Associate, Advocacy

Associate, Advocacy

United States Fund for UNICEF

Washington, DC

$44,000 a year - Full-time

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The past two decades have seen important progress on child rights, yet while much has been achieved, sharp disparities remain. In most countries, inequality is higher today than a generation ago, including in middle income countries where most of the world’s poor children now live. The rapid pace of urbanization and the growing youth bulge in Africa and parts of Asia will require significant expansion of the provision of essential services for children. These challenges are compounded by the scale and complexity of crises triggered by conflict, natural disasters or epidemics. The global community faces these challenges when the political and economic environments pose challenges of their own, testing the world’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable. In this environment, strong and consistent leadership of UNICEF is critical to enable the achievement of results for children.

UNICEF USA (UUSA) is a private, independent, U.S. nonprofit that rallies the American public to support the world’s most vulnerable children through the unmatched reach of UNICEF. Headquartered in New York City, UUSA has some 300 employees distributed across nine regional offices in the U.S. To fuel UNICEF’s life-saving work across the globe, UUSA raises nearly $600 million dollars from private sources every year and marshals its supporters to advocate for over $800 million in annual US government support. UUSA has built abroad - based movement to advocate for the well-being and protection of children globally. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org .

Position: Associate, Advocacy

Location: Based in New York City Headquarters or Washington, DC

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary: NYC minimum salary for this position is $44,000. This may be adjusted to reflect the cost of labor of a candidate’s work location, if outside of NYC

Position Summary

Reporting to the Assistant Director of Policy and Advocacy in Washington, DC, the Advocacy Associate assists the Policy and Advocacy Team in integrating advocacy activities into the work of all UNICEF USA departments and regional offices throughout the year and raise awareness about the protection of child rights and UNICEF advocacy priorities. Working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders, the Associate supports UNICEF USA programming to mobilize volunteers and empower youth at scale in support of the organization’s policy priorities. The position also works to support staff and programs aimed at policy change, nongovernmental organization (NGO) coalition building, volunteer recruitment, retention, engagement, and stewardship, and data and digital platforms. They will help to gather and maintain constituent and group data and track key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with our engagement and policy change strategies.

Key Responsibilities/Outcomes (include but are not limited to):

UNICEF UNITE and volunteer support

Support the recruitment, stewardship, and retention of advocacy volunteer leaders nationally.

Support constituents in preparing for meetings with government offices, including coordinating prep calls, training constituents on policy priorities, and ensuring child safeguarding protocols are followed.

Help develop internal and external advocacy-related resources, including drafting content and working with the Marketing and Communications team to finalize design.

Regularly check in with Community Engagement Associates on progress towards advocacy goals.

Manage the advocacy email account, which includes responding to inquiries from volunteer, government, and coalition partner constituents and keep standard responses documentation up to date.

Help in the planning and executing regional and national leadership development trainings and community-building events, including regular advocacy webinars, the UNICEF USA Annual Summit, and Advocacy Day/Week.

Advocacy campaign and digital support

Assist in the planning of advocacy alerts targeted at UNICEF USA grassroots supporters.

Support in the creation of new digital advocacy campaigns and maintain the UNICEF USA Action Center via UNICEF USA’s digital advocacy platform, Phone2Action.

Liaise with the Marketing and Communications team, and Community Engagement communication leads to draft and send constituent emails highlighting advocacy campaigns, create social media shareables and promote activations via UNICEF USA channels.

Maintain and update the advocacy website as assigned, including contributions to the UNICEF USA advocacy blog, coordinating with other staff in the division who work on website and storytelling.

Program documentation, reporting, and operational support

Track UNICEF USA endorsed legislation and Congressional targets.

Work within internal constituency management systems to manage and maintain clean data of volunteer and government records to help support, inform and track advocacy and engagement strategy.

Help maintain advocacy folders, including saved Phone2Action reports, in UNICEF USA’s file-sharing system, Box.

Work with Assistant Director to create, organize and document internal standard operating procedures including, but not limited to, management of external-facing email accounts, child safeguarding protocols for advocacy meetings, processes for inviting government officials to UNICEF USA events, advocacy volunteer leader retention, and recruitment projects and other projects as needed.

Assist in developing quarterly and annual reports and presentations, including basic data analysis.

Other

Attend and report on advocacy and public policy-related events, calls, and webinars.

Other duties, as assigned.

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of three years related experience with advocacy and policy, civic engagement, or other relevant employment preferred

Experience with community organizing, volunteer management, and a passion for inspiring others through relationship management

Ideal candidate will be organized, resourceful and energetic self-starter with the ability to manage multiple priorities and work autonomously with attention to detail

Innovation, creativity, and a team player mentality are necessary for success in this role

Proven ability to work well with a diverse group of people in a team setting

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are essential, both written and verbal

Proven ability to prioritize, work independently, handle multiple, complex tasks simultaneously, and to generate pragmatic solutions to challenges

Strong customer service approach to interactions with colleagues and partners, ability to navigate complex environments, and help build relationships with a variety of stakeholders

Strong organizational and administrative skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

Ability to use or learn to use cloud-based project management tools such as Trello

Past experience with data management systems like Blackbaud CRM (BBCRM) preferred

Ability and enthusiasm to further UNICEF USA’s mission

Must demonstrate UNICEF USA Core Values: Trust, Respect, Accountability, Innovation, Teamwork, and Service

Must possess current and valid US Work Authorization and be eligible to work for any US employer without sponsorship.

Due to the high volume of applications received, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

UNICEF USA is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.