Advocacy & Events Associate

Organization: Global Fund for Children
Advocacy & Events Associate

Global Fund for Children

Role Summary
The Advocacy & Events Associate is a new full-time role for a creative individual with approximately three years of relevant experience with a passion for creating a more just funding ecosystem for community organizations and grassroots activists around the world.

Title: Advocacy & Events Associate
Position: Full-time, Indefinite, Non-exempt
Team: Communications & Influencing
Reports to: Director of Innovation & Influencing
Location: Remote, Global outside of the US, Canada, or Western Europe in the Global Majority/Global South—with the ability to overlap 12-16 hours per week with the working hours of 8 am-12 pm Eastern time. For GFC’s work, this may include candidates in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Languages required: Professional level fluency in English
Salary Range: Dependent on location, available benefits, and experience; minimum salary is $1500 USD per month
Deadline to apply: Monday, October 9, 2023 before midnight EDT
Start Date: Flexible—December 2023 or January 2024

About Global Fund for Children

Global Fund for Children works to build a world where all children and youth are safe, strong, and valued. To that end, we partner with innovative, locally-led organizations, helping them deepen their impact and build their capacity for social change. By pairing flexible funding with targeted capacity development services, we help our partners grow stronger and more responsive to challenges on the ground. Since 1997, we have invested more than $56 million in over 1000 organizations. Our work advances the rights of children and youth across four focus areas: education, gender equity, youth empowerment, and freedom from violence and exploitation.

You will join a multinational team of caring and committed individuals who believe in investing in bold ideas to help grassroots organizations deepen their impact and advocate for children’s rights. We value courage, excellence, learning, partnership, and inclusion, as well as kindness and passion. Our partners’ visions for change inspire all we do. Feedback and learning inspire us to do better, and we strive to be youth-centered.

Learn more about us at https://globalfundforchildren.org/.

Advocacy in Philanthropy
We are in an exciting moment to re-imagine philanthropy and global development—from trust-based philanthropy to participatory grantmaking, from #Shiftthepower to decolonization—never have there been so many calls for change from within and outside philanthropy. Greater equity is in reach and we want to be part of that tipping point towards change.

Inspired by our commitment to trust-based philanthropy and community-led change, in 2022 GFC convened a group of partner and youth leaders to share their priorities for change in the funding ecosystem and design an influencing strategy. We are now ready to activate our shared strategy and amplify grassroots leaders’ calls for change. Their priorities include making funding more accessible, flexible, and contextualized; ensuring funding partnerships are long-term and include organizational strengthening; and shifting evaluation to be more human-centered. This role helps GFC commit to a participatory strategy and campaign process with our partners and other key stakeholders.

These calls for change build on GFC’s fundamental commitment to shift power in our own policies and practices as a trust-based funder. To date, some of GFC’s internal changes include creating grantee feedback mechanisms; simplifying applications and reports; funding unregistered groups and individuals; forming advisory groups including our Youth Leadership Council and our Partner Advisory Group; co-designing with partners; and facilitating participatory grantmaking with young people. This role helps us learn, reflect, experiment, and share to continue to influence through our values, learning, and actions.

We recognize we are part of a growing movement and allies are essential. GFC collaborates with peers and networks across philanthropy, including WINGS, Elevate Children Funders Group, Ariadne, Human Rights Funders Network, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, International Education Funders Group, and Network of Engaged International Donors, among others, to learn and advocate for change. This role helps us to deepen our network connections, track developments in the sector, and take advantage of exciting opportunities.

About this Role

The Advocacy and Events Associate will join our dynamic Communications & Influencing team to work in collaboration across the team and most closely with the Director of Innovation & Influencing. Some of the role will be tailored to the final candidate to best harness their skills, experiences, and passions and complement the existing skills on the team.

Key elements of the role include:

Advocacy Strategy Co-creation (50%):
Champion strategy goals while centering grassroots leaders

• Co-facilitate a participatory strategy process that calls for changes in philanthropy
• Support or lead key strategy campaign activities—including virtual or in-person events, research, or digital content
• Develop and maintain relationships with GFC’s grassroots strategy champions
• Mobilize GFC team, partners, peers and supporters to amplify campaign activities
• Coordinate logistics including calendar invites, materials, and work with consultants like interpreters/translators and graphic facilitators
• Support learning between meetings/workshops, including organizing notes, recordings, and next steps
• Engage other key stakeholders like members of our Youth Leadership Council and Partner Advisory Group
• Offer training, mentorship, and support as needed
• Gather and document reflections, progress, and strategy outcomes
• Support new ideas and opportunities as they emerge

Innovation & Learning (20%):
Share new learnings and practices that advance community-led change

• Help foster space for GFC to question, experiment, and reflect on existing and emergent practices in grantmaking, capacity development, or community-led change
• Capture and share learnings for internal reflection or to spark dialogue in the sector
• Support or lead research that supports influencing efforts
• Participate in peer learning calls
• Maintain connection with the Programs team to learn about new developments in initiatives
• Build relationships with sector media and serve as a liaison to sector publications
• Conduct research for talking points and public-facing content
• Author or ghostwrite written pieces

Event and Conference Support (20%):
Design inclusive events and learning activities that inspire change

• Coordinate GFC’s events calendar and activities tracker
• Support or lead the design and logistics of GFC events, including webinars, conference sessions, and in-person events or workshops
• Encourage the use of best practices in safeguarding, meaningful engagement, and DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility), including growing our learning in these areas
• Collaborate with GFC team members, partners, and youth leaders to amplify diverse voices
• Facilitate timely financial and non-financial recognition to celebrate co-creators
• Ensure consistent follow up to events, including documenting and sharing learnings
• Represent GFC in event spaces—as a potential facilitator, speaker, or attendee

Sector Learning and New Opportunities (10%):
Help us stay connected to our networks and sector change efforts

• Identify new opportunities including sector events, campaigns, conferences, and publications
• Track and share trends in the sector, including the latest relevant research and tools
• Represent GFC in some network spaces, attending webinars and participating in learning journeys with a commitment to share key learnings internally

The ideal candidate

If you have been growing your skills in advocacy, love to bring people together in community, have a strong belief in building collective power, and are passionate about changes that move us towards equity in funding, we would love to hear from you!

The ideal candidate will be a representative of GFC’s mission, embracing our Core Values of Courage, Passion, Partnership, Learning, Inclusion and Excellence in their daily work.

We know the right person may not be equally experienced in all aspects of the skills listed below so we are committed to providing training and development. We are looking to hear from exceptional candidates who can demonstrate strong skills in most of the following areas in their application and interviews.

Essential:

• Approximately three years of experience in creating advocacy strategies and carrying out campaign tactics. This may include community organizing or mobilization, research advocacy, grasstops engagement, digital campaigning, leadership development or movement building. We will also consider substantive experiences as an activist, volunteer, or intern.
• Some experience in planning all aspects of in-person and virtual events or workshops, including design, logistics, facilitation, and promotion
• Find joy in collaborating and creating with others with a passion for participatory practices
• Deep belief in building collective power and encouraging community and youth leadership
• Commitment to the wellbeing and safety of activists, youth, and children, including following GFC’s safeguarding policy
• A curious learner who is eager to ask questions, reflect, and generously connect with others
• Willingness to be proactive in identifying issues and taking initiative to find and enact solutions
• Ability to express ideas in English in a fluent, clear and concise way, both orally and in writing, to communicate advocacy goals, learning, and research, etc. to diverse audiences
• Proficient in web-based technology, including Zoom, and social media
• Ability to work remotely, travel, and meet physical requirements:
  • Remote work: Access to reliable internet connection with sufficient speed for video calls and to upload and download large files (We understand short-term power or internet outages may happen from time to time in some countries).
  • Travel: Ability to travel internationally and maintain a valid passport. This position will likely require travel four weeks out of a year.
  • Physical requirements: This position requires constant computer work with repetitive motion and long periods of sitting. The physical demands of this position are light with the expectation that the team member can exert up to 20 Ib. of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 Ib. of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects. Light work usually requires walking or standing to a significant degree. GFC will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the US Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Desirable:
We are especially excited to hear from applicants with one or more of these experiences:

