P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701 | www.prodane.org | office@prodane.org | (608) 257-4985
Application deadline is Tuesday, August 15 at noon. You may mail your resume and cover letter to:
Progressive Dane
P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701
*Applications materials may also be e-mailed (as attachments) to office@prodane.org.
About the PD Staff Organizer
The organizer is Progressive Dane’s only paid staff. The position focuses on recruiting and retaining members, coordinating volunteers, leadership development, outreach, and office management.
To recruit and retain members, the staff person must have a passionate belief in progressive third-party politics; share the values that underlie Progressive Dane’s work; have the skills to communicate our values and work to others; and the ability to persuade them to join the party.
The staff person must be able to work on his or her own, be flexible, possess and ably use discretion, have good interpersonal skills, be creative and have a sense of humor. Basic knowledge of word processing, database and email programs is required, and some knowledge of website maintenance and graphic design is preferred.
The position is budgeted for 25 hours per week. Additional hours are possible in the future if the staff person is successful in recruiting more members for the organization. Evening and weekend work is occasionally required.
The staff person is supervised by the Co-Chairs of the Party and other interested Steering Committee members who join the Personnel Committee. The Personnel Committee meets bi-weekly with the staff person.
The staff person does not work on any electoral campaigns. (We do this to avoid cumbersome campaign reporting requirements and because we have plenty of volunteers for this kind of work.) Any electoral activities in which the staff person participates must be done on his or her own time and are strictly voluntary. Except as directed by the Personnel Committee, the staff person also does not participate in the work of Progressive Dane committees, with the exception of the Organizing Committee. The staff person may be an active member of any committee she or he wishes, but this activity is strictly voluntary.
The position pays $10.25 to $12 per hour, depending on experience. With only one staff person, Progressive Dane cannot offer group health insurance. However, the staff person may be able to negotiate some kind of benefits package with the Personnel Committee. The staff person works out details for vacation and sick days with the Personnel Committee. The staff person does not work more than 25 hours per week – this really is a part-time job and extra work is not expected.
The duties of the staff person are:
New Member Recruitment/Retention (55% of time)
The primary task of the staff person is to bring new members into Progressive Dane. The staff person should have the ability to:
·identify new sources of members;
·design and implement strategies for contacting potential members; and
·persuade potential members to actually join.
In the past, Progressive Dane has had great success in recruiting new members through various techniques, including mass mailings, house parties, door-to-door canvassing and speaking to sympathetic groups. However, the staff person has great discretion in how to pursue new members. The staff person will be required to develop a one-year work plan that will provide the context in which the staff person and Personnel Committee will evaluate the weekly work of the staff person.
In addition, the staff person is responsible for getting current members to renew their annual memberships and for upgrading annual members to monthly sustainers. This is currently done on a quarterly basis and involves a mailing to members followed by reminder phone calls. This requires putting together a mailing and several phone banks. The staff person does not do all of this work, but is responsible for recruiting and supervising volunteers to do these tasks.
Coordinating Volunteers (15% of time)
The staff person is also responsible for organizing our monthly volunteer night and periodic membership-related phone banks. At the monthly volunteer night, volunteers assemble the mailing of our newsletter and do other light work. (The staff person is not responsible for the newsletter, but is responsible for getting volunteers for this event.) The staff person must identify tasks suitable for volunteers of varying skill levels and supervise the work of those volunteers.
Progressive Dane also has volunteers who commit to working substantial, regular hours of work. Examples are someone that maintains our database or interns from the University or from MATC. The staff person is responsible for identifying tasks suitable for these volunteers and for supervising their work.
Office Management (20% of time)
The staff person is the first person to read our mail and email and to answer the phone. The staff person does not need to respond to all of this material, and indeed should not. But the staff person must be able to decide who should respond and get the material to the appropriate person.
The staff person is responsible for maintaining our database and is the keeper of a Progressive Dane mailing list.
In general, the staff person should not do those tasks that volunteers are able to do. The staff person may be under some pressure to undertake work on behalf of Progressive Dane committees and may be distracted by the minutia of office management. The staff person must have the ability to say no to any tasks that are not approved by the Personnel Committee and to forward to others those office management tasks that fall outside the staff person’s duties. The staff person should have a greater focus on recruiting and retaining members, and less focus on office management.
Meetings (10% of time)
The staff person must attend certain meetings. Attendance at these meetings is considered part of the job and is paid. Attendance at all other meetings is strictly voluntary (and therefore unpaid) unless approved by the supervisory committee. The meetings the staff person must attend are:
·Personnel Committee (bi-weekly on weeks when there are not Steering Committee or General Membership Meetings);
·Steering Committee (second Wednesday of each month in the evening);
·General Membership Meetings (fourth Wednesday of each month in the evening); and
·Organizing Committee (first Monday of each month in the evening.
Posted by prodane at August 1, 2006 11:25 PM
We, the members of Progressive Dane, join together to form an independent political party in Dane County with a major focus on local issues. We pledge to work to improve the quality of life in Dane County for all people, particularly those marginalized by economic and social discrimination. We will work to improve our local government by making it open, easier to understand, and accessible for all citizens of Dane County. We are working to achieve positive policy change by electing accountable progressive officials and mobilizing citizen action.
Progressive Dane's "In The News" blog keeps you up to date on the latest news from (and about) PD. Check here for information on PD's policy initiatives and to read about what our endorsed elected officials are up to.
