Strategic Partnerships Volunteer

Women’s Survivors Network is seeking a strategic partnerships volunteer to help us research, organize, and grow the network of relationships that will support our survivor-led nonprofit and the women we serve.

WSN is building a long-term ecosystem of guided support, resources, education, and services for women who have experienced abuse across the spectrum, including coercive control, narcissistic abuse, covert psychological abuse, workplace abuse, familial abuse, institutional abuse, and systemic harm.

We are in an early stage of growth and are intentionally building the partnerships, programs, resources, and organizational infrastructure that will support WSN’s long-term work. We are looking for a thoughtful, relationship-oriented volunteer who can help us identify aligned organizations, professionals, community resources, and potential collaborators.

This is a collaborative role. WSN leadership will provide direction around partnership priorities, organizational needs, survivor-centered values, and external positioning. The volunteer will help research opportunities, organize information, and support the early development of WSN’s partnership ecosystem.

Responsibilities

The strategic partnerships volunteer may support with:

• Researching prospective nonprofit, community, professional, institutional, and survivor-serving partners
• Mapping organizations, resources, and potential collaborators across the survivor-support ecosystem
• Identifying potential partnership opportunities, service gaps, and areas of alignment
• Organizing and maintaining partnership research and relationship information
• Preparing background research before introductory meetings or outreach
• Supporting partnership outreach materials and meeting preparation
• Helping WSN develop simple, sustainable partnership systems as the organization grows

This role supports partnership development but does not independently negotiate, approve, or enter partnerships or represent WSN externally without coordination.

Ideal Volunteer

We are looking for someone who is:

• Relationship-oriented and interested in connecting people, organizations, and ideas
• A strong researcher and communicator
• Able to think strategically about partnerships rather than simply building contact lists
• Organized and able to synthesize information clearly
• Comfortable contributing within an early-stage and evolving organization
• Collaborative and receptive to direction, feedback, and changing priorities
• Respectful of survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive work
• Able to approach sensitive subject matter with discretion and good judgment
• Interested in nonprofit ecosystems, community-building, survivor support, or systems change

Experience in partnerships, business development, community engagement, nonprofit work, stakeholder relations, ecosystem development, or related fields is helpful, but not required.

Direct survivor-sector experience is welcomed but not required.

Important Partnership & Confidentiality Boundaries

Because WSN works with survivors and sensitive systems, partnership development requires careful judgment.

Volunteers will work from priorities and materials provided or approved by WSN and will not independently make commitments on behalf of the organization, negotiate agreements, promise services, or represent WSN’s position without authorization.

Volunteers will not need access to confidential survivor records or identifying participant information in order to perform this role.

We are looking for people who understand that strong partnerships are built through alignment, trust, clarity, and responsible boundaries—not simply through expanding the number of organizational contacts.

Time Commitment

Flexible, remote volunteer role.

We anticipate approximately 2–3 hours per week, with flexibility depending on current projects, partnership research needs, and volunteer availability.

Assignments will be scoped based on organizational priorities and volunteer capacity.

Why This Role Matters

Survivors often encounter fragmented systems in which resources, services, and organizations operate separately even when the people they serve need interconnected support.

WSN is being built differently.

Strong partnerships will help WSN understand what resources already exist, identify where meaningful gaps remain, connect survivors with appropriate support, avoid unnecessary duplication, and eventually build a stronger ecosystem around the long-term survivor journey.

Because WSN is still early-stage, this volunteer will have an opportunity to help shape the partnership foundation the organization grows from.

This is an opportunity to use research, relationships, and ecosystem thinking to help build stronger pathways of support for survivors.

Who We Encourage to Apply

WSN strongly encourages women, survivors, and people with lived experience of harm or systems navigation to apply. We also welcome allies who are deeply committed to survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive work.

Lived experience is valued at WSN, but it is not required for this volunteer role.

We welcome applicants from backgrounds including partnerships, community engagement, business development, stakeholder relations, nonprofit programs, research, ecosystem development, outreach, and related fields.