We're looking for a campaign Strategist to join the Fair Agenda Board

Are you committed to creating a fair and equal future for all women? Do you love crafting strategies to change policies that change lives? Does the idea of working with 37,000+ other Australians to affect change make you bounce out of bed in the morning? Then apply now to join the Fair Agenda Board! 

About Fair Agenda

Fair Agenda is a community driven by 37,000 Australians who are campaigning together to bring us closer to a fair and equal future for all women.  

Right now our communities top priorities are: addressing gendered violence, improving women's representation, and protecting reproductive rights.

Since Fair Agenda launched our first campaign 3.5 years ago we have:

  • Stopped thousands of calls to the national domestic violence hotline from going unanswered, by winning $4 million of additional federal government funding for 1800 RESPECT,
  • Stopped scheduled cuts to working parents’ time to care for their newborns that would have hurt 79,000 families per year, slashing the time they could afford to care for their new baby.
  • Kept a media spotlight on the federal government’s decision to leave thousands of women without access to family violence services they need to be safe – and pushed the federal government to announce an additional $150 million for family violence response.
  • Partnered with university students and survivors to help secure a commitment from Universities to provide a 24/7 trauma specialist telephone hotline for people affected by university sexual assault.
  • Pushed more than a dozen universities to improve the transparency and quality around their training to prevent sexual violence; and established the first public record of the training policies of Australia’s university residences.

Fair Agenda frequently works in partnership with policy experts and service providers; and brings critical rapid response campaigning capacity to the women’s movement.

 

What's involved

The Directors of Fair Agenda are collectively responsible for:

  • Upholding the mission of the organisation and ensuring the organisation is in the best position to foster a bold and inclusive community winning positive change for women,
  • Ensuring long term strategy is in place - including approving, evaluating and refining strategic planning,
  • Ensuring the organisation remains compliant to relevant regulatory bodies,
  • Organisational oversight, including approving major strategic and financial decisions,
  • Driving organisation review and risk review processes,
  • Ensuring the organisation uses its finances in a sustainable way,
  • Assisting with fundraising where possible, as part of the Board’s role in ensuring the organisation’s financial sustainability,
  • Selecting, supporting and reviewing the performance of the Executive Director, and
  • Providing expert and strategic advice and mentoring to the Executive Director as required.

 

Therefore, all Fair Agenda Board members are required to:

  • Be willing and able to oversee governance and organisational strategy,
  • Be available for Board duties, including:
    • Attending 2 hours of Board meetings each month (via teleconference if preferred),
    • Completing 1 hour pre-reading for board meetings each month,
    • Attending 2 x board retreats each year (these will generally last up to one full day),
    • Providing mentoring and ad hoc support to the Executive Director in areas of their expertise,
    • Serving on at least one subcommittee (for example finance, risk management, setting remuneration), and actively participating in any other ad hoc discussions,
    • Attending two Fair Agenda events annually (where possible).
  • Prepare for and participate in the discussions and deliberations of the Board,
  • Be aware of, disclose and abstain from any conflict of interest.

With these obligations in mind; we ask that applicants for this role commit to an availability of at least 8 hours per month for Board duties.

We also note that the intention to stand as a candidate for public office is considered a conflict of interest incompatible with holding the position of Director at Fair Agenda.

 

Recruitment criteria for this Role

Core criteria we’re considering in applications for this role are:

  • A passion for tackling structural gender inequality, and campaigning for a fair and equal future for women,
  • Experience developing and delivering campaigns on a national scale,
  • Experience with community driven campaigning,
  • An understanding of how to influence political and/or business decision-makers,
  • An ability to provide input and oversight on organisational strategy.

Additional skills and experiences considered valuable in applicants:

  • An understanding of and/or training in anti-oppression,
  • Experience rapidly growing a membership based organisation’s membership,
  • Familiarity with the funding models of community campaigning organisations with non-financial membership,
  • Experience working with an organisation in start-up phase,
  • Fundraising experience or relationships,
  • Understanding of the media and political landscape,
  • Previous governance or board experience,
  • Experience managing or overseeing organisation level finances, and
  • Familiarity with areas of social policy affecting women.

Please note: we recognise that issues of gender inequality disproportionately affect people who are also marginalised for other reasons – including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, people of colour, people from working class backgrounds, and LGBTQI people. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work of Fair Agenda. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalised communities.

There is no location requirement for this role, so we also encourage people based outside of metropolitan areas to apply.

 

The full position description and application details for this role are available for download here.

Please note that expressions of interest for this role have been extended until Monday 16th October at 5pm Melbourne time.

 

*Fair Agenda will also be advertising other Board roles in the near future. You can find out about all Fair Agenda's paid and volunteer roles here, or reach out to flag your interest in receiving a copy of that position description when it goes live via [email protected]; or find out about the opportunity by following us on facebook here.