Employment Opportunities

Open Positions:

• Director of Development
• Field Organizer
• Americorps Communications Associate
• Americorps Community Outreach Associate

Director of Development

Appalachian Voices, an award winning non-profit organization that protects the land, air, water and communities of the central and southern Appalachian region while advancing a clean energy future, is seeking a Director of Development. This individual will join a team of professionals dedicated to bringing people together to implement solutions to the environmental problems having the greatest impact on the region. Our staff share a strong commitment to our mission and a deep connection to the Appalachian region and its people.

Based in Charlottesville, Va., Boone, N.C., or Washington, D.C., the Director of Development will report to the Executive Director. S/he will be responsible for maximizing development functions throughout the organization through close collaboration with our program, communications and development staff, particularly our Director of Leadership Gifts.

Essential job responsibilities include:

• Managing all development activities to meet our fundraising goals
• Creating and implementing a development plan in consultation with the Executive Director, the Director of Leadership Gifts, and the senior management team
• Tracking all foundation schedules, deadlines and requirements, and developing and submitting grant proposals and reports
• Researching potential new sources of foundation funding, making initial contacts with foundations and submitting letters of inquiry
• Ensuring compliance with charity-rating entities such as Charity Navigator
• Assisting with board meetings and board development
• Contributing to organizational communications strategies and overseeing communications for development
• Supervising membership development and relationships with major donors
• Participating on the senior management team to help formulate and execute long-term goals and strategies, and to ensure effective day-to-day operations

Education, experience and skills required:

• Extremely strong writing skills and demonstrated success in securing grants and major gifts
• Excellent time-management skills
• Ability to work productively both autonomously and as a team member
• Experience attracting, engaging and building lasting relationships with high-level donors
• Working knowledge of social media and other digital tools to grow membership base and raise organizational visibility is a plus
• Familiarity with environmental and/or energy issues is a strong plus

The successful candidate will be committed to the mission of Appalachian Voices and motivated to join a team of hard-working, fun-loving, caring, smart and creative colleagues. Appalachian Voices is an Equal Opportunity Employer and minorities are encouraged to apply. Competitive non-profit salary commensurate with experience and skills.

• If interested in applying please send your resume and a cover letter to hiring@appvoices.org.

Field Manager

Appalachian Voices, an organization that protects the land, air, water and communities of the Appalachian region, is seeking a Field Manager. This individual will join a team of professionals dedicated to bringing people together to implement solutions to the environmental problems having the greatest impact on the region.

Based in Boone, NC, the Field Manager will report to the Director of Programs and will coordinate with staff engaged in outreach to people and businesses in rural Appalachia to build support for our campaigns to strengthen clean water protections, reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants, end mountaintop removal coal mining and promote energy efficiency financing programs for homeowners. The successful candidate will have solid skills and experiences in three primary areas: volunteer management, field organizing and analytics.

Appalachian Voices’ Field Manager will be expected to:

• Create and implement an outreach plan to increase community involvement in our Appalachian Water Watch, Energy Savings for Appalachia, and Red, White & Water campaigns;
• Oversee regular volunteer nights and train and lead teams of volunteers to conduct phone banking, door-to-door canvasses and direct mail to homes and businesses across Appalachia;
• Oversee development of an “integrated outreach management system” that combines personal and household information from the Voter Activation Network and other third-party databases with a constituent management system that tracks detailed information about communications through e-mail, social media, direct mail, phone-banking and canvasses;
• Assist in developing and validating predictive models using the outreach management system and the Voter Activation Network to improve targeting of outreach efforts and optimize communications with different demographic and geographic groups;
• Work with Appalachian Voices’ communications team to create compelling outreach materials in both print and digital formats;
• Work with Appalachian Voices’ development team to implement strategies to build membership in low-income communities directly impacted by coal mining and power plant pollution.

Experience and skills required:

• Strong communications skills and ability to understand and translate complex technical and policy information into compelling language;
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage and inspire volunteers and activists and oversee canvasses and/or phone-banks (experience managing a non-profit or political campaign office is a plus);
• Strong analytic ability, “systems thinking,” and creativity in experimenting with new approaches to optimize outreach, communications and data analysis;
• Willingness to travel frequently and work some nights and weekends;
• Familiarity with environmental and/or energy issues, and organizing in rural areas are a plus.

The successful candidate will be committed to the mission of Appalachian Voices and motivated to join a team of hard-working, fun-loving, caring, smart and creative colleagues. Appalachian Voices is an Equal Opportunity Employer; minorities are encouraged to apply. Competitive non-profit salary commensurate with experience and skills.

• If interested in applying please send your resume and a cover letter to hiring@appvoices.org.

Americorps Communications Associate

* Please note: this position is an eleven-month service term and is administered under the auspices of Americorps and Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy’s Americorps Project Conserve program *

The Communications Associate will work to educate the public on environmental issues in southern Appalachia through print and online media resources by serving as Managing Editor of our 61,000 circulation bi-monthly newspaper and partnering with the communications team for all organizational communications needs.

The Communications Associate will often be simultaneously engaged in a variety of projects, and is encouraged to have strong multi-tasking skills and be forward-thinking, possess an excitement about journalism and other written communications, have a cutting-edge perspective on environmental issues and the ability to converse easily with and manage freelance writers and photographers through the deadline process. Position responsibilities will include:

• Managing the daily and overall functions of the organization’s bi-monthly journalistic publication, The Appalachian Voice, including participating in the creation of each issue from storyboarding to final product, managing freelance writers and photographers, interns and volunteers, and overseeing the overall workflow including editing freelance stories, copy-editing final product and uploading each final issue to the publication’s online version;

• Contributing to the organization’s Front Porch Blog by assisting the Communications team to maintain a full schedule of new posts, assisting program staff with editing and posting their blogs, and composing their own unique and engaging blog posts on a variety of topics;

• Overseeing the organization’s monthly special page in a regional news publication, The Mountain Times, by working with program and communications staff to compose relevant and timely articles about topics related to the organization’s work; 3

• Managing interns and volunteers in projects that involve communications components;

• Assisting with posting educational information to the organization’s social media networks;

• Assisting with outreach efforts to recruit volunteers and members at various tabling events, conferences and presentations;

• Assisting the organization’s communciations team with other communications needs when available and as need arises, including but not limited to email blasts, the monthly Advocate newsletter, press releases, promotional materials and more.