Careers

Description:

Farm Commons is proud of its sought-after expertise, excellent resources, strong reputation, and authentic success in reducing legal risk for sustainable farmers nationwide. We’ve also built efficiency and revenue streams to support our continued operations. Now, we are excited to reach more of our community and provide deeper support to our members on their path to legal stability.

Our new Communications Manager is key to our future. Having moved into the online education space, we now have the ability to reach any farmer, anywhere, any time. We need someone who can meet them there, with authentic connection in the virtual space.

A successful Communications Manager will achieve the following:

1. Expand the visibility of Farm Commons and farm business law issues as a whole by expanding our audience for social media, newsletter, and email audiences; securing earned media and presentation opportunities; and conducting marketing campaigns around membership and our workshop opportunities.
2. Successfully convey both the importance of legal issues to farm business stability and the value of the Farm Commons community to achieving that goal, as indicating by achieving new member and member retention goals.
3. Ensure each member can meet their legal risk management goals by providing effective, efficient customer service including onboarding/orientation and issue resolution to members.
4. Enable effective, efficient Farm Commons workshops by managing registration, meeting facilitation, and learner support.
5. Manage the orderly editing, updating, and dissemination of Farm Commons’ resources so each community member has access to the resources they need.
6. Support colleagues in a variety of resource creation activities including creating short videos, writing educational material, supporting podcast production, and assembling curricula.

The Communications Manager receives the following regarding salary, benefits, and compensation:

• An annual salary of $57,000 (standard 40 hour workweek). This position is exempt from overtime.
• 10 vacation days, 5 sick days, and 8 paid holidays per year, plus a week off between Christmas and New Years. Full time employees may also take paid time off in the amount of 4 hours per week between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
• Health insurance reimbursement in the amount of $250 per month.
• SIMPLE IRA eligibility with employer match at 3%.
• Stipend for technology upgrades and office furniture.
• Reimbursement of $40 per month for internet expenses

We believe the following skills and qualities are important to achieving the above goals:

1. Strong initiative in identifying and leveraging outreach opportunities
2. Excellent communication skills in a wide variety of contexts with emphasis on online, virtual formats
3. The ability to cultivate a sense community that welcomes and takes care of highly diverse individuals; ability to help others feel a part of something larger than themselves
4. Ability to craft concise, casual, and compelling messages and storylines
5. Strong dedication to the principles of equality and inclusion
6. Respect for data as a guidepost for measuring impact, including the ability to process data and make decisions with it.
7. Problem solving, problem solving, problem solving, especially with limited resources and limited budget
8. A passion for and experience with the sustainable agriculture community

Familiarity with the following tools is important to the Communications Manager’s day-to-day work:

• Website platforms, ideally WordPress
• Social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as associated software for producing social content such as photo editing programs and Canva.
• Email newsletter platforms, ideally MailChimp
• Video and audio editing software
• Online workshop and curriculum tools

Location and Facilities

The successful candidate must have consistent and high-speed access to the internet at their work location. The successful candidate may work from any location that permits the successful achievement of the position objectives, which includes regular appearances on camera and recording audio and visual material without distraction. Availability during standard business hours within a time zone of the continental United States is required. That being said, successful candidates are not required to be available for every business hour within their time zone; 40-hour/week work schedules that include evening/weekend work are allowed, subject to approval. Travel is not required while the pandemic remains a priority. In the future, travel to winter conferences and/or educational events is likely to be required. All travel is compensated.

Workplace Culture

Successful candidates must be able to thrive in a very small organization that is entirely remote. This means there is often little concrete direction provided aside from a clear goal and suggested avenues to meet it. Each team member needs to operate with little oversight while initiating coordination and collaboration, without hesitation. We cultivate an emotionally intelligent environment where colleagues are supported in understanding and conveying their needs.

Flexibility is an essential component of working in a small and highly innovative organization. Let’s be honest: things rarely go as planned. Our current team has perfected the pivot and we need a new team member who can move with us. At the same time, we lack skills in process and procedure. We need someone who can step in to help create, implement, and direct the processes and procedures that we urgently need around our membership program, especially. Not only do we need a welcoming, outgoing soul who can grow our supportive community, we need someone who thrives on creating order!

The ideal candidate is not a lawyer and does not need to have working knowledge of farm law or legal concepts in general (although that is a bonus). Spanish language fluency is a bonus but not a requirement. The Communications Manager position requires communication with colleagues, partners, and members of the community in English.

Process and Commitment to Equality

We strive to create an equitable hiring process that allows strong candidates to shine, without the artificial barriers like formal education. To assist us in creating a fair process, we ask all candidates to apply by completing this form, linked here and url pasted below. The form contains two position-based questions that are asked of all candidates. This form requests a resume and cover letter, uploaded as a single pdf file. References will be sought from candidates who advance to an interview. We are on a tight timeline and hope to call candidates for interviews in mid-October with a November start date. If you have any issues with the application form, email info@farmcommons.org for guidance.

We understand that not all candidates will be able to fully represent their capacities with a standard application package such as this one. Any candidate who wishes to submit alternative materials may reach out to info@farmcommons.org to discuss the materials they want to submit. The deadline for submission of any and all applications is October 7, 2021 at 5pm, Pacific time. Submissions made after that time will not be considered. We are very busy at this time and apologize if we are unable to respond to requests for more information.

Farm Commons is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diverse perspectives among our staff. We work create hiring processes that eliminate barriers to full and fair consideration. Candidates are assed on the basis of their potential to succeed in contributing to our mission and as a member of our team without regard to race, gender, disability, or other protected class. We encourage diverse candidates to apply.

APPLICATION FORM: https://www.questionpro.com/t/AOj0MZowlR