no phone calls or follow up emails. Only candidates whose qualifications best meet the needs of the job will be contacted.