Download a pdf of the job description here. Please share widely!

About PJALS:

The Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane engages everyday people to build a just and nonviolent world through community organizing and grassroots leadership development for peace, racial equity, economic justice, and human rights. We are an independent, multi-issue membership-based organization founded in Spokane in 1975. PJALS’ top priorities are our Young Activist Leaders program; ending mass incarceration and systemic racism in our regional criminal system; countering white nationalism; building power with targeted communities to advance the rights of immigrants, religious minorities, and LGBTQ people; and activist education on racial justice, grassroots organizing, and world issues. Come be part of our team to organize for change! 

In our PJALS community, we believe everyday people can accomplish extraordinary things together. We strive to draw from our differences to increase and enhance effective action to build a just and nonviolent world. Our values ask us to honor and respect our web of different life experience to work collaboratively, sharing power and decision-making. Our work is guided by leadership of people directly impacted by the problems we seek to address, both among our PJALS community and in our broader community and world. We recognize our shared humanity and commit in the following ways to neither harm a member nor see a member harmed:

  • Use an intersectional racial equity lens in all of our work.
  • Call each other in, not out, when we make mistakes.
  • Use decision making processes that engage our diverse community.

PJALS Culture:

PJALS’ work culture is open and based on trusting, respectful, authentic relationships. We honor and respect each other’s lived experience, not just professional experience. We care about the community and world, our organization, members, and mission; we care about the work, the issues, and impacted people. We are fueled by love and outrage! Our organizational culture is based on these shared beliefs and values: 

  • Change is fundamental. 
  • We have an expectation for learning and progress. 
  • We take risks in service of our values. 
  • We share losses and victories. 
  • We do not have internal competition. 
  • We have strong relationships and a strong team. 
  • We support self-care. 
  • We enact conscious use of self. 

Covid-19 response: PJALS staff are working remotely; all events and meetings take place via video or phone. We are not organizing or participating in events that are not explicitly maintaining masking and physical distancing. Currently our plan is to continue this practice into Spring 2021, with potential exceptions based on emergency mobilizations such as responding to fascism. PJALS is closed on Mondays to support work-life balance.

About the Position:

The Digital Organizer is a new role in our team. It is a part time (up to 10/hr week) contract position, but pending resources may be expanded in the future. The Digital Organizer reports to the Director and collaborates with fellow staff (the Organizer and Development Coordinator in particular, to deliver the digital arm of communications, fundraising, and organizing. 

Compensation: 

Hourly rate of $20.00 – 24.50 an hour, up to and not to exceed 10 hours/week for a one-year contract, billed by the Digital Organizer. Hours may fluctuate week to week based on workload, but do not roll over month to month.

Goals for this Position:

  • Create, distribute, and monitor digital content promoting PJALS’ organizing across our communication channels. This includes social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), mobile messaging (ThruText), website (Squarespace), and bulk / targeted email via our database (EveryAction).
  • Elevate frontline and BIPOC voices in our work and the wider movement, to implement inclusivity and accessibility standards in our digital communication, and to stay up to date with social media best practices. 
  • Leverage digital technology to expand our reach, build support for our campaigns, and drive fundraising and offline engagement while enhancing the online community experience of our members and supporters.
  • Facilitate member engagement in two directions: by working with fellow staff to transform digital engagement into ongoing on-the-ground involvement in the organization (ex. by connecting active followers to the Organizer to engage in our committees) and by making it fun and easy for those already involved in our member organizing to tell their story and take action using digital tools, expanding our social reach organically. 
  • Distribute campaign updates, writing, op-eds, event reflections, etc. across all communication channels as shared and generated by staff, including Digital Organizer as familiarity increases. 
  • Collect and share stories and testimonials from PJALS members, including ensuring that collection of reflections after our events and other impact reports are  included as part of regular campaign planning. 
  • Produce creative graphics and visuals for digital organizing activities.
  • Analyze and adapt our communications strategy using the built-in analytics tools within our channels of communication. Share best practices and necessary skills with staff as needed and create periodic communications reports with your findings. 
  • Lead on maintenance of communications calendar, supported by Director and staff, planning event promotion and campaign communication to the day and balancing the communication needs of multiple campaigns. 
  • Shape a strategy to track our membership engagement ladders and move new members up the ladder (ex. conversion of a follower on social media, to joining email list, to becoming a donating member, to coming to in-person events, to joining committees). 

