Alumni Organizer Job Description
Title: Alumni Organizer
Salary Range: $70,000 - $90,000 annually, based on experience
Location: Remote with extensive national travel
Start: As soon as possible
Opportunity:
Crimson Courage seeks a full-time grassroots organizer to build alumni organizations across the country through working with Crimson Courage’s Volunteer Committee and Cross University Committee to engage Harvard alums in organizing at Harvard and at other schools. The organizer will support Harvard alums in developing and supporting alumni-led grassroots organizations at other colleges and universities, reporting to Crimson Courage’s Co-Chairs. The organizer will work with alums to develop joint strategies with students, faculty, staff and community leaders at their school, and to engage in national strategies and tactics with the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education. In doing so, the organizer will prioritize alumni who are connected with Crimson Courage, strengthen their connections with the group, and expand the number of alums who are connected with Crimson Courage. The organizer will collaborate with other organizers involved in the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education and its member organizations.
Crimson Courage:
Crimson Courage is a group of Harvard alumni who have joined together to mobilize alumni to support Harvard in championing academic freedom, constitutional and human rights, civil liberties and democracy in our country. We do this in recognition of the integral role that academic freedom plays in protecting democracy and the vast contributions of higher education in improving the lives of Americans for generations. A summary of Crimson Courage’s values and principles, which every member of the group’s Coordinating Team fully supports, as well as Crimson Courage’s history, purpose, vision, and mission is on our website (see https://www.crimsoncourage.com/about).
Crimson Courage is alarmed by the growing attacks, especially from federal and state governments, against institutions of higher learning and the very foundations of academic freedom. Equally, we are alarmed by the readiness of some institutions of higher learning to accede to arbitrary demands from the government, thus compromising academic freedom and constitutional rights, both as a result and in advance of pressure to do so.
Crimson Courage is part of building the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education. The Emergency Campaign is building a unified national grassroots campaign across all the higher ed
constituencies, to defend the autonomy of colleges and universities while fighting to make higher education more accessible, affordable, and relevant.
Main Responsibilities:
Work with Harvard alums connected with Crimson Courage who have connections at other schools (as alums or faculty or staff) to organize alumni groups at those schools, and help these groups build the capacity to mobilize alums in support of higher education. This includes recruiting Harvard alums to participate, helping them develop and implement an initial organizing plan for their other school, and providing support to these volunteer leaders as they get their group off the ground. Note: Crimson Courage has identified over 1500 people on our list who have an affiliation with another school. Our Cross University committee has begun the process of recruiting some of them to start organizing alums at their other school.
Maintain and organize our Harvard alumni databases in line with our data security protocols
Support alum groups in working with the other constituencies on their campus to increase support for higher education, including connecting them with unions, faculty groups, student groups and others, and helping them navigate the ways to build joint work.
Provide staff support to Crimson Courage volunteers and our Cross-University and Volunteer committees in their work with Harvard alums. Strengthen Harvard alums’ connection with Crimson Courage or connect them to it.
Engage the alum groups in strategies and tactics of the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education and various cross university alumni activities.
Qualifications:
We are looking for an organizer who will commit to Crimson Courage’s values and principles, with some (not necessarily all) of these qualifications:
Strong grassroots organizing background with demonstrated campaign skills (4 or more years)
Successful experience building leadership teams and managing projects and campaigns
Experience in training, coaching, and member development
Harvard alum or some connection to the Harvard community
Strong communications skills (written and verbal)
Ability to work collaboratively while managing multiple moving parts
Ability to take initiative and work independently, while also being accountable to volunteer leadership
Interest in higher education and anti-authoritarian organizing efforts
Experience working with databases and willingness to use new technology platforms for data security purposes
Salary and Benefits and Other Details:
Estimated Salary Range: $70,000 - $90,000 annual salary, with a competitive benefits package This job is full-time, 40 hours per week. The organizer will report to the Crimson Courage co-chairs. We are initially hiring for a 6 month program, which may be extended beyond that depending upon interest, opportunity and funding.
TO APPLY: