Description
Somewhere along the way, you realized you're a progressive changemaker.
Who knows when it happened? Maybe when you first volunteered for an election. Maybe when you organized friends into your first coalition. Maybe when you became a student leader. Maybe you’ve just always loved that feeling of pushing, pushing, pushing yourself ... and then winning.
If that’s you, and you have a few years of progressive campaigning or organizing under your belt, pay attention to this job. The Fairness Project could be a perfect fit for you if:
- You want to learn a ton, FAST. Our strategy -- running ballot measures for economic and social justice -- isn’t familiar to everyone. But if you are innately curious, love to ask questions, and absorb new ideas quickly, this job will significantly expand your horizons and open many doors.
- You aren’t afraid of unfamiliar tasks. You’re a generalist who can take whatever strange and new tasks are thrown at you. In fact, you love trying something new each day. No two days will be the same.
- You take initiative and stick to deadlines. You don’t need (and probably don’t want) someone telling you exactly what to do every day.
- You get the big-picture strategy, and you also sweat the details, like it’s your job.
- People are your people. You enjoy working in coalitions, coordinating across departments, exploring new communities, and being social. You’ll be honored to represent us, and we’ll be confident that you can read a room.
- Issues of economic and racial justice matter to you, in your bones, and you want to make a measurable impact on the lives of millions of Americans. (If this isn’t you, please, don’t apply.)
- You don’t want to find a new gig every cycle because the Fairness Project is always on -- running campaigns while building the next set of them. If this sounds like a role you could embrace and an organization you'd feel proud to call home, read the details below.
About The Fairness Project
While Congress and state legislatures across the country remain paralyzed by partisan disagreement, ballot measures offer a path forward for improving the lives of millions. The Fairness Project (TFP) incubates, funds, and provides strategic and technical assistance to statewide and municipal ballot measure campaigns, driving the national narrative to elevate the role of direct democracy in progressive change-making. Through ballot measures, TFP offers voters the opportunity to do what politicians cannot or will not: take direct action to enact sound policy and change their own lives.
Since 2017, TFP has racked up 40 wins – and very few losses. Our wins have delivered measurable, life-changing impacts for more than 23 million people. You can read more about our work here.
About the Position
The Regional Campaigns Director will play a central role on our campaigns team, working directly with the Campaigns Director and other internal team members to become the preeminent expert on ballot measures in their states and ensure all of their campaigns win on Election Day. From the moment a ballot measure is thought up, to the day it becomes law and starts to impact people’s lives, you’ll be an integral part of the team.
You will manage a portfolio of states and will oversee the incubation, qualification, and campaign phases for all of them. You will also monitor legislative threats to the ballot measure process that arise in your states and become an expert in the ever-changing ballot measure process itself. This could include, but is not limited to, reviewing and understanding present and past litigation, legislation, and ballot measure campaigns.
The bulk of your work will happen over three major phases, which will overlap, sometimes significantly. Here is an incomplete list of what the role will entail:
Incubation
- Collaborate internally and externally on a wide range of projects, including coalition building, grasstops organizing, quantitative and qualitative research, legal research, and more
- Assist the team with vision planning potential initiatives for current and future cycles
- Firmly establish yourself and the Fairness Project with state partners
- Track on-the-ground movement for any potential initiatives in your states - for or against our priorities
- Manage and execute policy development processes, research plans (qual and quant), budget development, staffing plans, and more
- Make recommendations to organizational leadership on overall campaign involvement and critical decisions
Qualification & Filing
- Oversee the campaign filing & set-up processes (filing campaign committees, opening bank accounts, compliance systems, etc.)
- Participate in a thorough and inclusive vendor and staff selection process
- Work hand in hand with campaign staff and vendors to oversee all aspects of the signature collection drive
- Ensure the coalition remains compliant with the ever-shifting state of campaign finance laws
Campaign
- Maintain your position as a campaign leader, representing TFP with state partners, consultants, staff, and funders as the preeminent ballot initiative experts we are
- Ensure the campaign budget and cashflow are being managed at a high level
- Ensure the campaign has a thorough qualitative and quantitative research plan and participate thoroughly in its creation and execution
- Participate in message development alongside coalition partners
- Manage coalition relationships and advise coalition partners
- Provide guidance and mentorship to campaign staff
- Regularly brief TFP leadership about the campaign’s status and advise on major decisions, including but not limited to our investments
More Information and benefits
The Fairness Project is a fully remote team and employs staff in various time zones within the United States. However, this position requires some travel to campaign states, so it’s preferred that this candidate lives within a reasonable distance from a major airport.
The starting salary range for this position is $125,000/year. To encourage pay equity and transparency in our organization, the Fairness Project does not negotiate starting salaries. Benefits include 100% premium-covered health, dental, and vision care, generous paid time off (up to 38 days per year), 401(k) contributions, an FSA offering, a monthly work-from-home stipend, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
The Fairness Project is committed to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our campaign work reflects these values that fight racial, gender, sexual, and economic inequality. Internally, we seek to build and empower a diverse staff and leadership team. People of color, people with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. We also welcome applications from folks with unconventional or nontraditional backgrounds with transferable skills. The Fairness Project is an Equal Opportunity Employer without regard to race, color, religion, gender or gender identity, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as established under law.
We will accept applications on a rolling basis until December 10, 2025.
To apply, visit: https://apply.workable.com/fairnessproject/
If you require reasonable accommodation or assistance for any part of the application or interview process, please contact us at isabella@thefairnessproject.org and let us know the nature of your request.
Requirements
Requirements
This position requires reliance on a wide range of skill sets, which could be honed from a wide variety of backgrounds. We think the most qualified candidates will have a mix of experience in some of the following roles, but if you think your experience qualifies you based on the desired skill sets listed below, please apply:
- 3+ cycles of campaign experience in any of the following campaign roles:
- Campaign manager or deputy campaign manager
- Political director
- Field director (or deputy/regional field director)
- Communications director
- Ballot measure experience is a plus, but not required
- Statewide campaign leadership experience is a big plus, but not required
- AND/OR 6-8 years of experience in any of the following fields:
- Coalition management
- Legislative/issue advocacy
- Constituent/customer services
- High-level staffing of CEOs, politicians, or other principals
- Policy Development
- Government Relations
Skills and Experience
- Cultivating and managing relationships, either in a coalition or campaign setting
- Building campaign budgets and tracking campaign spending
- A solid understanding of the research methods available to test voter attitudes towards an issue and develop a winning messaging strategy.
- Experience drafting and/or interpreting qualitative and quantitative research instruments
- A solid understanding of the research methods required to write thorough memos about the ballot process. You know where to look for applicable election laws, campaign finance/compliance requirements, election results, etc.
- Using progressive voter targeting tools such as VAN/TargetSmart
- Familiarity with voter modeling and how it is used to inform campaign programming
- Fluency in Microsoft Office (particularly Excel), Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc, and a willingness to learn more
- Eagle eyes -- attention to detail, specifically relating to budgeting, campaign timelines, campaign finance & compliance issues
- Managing complex projects with both internal and external deliverables
- Creating presentation-ready materials for external meetings
- Discerning when something has a high level of importance, a high level of urgency, both, or neither. You can easily prioritize tasks and next steps, even when circumstances are changing rapidly around you
- A strong project management muscle in a variety of different scenarios, with the ability to manage strong personalities up, down, and across a chain of command