• Experience working with youth and/or grassroots leaders with a dedication to using meaningful engagement or participatory practices
• First-hand experience applying for funding and navigating power dynamics in philanthropy, grantmaking, or global development
• Digital content creation skills like graphic design or audiovisual production, including with artivism
• Advocacy experience within the United Nations or European Union system or with bilateral donors (e.g. USAID, FCDO, SIDA, etc.)
• Experience in developing learning or advocacy materials
• Speak a language from a country where GFC works and has grantee partners

Working at Global Fund for Children

Global Fund for Children fosters a caring and flexible work environment that promotes collaboration, team wellbeing, respect, and professional development. We set standards of excellence and quality in our work, firmly believing that children and youth deserve the best we can offer.

The position will be contracted in your country of residence through a local employment firm. We value our team members’ growth and wellbeing and offer a generous compensation and benefits package:

• Competitive Salary: Salary minimum is $1500 USD per month based on local salary scale, professional experience, and benefits available, with eligibility for annual increases
• Flexible work schedule: 40 hours per week with options for flexibility for work-life balance. Must overlap approximately 15-20 hours per week with some of US Eastern time zone (8 am-12 pm)
• Technology: GFC will provide a laptop to carry out your work.
• Holidays and Leave: We believe in work-life balance and the importance of rest. GFC provides a generous holiday and vacation allowance, aligned with our values and local country norms.
• Focus on Wellbeing: We believe in the power of rest, connection, creativity, and play. We offer space for our team to come together through virtual and in-person retreats and other opportunities.
• Investment in personal growth: GFC encourages professional development as part of our culture and values. GFC provides regular opportunities for training, collaboration, and mentorship, including 360-degree feedback in our annual evaluations. Team members may access professional development funds to support continued learning.

How to apply

How to apply?

If this sounds like your dream job and you meet the essential requirements, we are excited to hear from you! The deadline to apply is Monday, October 9 at midnight EDT.

In lieu of a traditional cover letter, please share your 1) Resume or CV and 2) Answers to the following questions in 1-2 pages total:

1. What most excites you about this role?
2. What unique skills and experience would you bring to amplify calls for change in philanthropy?
3. Tell us about an event or workshop (online or in-person) you have organized. What was your role? What was its purpose and its results? What did you learn from the experience? How did you ensure it was a meaningful and inclusive experience for participants?
4. Writing sample: Please share a previously created writing sample. This could be a blog, zine, an event invitation, an article, a toolkit, or another professional or academic writing sample. Please include the link or upload a file. We do not expect a writing sample to be perfect or professionally copyedited.
5. Optional design sample: If available, please share a link, file, or image that shows something you’ve created with design elements. This might be a graphic for social media or a website, an infographic, or a reel or video you created, for example. We do not expect you to be a graphic designer but are interested in seeing your interest and eye for creative content.

To complete your application, visit click ‘Apply to Position’ on the top right. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

If you encounter an issue with the application form, please contact us at careers@globalfundforchildren.org.

GFC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. We particularly encourage applicants from communities that have historically been excluded from philanthropy and from under-represented groups including candidates who are LGBTQ+, from Black, African, and Afro-descendant or indigenous communities, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation to apply, please send an email to careers@globalfundforchildren.org with your request.

Global Fund for Children (GFC) partners to build a world where all children and youth enjoy equal resources and opportunities in society and live free from violence, discrimination, and exploitation. To that end, GFC invests in innovative local organizations, helping them deepen their impact and build their capacity for social change. Together, GFC and its partners advance the rights of children and youth facing poverty and injustice and equip them with the tools and skills to reach their full potential. Since 1997, GFC has invested $56 million in more than 1,000 organizations, reaching more than 11 million children and youth worldwide.

www.globalfundforchildren.org