About us:

Farm Commons is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering agricultural communities to resolve their own legal vulnerabilities, within an ecosystem of support. We are proud of our sought-after expertise, excellent resources, authentic reputation, and strong success in reducing legal risk for sustainable farmers and ranchers nationwide. The Education and Leadership Facilitator is a key member of our small and mighty team.

Please consider joining us in this powerful opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of farmers, ranchers, and producers nationwide. Working together, we can create incredibly useful educational opportunities that build a more sustainable and inclusive agricultural community. This is work is more important now than ever.

About you:

You are a person who can work as part of a team. You can adapt to changing circumstances. You are good at conducting traffic from different directions without getting overwhelmed. You see the world in terms of timelines and tasks but don’t need others to provide precise timelines and tasks for you- you can create them yourself and help others get on board. You distill complex material into straightforward action steps that anyone can follow. You can identify the key resources folks need to implement those action steps. You have the technical ability to create multi-media material that comprises modern education. You believe in using education to empower, not just to transfer information. For you, education is about community and leadership, not about books. You also love working with people and are passionate about helping them achieve their goals.

Does this sound like you? If so, please keep reading because we would love to consider you for our team.

About the role:

As a successful Education and Leadership Facilitator, you’re able to efficiently handle many aspects of educational product development in collaboration with colleagues and advisors. Your day-to-day work will be development of resources, ranging from print guides, blog posts, newsletters, videos, online workshops, podcasts or social media content. You will also seek and incorporate feedback on resources from producers and other community members. As a manager, you will help identify new needs and facilitate the funding process including writing grants or pitch material.

You do not have to have formal knowledge of farm law to be considered for this position, and no preference will be given to candidates with a JD degree. We value lived experience alongside professional and academic qualifications. In our experience, law school training can be a hindrance to creating effective educational materials for non-attorneys. Candidates with a JD degree will need to show success in educating a non-attorney audience to receive consideration for this position.

A successful Education and Leadership Facilitator achieves the following:

1. Expands the knowledge and technical capabilities of farm and ranch audiences nationwide on issues of farm law by creating and facilitating access to resources in a variety of formats.
2. Provides timely and effective service to community members looking to increase their resiliency by accessing our resources, partnering with us, or becoming a member of Farm Commons
3. Fosters farmer and rancher leadership on issues of farm law within local communities through specialized training and leadership programs.
4. Mobilizes farmer-driven knowledge and wisdom sharing to inform our resource development and support the Commons Community.
5. Fosters equitable access among diverse communities to create a legally resilient business through Farm Commons’ educational resources and within the strategic focus of the organization as a whole.
6. Contributes to securing funding to implement the strategic direction, including identifying funding prospects, drafting proposals, and managing reporting.

To achieve the above, the Education and Leadership Facilitator does the following. Please note the first task comprises about half the position.

1. Develop and distribute educational resources as part of a team that includes staff attorneys providing legal information, the Executive Director providing editorial/strategic direction, a contract designer, and contracted outreach support. Resources include print guides, podcasts, webinars, video, workshops, and online courses. These tasks comprise 50% of the position.
   1. Researching, writing, reviewing or adapting print materials, podcast scripts, webinars/presentations, and online courses from scratch or from notes, outlines and/or rough drafts.
   2. Recruiting and facilitating the Experience Team process, which is a group of farmers that use and provide input on our materials, as well as conducting other input-gathering strategies.
   3. Supporting the design contractor in implementing activities, checklists, worksheets, and/or reflection exercises that assist farmers in defining and achieving legal resilience goals.
   4. Distribution and technological implementation, including uploading resources to our WordPress website, creating pages and editing content at our website, recording and editing podcasts, and creating evaluations/surveys and analyzing data necessary for grant reporting. Supporting the outreach contractor in these tasks, as necessary.
2. Support the Executive Director by identifying and securing funding sources for new educational programming. This includes identifying government and foundation prospects, drafting, and submitting informational material, grant proposals, and applications. Assist in coordinating contractors to these ends, as well. 10%
3. Lead Discovering Resilience workshop online twice per year. This includes delivering the curriculum across 5 2-hour sessions. Coordinate with marketing contractor to implement outreach plan for Discovering Resilience. Deliver Discovering Resilience in-person on occasion which requires travel within the United States and is conducted in one full-day session. Currently 1-2 in-person workshops per year although it may increase slightly. Conducts member webinars monthly from existing curriculum. 10%
4. Administrative: Attend to general and membership inquiries by email and phone, provide troubleshooting assistance regarding website, onboard new members, facilitate renewal of existing members, schedule/assign member webinars. 15%
5. Lead implementation of the farmer leadership programs including the Collaborative Legal Fellowship and Circles of Resilience programming. Assists in securing funds for these programs. Monitors Farmer Fellows program for success, recommends modifications and future development of the leadership programs. Percentage depends on available funding.
6. Assist the design and outreach/marketing contractors by implementing general website adaptations, drafting/sending email campaigns, creating social media posts, and coordinating newsletter publication. 10%
7. Work with the Executive Director to set and monitor broad-based Educational Program goals and evaluation systems to ensure achievement of organization-wide strategic plan. 5%
8. Other duties as assigned.

At present, this job includes a fair amount of administrative duties- we are a very small team and we have no dedicated administrative or office support. See task #4. (Some administrative and frontline troubleshooting tasks may be reallocated to a Project Coordinator after 6 months, if funding is available. If this occurs, the position will expand the leadership development duties, currently unfunded.)