Contract Deliverables:

Our organization is active, visible in the community, and flexible. We strive to balance our long-term priorities with an ability to engage in rapid response on the issues most affecting those in our membership and impacted by our issues. The deliverables below are based on the assumption of 2-4 simultaneous campaigns plus ongoing member engagement. 

A campaign could be a period of lobbying and advocacy activity pressuring lawmakers on a specific bill, a series of skill-building workshops or a speaker series, a seasonal or year-end fundraising drive, or a storytelling project about our work, to name a few examples. 

A member is anyone who has an ongoing involvement in PJALS as a donor and/or a participant in our organizing. This group is primarily engaged and grown through our database, EveryAction. 

With this in mind, the following is a normal expectation of deliverables for this position:  

  • 1-3 email blasts per week (written by staff or Digital Organizer)
  • 4-6 social media posts per channel per week 
    • this includes creating compelling graphics
    • this can be automated using HootSuite or similar
  • 2-6 website updates per month 
  • 2-6 registration forms or online actions per month in Every Action
  • 2-6 updates to Every Action registration forms post-event including editing & posting recording of webinar and/or slides and sharing those links to participants 
  • Daily check and response on each channel (weekday) 
  • Monthly planning sessions with full staff, weekly check-ins with Director
  • Monthly analysis of social media data and generation of recommendations based on data analysis and current best practices 
  • Periodic (tbd) support of online to offline engagement; pull reports of most active online engagers to be contacted for 1:1 with Organizer
  • Creating and maintaining an image library of existing and new photos and graphics. 
  • One time creation of style and design guide for organization
  • One time re-engagement of our Facebook moderation team of trusted volunteers and staff, update of protocol for Group engagement and moderation.

Qualifications: 

Applicants must demonstrate a strong commitment to social justice and enthusiasm for the long haul of movement-building for collective power. Applicants must also be willing and able to work some evenings and weekends when necessary. Applicants must be able to work independently as well as contribute to team success. Skills required include: 

  • Excellent time management, ability to advance more than one project at a time with varying degrees of urgency and long-term importance. Ability to identify the short-term steps that advance long-term goals.
  • Experience / fluency with the following platforms (or comparable): Zoom, Google Suite, Every Action (CRM software), basic website editing (WordPress/Squarespace), graphic design (your preference, but ability to create templates for others to use in Canva useful), basic linear video editing, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. 
  • Strong written and verbal communication, writes concisely, clearly and quickly.
  • Good eye for graphic design (extensive design experience is not required).
  • Knowledge of trends of digital organizing and of best practices for communicating via email and social media.
  • Ability to build respectful relationships with people unlike oneself and support relationship-building across race/ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, faith, and other identities to increase recognition of mutual interest, shared values, and sense of community. 
  • Ability to apply an intersectional racial equity lens to communications. 
  • Comfort in collaboration, able to hold self and others accountable to timelines, values, and relationships.
  • Self-motivated, likely to take initiative to learn a new concept, technology and to troubleshoot issues as they arise. 
  • Growth mindset with a desire to sharpen skills and analysis, receive feedback, and contribute to organizational success.
  • Understanding of the role of narrative and storytelling in organizing work, able to create a continuous story of member engagement within a campaign. Understanding of the importance of both mobilization and long-term relationship building to successful community organizing. 
  • Strategic and critical thinking, able to make the connections between the interconnected issues we work on and constituencies we represent.

Preferred skills and experience: 

  • Directly impacted by issues we work on. 
  • Experience maintaining an organizational website. 
  • Phone/ text banking, cutting turf for canvassing.
  • Knowledge of accessibility best practices in the digital realm.
  • Experience managing social media content & advertising for brands/organizations.
  • Experience managing integrations between digital and field organizing. Instincts that allow you to advise on-the-ground organizers on the digital tactics most likely to support their work.
  • Familiarity with the social justice movement in the Inland Northwest.

How to Apply:

We want to hear from you! Please submit your resume along with a cover letter expressing why your experience, skills, commitment, and vision make you the right candidate for our team, and the following additional application materials:

  • a long-form (250-500 words) writing sample (i.e. blog post, letter to the editor)
  • an example of digital organizing material (i.e. sample email, petition text, etc.)
  • an example demonstrating graphic design experience (i.e. event flier, social media graphic, etc.)

Application deadline: May 19

Send your application materials to [email protected] with subject line “Digital Organizer.” 

Target start date: June 15-29




share

FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube