Job Description

Organization Background:

The Institute for Policy Studies is a progressive organization dedicated to building a more equitable, ecologically sustainable, and peaceful society. In partnership with dynamic social movements, we turn transformative policy ideas into action.

The Climate Policy Program at IPS is a member of the US Climate Action Network (USCAN), a 190-member network of organizations across the U.S. working in the climate space and related social, economic, and environmental issues. USCAN has launched two member-led campaigns for the 2023-2025 period.

Campaign Background:

One of the USCAN campaigns is the Fast, Full, Fair, Funded, Feminist Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Campaign. This is a two-year campaign within the United States to pressure the U.S. government to become a responsible global player in international climate action grounded in science and justice – instead of its current role as obstructionist-in-chief – by taking leadership to swiftly end the era of fossil fuels, ensure a just transition, and pay a fair share of the costs of a global just transition from fossil fuel extraction. In the lead up to the 2024 UN climate negotiations (COP29) in Azerbaijan, the campaign will pressure the Biden administration to put forward an ambitious, revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) that articulates these commitments, which will then be formalized by the 2025 COP30 in Brazil. The campaign seeks to scale and expand the growing movement to end fossil fuels by bringing a broad base of pressure on the U.S. government and by connecting frontline and grassroots fights with policy expertise within and outside the United States.

The new position of Campaign Coordinator (described in more detail below) will provide coalition facilitation, task management, and project management for the campaign.

The IPS Climate Policy Program is one of the organizations on the Steering Committee of this campaign, and will house this position. The other member organizations in the Steering Committee are: 7 Directions of Service, ActionAid USA, Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, Center for Biological Diversity, Hip Hop Caucus, Oil Change International, SustainUS, Union of Concerned Scientists, and United Women in Faith.

Description of the Role:

This is a part-time term-limited position (20 hours/week) for an initial term of six months, with the possibility of an extension up to an additional 12 months. This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit, and specific terms and conditions of employment are subject to a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

This position may be based at IPS offices in Washington, DC, or fully remote. Occasional travel is required. Due to our work with movements and activists, occasional night and weekend work is also required.

The Campaign Coordinator is expected to create and maintain effective structures, processes, and systems for tracking specific tasks as well as the overall arc of the campaign, tracking engagement of USCAN members (and potentially others) in the campaign, and providing on-ramps for engagement with the campaign. At the end of the six-month period, these systems should be functioning smoothly, and should be easy for campaign Steering Committee members and others to use.

This position primarily plays a coalition facilitation, coordination, and project management role. The successful candidate needs to demonstrate excellent facilitation skills with sometimes challenging coalition dynamics, strong project management, ability to design and maintain structure and systems for tracking accountability and engagement, and flexibility to course correct as necessary to achieve goals. They need to be action oriented and balance leading a good process without getting stalled out by excessive analysis. They need to be detail-oriented with strong follow through. The ideal candidate also has a strong grounding in the climate justice movement and has previous experience organizing campaigns to phase out fossil fuel production.

The Campaign Coordinator has primary responsibility to ensure that the campaign is running smoothly and on target. Specific responsibilities include:

● Scheduling and facilitating meetings of the Campaign Steering Committee, and other campaign working groups as and when they form.

● Developing clear, action-oriented agendas for the meetings, in collaboration with the IPS Climate Policy Director and other members of the Steering Committee.

● Supporting the development of the campaign plan, including developing tactics and turning strategies into concrete action plans.

● Provide project management oversight for the campaign, to ensure that the specific tasks and timelines advance the overall campaign arc. This includes the following tasks: ○ Identify any “missing pieces” – tasks that need to advance but are not moving forward. (It is not necessarily the role of the Campaign Coordinator to perform all of these tasks, but it is their role to identify and keep track of them.)

● Making sure that clear action items and timelines are developed in meetings. Keeping track of who is responsible for each action item, and periodically checking in with the persons responsible for tasks to make sure they are getting done on time.

● Maintaining lists of campaign supporters, resources, and contacts, including lists of supporting organizations, lists of signatories of sign-on statements, lists of elected officials who are campaign champions, a media contacts list, a compilation of earned media coverage, and a well-organized, searchable compilation of campaign resources (such as factsheets, recordings of webinars, campaign explainer videos, social media toolkits, etc.).

● In close coordination with the Steering Committee, creating on-ramps for USCAN members to engage in campaign activities, and disseminating opportunities to engage with the campaign.

● Keeping track of direct advocacy meetings with administration officials, and who the campaign representatives attending the meetings will be. Making sure that all campaign representatives have any talking points that have been developed for the meeting. (It is not necessarily the Campaign Coordinator’s sole responsibility to develop the talking points, though they can certainly play a role in developing them.)

● Maintaining and updating any public-facing website and/or other materials developed for the campaign.

● Liaising between the campaign steering committee and USCAN staff to ensure the campaign maintains good communication, reporting requirements and membership engagement tasks established by USCAN.

This position reports to the Climate Policy Director at IPS, and interacts on a regular basis with the rest of the Steering Committee for the campaign.

Qualifications:

Note: We value diversity and recognize that each candidate brings particular strengths and may lack experience in others.

The ideal candidate has a demonstrated ability, familiarity, and experience (including either professional or volunteer experience, or both) in the following areas:

● Three or more years of experience in organizing, coalition work, or project management.

● Held a leadership role in a campaign to pressure a governmental or corporate target to win a policy goal.

● Facilitated coalition meetings in volunteer or professional capacity.

● Executed complex projects on demanding timelines, with attention to detail.

● Familiarity with climate justice issues and campaigns against fossil fuels and/or international climate negotiations strongly preferred.

● Demonstrated commitment to racial, economic, and environmental justice.

● Excellent written and oral communication skills.

● Demonstrated ability to work in teams.

● Experience with software tools such as Adobe, Google office suite, and Zoom (or other video meeting platforms).

Reporting and Supervision

The Campaign Coordinator will report to the Climate Policy Director at IPS, and is responsible for working collaboratively with the Steering Committee of the campaign.

Salary and benefits:

This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit, and specific terms and conditions of employment are subject to a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, CWA Local 32035.

The hourly rate of pay for this position is $32.24 (amounting to an estimated $16,765 over the 6-month initial duration of the employment term).

The Campaign Coordinator will also receive benefits including health insurance, vacation, and holidays as set forth in the CBA.

How to Apply

How to apply: Please send the following materials in a single PDF to [email protected], with “Campaign Coordinator” in the subject line: 1. Your resume; 2. A cover letter explaining your interest in the position; 3. A brief narrative of an organizing campaign or coalition activity and your role in it; 4. Three references We are relaxing the deadline for applications, and plan to keep the position open until we find the right candidate. IPS is strengthened by the diversity of our network and our differences in background, culture, experience, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and much more. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, the LGBTQIA community, and other groups that have historically been subject to discrimination. Job Types: Full-time, Part-time Pay: $32.24 per hour Expected hours: 20 per week Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Opportunities for advancement

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply Work Location: Remote

Job Categories: Clean Energy. Job Types: Part-Time. Salaries: Less than 20,000.

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