The following qualifications will position you for success as our Education and Leadership Facilitator:

• Proven skill in working as part of a dynamic team with variable and sometimes-shifting duties that evolve as the work develops
• Experience planning events and/or otherwise establishing timelines, task lists, delegation and accountability as part of a very small team which includes playing a role in assisting others in recognizing and adhering to timelines and task lists.
• Experience creating educational resources from source documents including, for example, research reports, technical memos, and analytical documents;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in a wide variety of contexts from phone, to email, to in-person and online communications. Emphasis on using communication to create welcoming, clear, and comfortable spaces in a wide variety of audiences and environments.
• Proven ability to take initiative in carrying out goal-focused and results-oriented programs with limited oversight;
• Excellent organizational skills including ability to assemble and maintain record-keeping systems and standard operating procedures;
• Experience with (or very strong potential for) grant writing and fundraising- generally defined as presenting a vision and convincing others to support a cause financially;
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and experience applying these values to educational curricula and organizational conduct;
• Experience managing WordPress or other content/customer management system;
• Experience in video and podcast recording and editing as well as graphic design programs such as Adobe InDesign;
• Familiarity with online teaching platforms and online course creation;
• Dedication to agricultural and sustainable farming communities;

This position has no degree requirement.

We welcome candidates who have developed experience by running their own business, especially an agricultural business.

Workplace Hours and Facilities

This is a fully remote position and you will be joining a team of 3-4 (plus contractors) that has always worked remotely. Our work necessitates consistent and high-speed access to the internet at your location. You may work from any location that permits the successful achievement of the position objectives to include regular appearances on camera and recording audio visual material without distraction. Availability during standard business hours within a time zone of the continental United States is required. That being said, you are not required to be available for every business hour within your time zone.

Occasional travel by airplane within the United States is required. Travel generally occurs between January and March and involves stays of 2-3 nights at a time.

Workplace Environment

Success in this role requires the ability to thrive in a very small organization that is entirely remote. Each team member operates with little oversight while initiating coordination and collaboration with others, without hesitation. Assertiveness is a virtue. We cultivate an emotionally intelligent environment where colleagues are supported in understanding and conveying their own needs to the team.

Flexibility is an essential component of working in a small and highly innovative organization. We, as a team, work hard to manifest the currently-unimaginable. This is a creative environment. As is common in creative and innovative ventures, things rarely go as planned. We depend on each team member being able to see the big picture, communicate about progress towards it, express needs and issues, and adapt quickly as visions evolve into reality. Our work is a journey to a destination that takes shape only as we move towards it together.

Individuals who thrive on predictability and do their best work when provided with clearly defined steps before the project begins may not thrive at Farm Commons. We absolutely provide clear goals; figuring out how to achieve those goals is the work of everyone, together, and it evolves over time.

The Education and Leadership Facilitator receives the following regarding salary, benefits, and compensation:

• An annual salary of $66,743 at a 40 hour workweek. This position is exempt from overtime.
• 10 vacation days, 5 sick days, and 8 paid holidays per year. This position also receives a 5-day paid winter holiday and 4 hours of paid vacation per week beginning with the first Monday after Memorial Day and ending the Friday preceding Labor Day (in addition to standard 8 paid holidays).
• Health insurance reimbursement in the amount of $400 per month.
• SIMPLE IRA eligibility with employer match at 3%.
• Stipend for technology upgrades and office furniture.
• Reimbursement of $80 per month for internet and phone access.

Commitment to Equity

Farm Commons is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diverse perspectives among our staff. We work to create hiring processes that eliminate barriers to full and fair consideration. Candidates are assessed on the basis of their potential to succeed in contributing to our mission and as a member of our team without regard to race, gender, disability, or other protected class. Applicants from underrepresented populations are strongly encouraged to apply.

We strive to create an equitable hiring process that allows strong candidates to shine. To assist us in creating a fair process, we ask all candidates to apply by completing a short form, linked here with URL pasted below. https://questionpro.com/t/AOj0MZ6cRt

This form requests that a resume and cover letter be uploaded as a single PDF file. Please use the resume and cover letter as an opportunity to offer the personal experiences that prepare you for this position. But, don’t feel the need to repeat anything you are also sharing in your responses to our specific application questions, below. Cover letters may exceed one page but brevity is a virtue. References and work samples (including writing and communication examples) will be sought from candidates who advance to an interview. Top candidates will be asked to perform two exercises and will be compensated for their time spent on the exercise. We are on a tight timeline and hope to move quickly through screening and moving to interviews at the end of July but do not have a specific timeline. We are hopeful that the right candidate will be able to begin work quickly, around mid-August.

The application form will send a confirmation email upon successful submission to your email.

The deadline for priority consideration of application materials is July 13, 2025 at midnight, Pacific. Submissions made after that time may be considered if the application link is still open. We are very busy and have vacations during the application period; we apologize if we are unable to respond to requests for a phone consultation.

The application link requests your response to 6 questions, listed below.

1. Tell us about a time you had to work as part of a team of equals in bringing a project to life. How did you navigate your responsibilities vis a vis other team members? How did you work together on project management? Feel free to also share how you might do things differently in the future or how your past experience developed your wisdom. (We aren’t looking just for success stories- sometimes we learn the most from rough experiences.)
2. How do you approach and conduct event planning? Do you have a personal style or tools you use?
3. Describe your philosophy and experience in providing farmers both with technical information and with practical empowerment to achieve their goals.
4. Describe your approach and experience to applying equity principles to educational programming.
5. Please describe your skills with these tools: WordPress, audio recording and editing, podcast distribution, online teaching platforms and course tools, Adobe Creative Cloud and other design tools like Canva.
6. Describe any experience collecting and managing data for reports.