Advocacy Coordinator

Washington Trails Association (WTA) is the nation’s largest hiking and trail maintenance nonprofit. We have a 50-year legacy of engaging the hiking community to ensure Washington’s trails stand the test of time. 

Washington is home to extraordinary hiking destinations, including desert dunes, wild beaches, tranquil mountain tops and raging rivers. Washington is also home to a community of people who are passionate about exploring and protecting these places. This constituency—our members and supporters—is key to the future of trails in Washington.

With more than 27,000 members and an online community of over 300,000 and growing, we are connecting people to the outdoors — from everyday adventures to backcountry explorations. Each year 4,500 WTA volunteers perform over 160,000 hours of trail maintenance across the state. We mobilize hikers as public lands advocates, trail stewards, and on-the-ground experts sharing knowledge with fellow hikers. WTA’s strength is our community and our vision depends on fostering an inclusive organization where everyone feels welcome and represented. Together we can ensure there are trails for everyone, forever.

Position summary

WTA seeks an Advocacy Coordinator to support our advocacy team and advance our mission to mobilize people to explore, steward and champion trails and public lands. The ideal candidate will be someone who is excited about the opportunity to galvanize engagement, support the team’s advocacy projects and seeks creative conduits to do so. This position will contribute to the overall success of WTA by strengthening the relationship our hiking community has to decisions that impact them by both encouraging people to take action and supporting WTA’s work to take action on behalf of hikers. 

The Advocacy Coordinator is a full-time, non-exempt position based in WTA’s downtown Seattle office that reports to the Statewide Advocacy Senior Coordinator and works closely with WTA’s advocacy and communications teams. 

Primary Responsibilities

Grassroots Engagement & Communications (50%)

• Coordinate WTA’s advocate engagement system, including developing action-oriented communications, reviewing marketing and performance analytics and stewarding growth of the
• advocate community.
  Develop and implement strategies to engage new and existing grassroots advocates.
• Develop and implement engagement campaigns on advocacy issues, policies and positions through action alerts, blogs, magazine articles, presentations, managing key webpages, advocacy trainings and advocacy capacity-building activities.
• Implement creative storytelling and narrative strategies to mobilize hiking community. 
• Track information in advocacy databases, including Capitol Canary, Salesforce and Campaign Monitor.
• Work with Statewide Engagement and Events Coordinator to offer opportunities for action in WTA’s volunteer community and at events. 

Advocacy Projects and Coalition Support (40%)

• Build agenda, templates, slides and other materials to support productive and collaborative meetings.
• Assist in the coordination and scheduling of diverse stakeholders and agencies. 
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders or groups to advance joint priorities.
• Support advocacy projects, including initiatives, policy and planning issues through research and analysis, developing communications materials and monitoring and evaluating issues.
• Develop print and online materials in support of WTA’s advocacy, including talking points, legislative summaries, factsheets, testimony, web content, comment letters, reports, letters, blogs and articles.
• Work independently and through collaboration with the advocacy team on priority projects and campaigns to further WTA’s mission. 

Other (10%)

• Support the coordination of advocacy events, such as WTA’s Washington Trails Day and Hiker Rally Day.
• Attend and participate in WTA trainings, retreats and other program events. 
• Other duties as assigned.

Experience, Skills, Knowledge, and Values

Competitive candidates will highlight the following experience in their application, or express willingness to learn:

• Demonstrated commitment to WTA’s mission and values on diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Ability to accept and integrate feedback graciously, and give effective feedback to team members.
• Ability to work independently to set priorities, be adaptive to changing deadlines and enthusiastic to be an integral part of a dynamic team. 
• Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to inspire others to support organizational priorities and take action.
• Cultural competency experience and demonstrated ability to work with people of diverse races, ages, genders, abilities and economic backgrounds.
• Excited for the opportunity to engage in creative storytelling and advocate engagement with the goal of invoking action in the hiking community.
• Experience in engagement stewardship – building and maintaining an engaged digital community.
• Ability to manage work that includes rapid response deadlines as well as the development of strategy over time.
• Interest in the development of advocacy positioning and public lands policy, including interest in researching and reporting on complex subjects.
• Working knowledge of online advocacy and engagement tools, preferably with systems such as Campaign Monitor and Capital Canary.
• Experience working with the Salesforce CRM database is a plus.
• Strong computer skills and proficiency with Microsoft Office.

Location and Schedule

The Advocacy Coordinator position is a full-time, non-exempt position based in WTA’s Seattle office. WTA has a hybrid work model with at least 2 days of work per week in-person at our Seattle office. Some tasks may require in-person presence at the office or occasional evening or weekend work for special events. Vaccination requirements are in place for WTA staff and volunteers.

Compensation

Compensation for this position is $23.00 – $25.00/hour depending on experience. WTA offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision and long-term disability insurance; retirement plan; and holiday, vacation, parental and sick leave.

To Apply

Please click "Apply" below to email a resume and a brief cover letter describing professional and personal experience relevant to the position. Include “Advocacy Coordinator” in the subject line. This position is open until filled. We are reviewing applications as they are received with a preferred deadline of August 3, 2022.

If you have any questions, please contact jobs@wta.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

WTA is committed to advancing equity through our work and to becoming a more inclusive organization. People of color and others with underrepresented identities (including but not limited to: gender identity, class, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, age, ability, and background) are strongly encouraged to apply. 

WTA does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of age, color, gender identity, marital status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.