National Organizer, Stand for Campus Freedom

Position Summary

Democracy House’s Stand for Campus Freedom is building the next phase of a nonpartisan national effort to organize alumni to defend academic freedom and democratic values in support of campus communities across the country.

Universities and colleges are facing escalating political, legal, financial, and institutional pressure that threatens academic freedom, institutional independence, and the ability of campus communities to teach, learn, research, and speak freely. Stand for Campus Freedom’s theory of change is that alumni can be a powerful, independent constituency for defending universities’ highest ideals: organizing fellow alumni, supporting students and faculty, influencing public narratives, and empowering university leaders and governing boards to resist political coercion and uphold democratic values.

To help drive this work, the National Organizer will work with the National Campaign Director, Democracy House staff, and advisors to support, strengthen, and grow a network of alumni groups and leaders engaged in effective high-impact organizing. The National Organizer will work with both existing and emerging alumni groups to build leadership teams, plan campaigns, mobilize supporters, respond to timely campus news and higher education developments, and help translate urgent moments into strategic alumni action. This role requires comfort using digital organizing tools to launch actions, track supporters, maintain data, and help alumni groups move quickly from campaign ideas to public-facing action.

This role is a strong fit for someone who enjoys working with volunteer leaders, can bring structure to fast-moving situations, communicates clearly, follows through reliably, and is excited by the challenge of building a new national alumni organizing model. The right person will be a hands-on organizer who likes building relationships, developing volunteer leaders, spotting strategic opportunities, and helping groups move from concern to action. This person will be energized by working across many campus communities, helping alumni leaders find their voice, and building organizing strategies and processes that contribute to meaningful and sustainable impact.

At its best, this work will help campus communities feel less isolated in moments of crisis and more capable of acting together with purpose, discipline, and hope.

Position type: This is a full-time, exempt position at Democracy House. The position is remote, with domestic travel required, estimated at 5-10% annually. Proximity to our main office in Cambridge, MA, or to the San Francisco Bay Area is preferred. Position reports to the National Campaign Director.

Primary Role and Responsibilities

• Alumni group development and support
  • Support a growing network of existing and emerging alumni groups through regular leader and group meetings, planning support, and follow-up.
  • Identify priority campus communities and support campaigns by alumni groups, leaders, and other key stakeholders, in collaboration with the National Campaign Director and staff.
  • Work with the National Campaign Director and staff to help alumni groups develop and maintain effective public messaging, including group websites, email actions, petitions and open letters, social media, and other public-facing campaign content.
  • Track progress against campaign and group-development goals.
• Organizing and network development
  • Recruit and support university-specific alumni leadership teams.
  • Mobilize supporters to take action on timely and important campaigns, including open letter/petitions and other tactics.
  • Help groups develop sustainable leadership teams, effective organizing practices, and clear campaign plans.
  • Maintain accurate notes, contact records, supporter data, tracking systems, and campaign data.
• Campaign execution and rapid response
  • Translate urgent moments into strategic alumni action by identifying and responding to time-sensitive developments, including threats to academic freedom and institutional independence.
  • Identify key dates and opportunities, including trustee meetings, alumni reunions, graduation, commencement, and other meaningful events.
  • Help alumni groups design and execute strategic advocacy efforts that engage university leaders, governing boards, and other relevant decision-makers.
  • Help create, update, and manage digital campaign infrastructure, including petitions/open letters, supporter forms, website content, and related tracking systems.
• Cross-campus campaign coordination and learning
  • Work closely with the National Campaign Director and alumni groups to align university-specific organizing efforts with national narrative and campaign goals.
  • Share learnings, templates, tools, and resources from across the alumni group network.
  • Help document effective organizing practices so they can be adapted across alumni groups.

What Success Looks Like

A successful National Organizer will help Stand for Campus Freedom build a stronger, more consistent, and more sustainable alumni organizing network. Success in this role may include:

• Existing alumni groups receive consistent strategic support and proactive and timely organizing guidance.
• Priority campus communities have active alumni leadership groups that make strategic decisions and conduct timely campaigns with a strong theory of change.
• Campus-specific campaigns generate constructive public engagement, supporter growth, earned media, institutional engagement, and/or other meaningful outcomes.
• Stand for Campus Freedom has developed better documentation, tracking, templates, and repeatable organizing practices.
• Alumni leaders and groups feel supported, clear on campus-specific priorities, and more capable of sustaining their advocacy and activity over the long term.

Qualifications and Attributes

• Alignment with Stand for Campus Freedom’s mission to strengthen democracy, academic freedom, and institutional independence.
• Strong organizing skills and familiarity with campaign strategy and tactics.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills and strong attention to detail.
• Experience using digital organizing tools, email, CRM, petition/action, or campaign tracking systems to launch and manage campaigns, mobilize supporters, track engagement, maintain accurate data, and support timely follow-up.
• Demonstrated organizing experience, including mobilizing campus communities, engaging diverse constituencies, issue advocacy campaigning, coalition coordination, member organizing, or other related advocacy contexts.
• Ability to work effectively in a nonpartisan environment with alumni, faculty, students, and stakeholders who may hold diverse political and institutional perspectives.
• Experience supporting volunteer leaders, facilitating planning conversations, and moving groups from ideas to action.
• Ability to understand and navigate complex coalition, institutional, stakeholder, and campus landscapes.
• Ability to identify timely opportunities and help translate them into strategic action, and consistently meet deadlines to drive forward time-sensitive tasks.
• Comfort managing multiple workstreams, tracking follow-up, and maintaining clear organizing systems.

Application deadline and process: July 27, 2026 (5pm ET). We encourage candidates to apply by the deadline to ensure full consideration. Instead of a cover letter, the application includes one substantive question to help us better understand your organizing experience and how you approach strategic campaign challenges.

About Democracy House and Stand for Campus Freedom

Democracy House inspires rising generations to defend, strengthen, and improve democracy. We drive innovation and progress in civic education and leadership, community infrastructure, public policy, and youth voter participation.

Stand for Campus Freedom, a project of Democracy House, is a nonpartisan national campaign uniting alumni across generations, geographies, and viewpoints to protect academic freedom and stand up for democracy. Through Stand for Campus Freedom, alumni leaders across the country are being empowered to organize fellow alumni while partnering with students, faculty, staff, and campus communities. Together, we are building a national movement that holds universities accountable to their highest ideals, resists political coercion, and strengthens America’s leadership.

All Democracy House employees are eligible for benefits, including 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, employer-funded Health Savings Account, 401(k) with up to 3% employer match, employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance; and paid time off, including 15 days of annual paid vacation.