Overview
The Vermont State Director operates as a generalist for the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action, working to advance our organizational goals for Vermont by utilizing a wide range of strategies, across an array of animal welfare issues, and with people having diverse political views, backgrounds, and beliefs.
The Vermont State Director for the Center and AWA will help animals by extending the reach of the organizations’ programs, priorities, and core messaging. The State Director will work on the wide range of wildlife and domesticated animal issues, but it will concentrate on the former category because those problems for animals are more acute. The person also will work on a regular basis in cooperation with the leadership of established animal protection organizations in the state.
Salary: $45,000-$65,000, depending on experience
Location: Remote
The position reports to the director of state affairs.
DUTIES
1. Build animal welfare capacity in Vermont
- Work with the digital communications team and help to build a list of 10,000 supporters, with regular outbound communications to the universe of supporters in the state
- Cultivate small, medium, and large gifts from Vermonters concerned about animal welfare, so people in Vermont are truly invested in this work
- Identify legislative priorities in the state legislature and lobby on priority items
- Play defense on legislative initiatives that attempt to set the state back on animal welfare
- Support pro-animal county and city ordinances and resolutions where appropriate
- Monitor state agencies and their respective activities and develop executive agency reform goals. Become familiar with workings of other agencies such as the state Department of Fish & Wildlife and animal care and control agencies.
2. Empower local animal advocates and supporters
- Develop a state council, which will allow you to harness the energy of advocates and extend your reach into more communities. Work with them to find tasks and activities that appropriately utilize their time and energy
- Coach and develop local volunteers and support them in their goals to be effective in their advocacy for animals
- Consider establishing a “lobby day” once there is a critical mass of support
- Broaden the coalition to build local and state coalitions, including religious organizations, law enforcement, domestic violence organizations, and others whose values and work intersects with animal welfare
- Establish relationships with other animal protection groups, including shelters, rescues, sanctuaries, and wildlife rehabilitation centers. Activate them to the extent practicable on our legislative and other programmatic campaigns
- Recommend candidates to open positions on various state agency boards and commissions.
3. Be a cultural change agent and leader
- Set a high-water mark for Vermont when it comes to animal welfare, creating an expectation of success in the state
- Identify a list of major businesses in the state that include animals in their supply chains, R&D programs, or operations and those with extractive or waste disposal activities that have an impact on wildlife, habitat, and biodiversity
- Participate in or plan an annual day of awareness around animal deaths on roads and highways, coexisting with wildlife, responsible pet care, advocating for a plant-based diet, protection for farm animals, and other common concerns about animals
- Follow the broader work of Animal Wellness Action, the Center, Green Mountain Animal Defenders, Protect Our Wildlife VT, the Vermont Humane Federation, and others. Develop contacts at the University of Vermont and connect with the Animal Law Program there.
Other duties
- Ability to present yourself in a friendly, professional and non-partisan manner
- Attend biweekly check-in meetings with supervisor, attend weekly teleconference meetings. Other meetings as necessary
- Be prepared and on-time for intramural and extramural meetings and events
- Monitor the legislative calendar/journals daily and attend the Statehouse in Montpelier during the legislative session (Tuesday-Friday from early January through early May)
- Attend monthly Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board meetings in Montpelier (about 6-7 meetings a year).
QUALIFICATIONS
- Minimum five years’ experience in animal welfare policy or a related field
- Experience in a nonprofit advocacy organization or with an agency that works with advocacy clients, strongly preferred
- Bachelor’s degree required
- Ability to travel frequently to state capital and as needed to various destinations within the state
- Ability to achieve results with minimal supervision
- Ability to successfully manage key internal and external stakeholders and relationships
- Ability to prioritize and multitask efficiently
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to adapt and be flexible in a dynamic work environment. Ability to act quickly and change course as needed
- Commitment to animal welfare
- Lobbying experience
- Research and synthesis skills
- Basic computer literacy and an ability to learn appropriate new communications tools
- Self-motivated, especially as it relates to working from a home office.
HOW TO APPLY
Interested applicants should be submit a resume, cover letter and salary history to: HR@animalwellnessaction.org.
We are an equal opportunity employer and give consideration for employment to qualified applicants without regard to age, race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, marital status, disability or protected veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
View this job on the Center for a Humane Economy website.
About Center for a Humane Economy
The Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) organization is a non-profit organization that focuses on influencing the conduct of corporations to forge a humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both.
Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies, and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.
