Advocacy Manager

The Iowa Food Bank Association (IFBA) mission is to support the Feeding America food banks and their a liates serving Iowa in their work to ensure that su cient food is accessible to all.

The Iowa Food Bank Association (IFBA) is a collaboration of Feeding America food banks and a liates that serve Iowa’s 99 counties. Iowa’s food banks partner with 1,400 non-pro t organizations serving children, adults, veterans, and seniors. These organizations include food pantries, emergency meal sites, congregational meal sites, emergency shelters, and other sites that provide food to clients. IFBA believes that collaborative e forts allow the food banks to becomemore e cient and e fective in serving hungry Iowans.

IFBA believes partnerships are critical to alleviating hunger. We track state and federal policy and lead advocacy e forts for our six partner Feeding America Food Banks. We focus on policies that make us more e cient and e fective in serving the more than 229,500 adults, children, and seniors facing hunger in Iowa.

PROJECTOVERVIEW

With funding provided by Feeding America, the Iowa Food Bank Association is continuing our journey to create an advocacy program that leverages the passion and expertise of our leaders, volunteers, and agency partners.

Under the direction of the Executive Director, the Advocacy Manager will execute a newly launched advocacy program to support our policy objectives. The contractor will work in close coordination with the 6 regional food banks to engage key leaders, stakeholders, volunteers, and agency partners in grassroots and grasstops advocacy activities. This work will build upon an approved three-year advocacy plan.

DETAILS

● The budget is $3,696 per month for contractor services, plus pre-approved travel expenses

● Time commitment of up to 80 hours per month (or up to 20 hours per week)

● The contractor must be located in Iowa and have the ability to travel within Iowa, if needed (pre-approved travel expenses will be reimbursed).

● The initial engagement is 6 months, with the ability to extend and possibly become a long-term engagement

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IFBA Advocacy Manager contractor

SCOPE OFWORK

Coordinate state and federal issue campaigns

● In collaboration with the Executive Director, Advocacy Committee, IFBA board, and the lobbyist, develop and implement comprehensive state and federal grassroots and grasstops advocacy campaigns, demonstrating constituent support for policies that reduce or eliminate hunger in Iowa.

● In collaboration with Feeding America, support federal campaigns and congressional champion-building and stakeholder engagement.

● Plan andmanage lobby days or similar events, to drive engagement and policy wins.

Draft and manage advocacy communications

● Create advocacy content to share with regional advocacy leads (Advocacy Committee),

IFBA board members, agency partners, and advocacy network, such as: legislative alerts, talking points, fact sheets, website content, and training materials.

● Communicate using messages that are tailored to the speci c political environments and attuned to the rapid pace of legislative activities.

● Maintain IFBA advocacy web pages and social channels to drive engagement and action.

● Work with Advocacy Committee members to identify and develop advocacy stories and media advocacy opportunities.

● Research and launch an online advocacy tool.

Deploy and manage advocacy tools

● Lead coordination of the Advocacy Committee to ensure they have the proper tools and resources to engage their networks in advocacy campaigns.

● Deploy andmanage IFBA’s digital advocacy tools including reporting out metrics on each campaign.

Collaborate with external partners

● Accurately and e fectively represent IFBA and its mission in a manner commensurate with the organization's brand.

● Establish andmaintain collaborations and partnerships with other organizations, as appropriate, in coordination the with IFBA Executive Director.

Ideal contractor will have:

● Minimum of three years of relevant experience (includes internships, campaign experience, volunteer roles, etc.)

● Demonstrated experience with issue advocacy or campaign organizing experience

● Basic understanding of Iowa’s legislative environment and process

● Excellent organizational skills

● Experience using online advocacy and communications tools

● Strong written, oral, interpersonal, computer, and social media skills required

● Ability to extrapolate key policy information to communicate e fectively to a variety of stakeholders

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IFBA Advocacy Manager contractor

● Demonstrated ability to work on fast-paced, time-sensitive matters with internal and external stakeholders.

● Ability to organize, hold meetings, and maintain e fective working relationships with state and federal legislative o cials, in partnership with the Advocacy Committee.

● Ability to establish andmaintain e fective working relationships with diverse individuals and communities.

Selection Process

● By December 11, send a resume and letter of interest, outlining your quali cations, approach, and interest to linda@iowa ba.org. Include “Advocacy contractor” and your name in the subject line.

● Quali ed contractors invited to an interview to be held in mid-December.

● Discussions with nal contractors to be held in late-December.

● References collected from nalists.

● Contractor selection made in early January.

● Anticipated contract start date is January 16, 2024.