Advocacy & Organizing Manager

Location: Remote, based in or near Snohomish, King, or Pierce Counties

Application Deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, by end of day

Position Overview: NCBF seeks an individual with excellent advocacy, organizing, and relationship-building capabilities, as well as the judgment and character to engage effectively with directly impacted community members, grassroots leaders, volunteers, coalition partners, policymakers, and other members of the community. Advocacy and community organizing are essential to NCBF’s mission; it is critical for our Advocacy & Organizing Manager to build the relationships, strategies, and collective power necessary to end cash bail and pretrial detention in Washington State.

Advocacy and organizing operations include developing NCBF’s legislative agenda, monitoring relevant policy developments, mobilizing testimony and public engagement, building a statewide coalition to end cash bail, leading NCBF’s Court Watch program, strengthening grassroots relationships, and developing accessible political education. This position will work closely with staff, volunteers, and directly impacted community members to ensure NCBF’s advocacy priorities are grounded in community knowledge, lived experience, and abolitionist values.

The political environment surrounding cash bail and pretrial detention can move quickly, particularly during the Washington legislative session. The ideal candidate will navigate this work with urgency, accountability, political discernment, and empathy in equal measure. They must be able to manage multiple campaigns and relationships, translate complex policy information into accessible language, and make values-aligned decisions both independently and collaboratively.

NCBF is a small, collaborative team whose values embody anti-racism, abolition, equity, directly impacted leadership, and responsible stewardship of community-entrusted resources as we strive to end cash bail in Washington State. We look forward to welcoming an Advocacy & Organizing Manager who shares our values.

Responsibilities:

Legislative Advocacy and Policy

• Monitor and analyze legislative, regulatory, and budget developments related to cash bail, pretrial detention, and NCBF’s mission, maintaining a tracker to flag significant risks and opportunities.
• Develop NCBF’s annual legislative agenda and strategy with staff, volunteers, directly impacted community members, and partners.
• Evaluate proposed reforms for impact, unintended consequences, racial-equity implications, and alignment with NCBF’s abolitionist values.
• Develop policy positions, bill analyses, briefing materials, and talking points; help refine legislative language when appropriate.
• Plan and coordinate engagement with legislators, agencies, local officials, community partners and other decision-makers regarding testimony, public comments, and advocacy days.
• Support directly impacted people, volunteers, staff, and partners participating in advocacy while honoring their agency, consent, safety, and dignity.
• Mobilize timely community action in response to policy opportunities and threats.

Coalition Building

• Lead the development of a statewide coalition to end cash bail.
• Cultivate reciprocal relationships with grassroots groups, other bail funds, legal and service organizations, advocacy groups, and movement partners.
• Convene partners for shared learning, strategy and collective action.
• Support clear coalition governance, decision-making, and accountability practices that respect partner autonomy and shared power.
• Represent NCBF in relevant coalitions, networks, and community spaces; document and communicate key commitments and decisions.
• Identify gaps in representation and cultivate partners that strengthen geographic, political, and directly impacted leadership.
• Coordinate shared campaigns and advocacy actions with coalition partners.

Court Watch

• Manage NCBF’s Volunteer Court Watch Team and oversee year-round courtroom observation across the counties and jurisdictions NCBF serves.
• Strengthen the program’s volunteer engagement, community collaboration, and data quality.
• Lead an annual Court Watch campaign with clear research questions, observation periods, and quality-assurance practices.
• Recruit, train, coordinate, and support volunteers and partners to understand court processes, document practices accurately, and respond safely to concerning situations.
• Review and analyze findings, and produce an annual Court Watch report with recommendations for public education, legislative advocacy, media engagement, and organizing opportunities.

Community Organizing

• Develop and implement grassroots-organizing and community-engagement strategies across King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties.
• Build an NCBF Volunteer Community Engagement Team with clear structure, training, and leadership pathways.
• Plan and coordinate advocacy actions, listening sessions, and campaign activities.
• Build trusting, reciprocal relationships with directly impacted communities, grassroots leaders, neighborhood groups, and organizations closest to the harms of pretrial detention.
• Map county-based relationships, engagement opportunities, and organizing gaps, and connect community priorities with NCBF’s work.
• Create pathways for supporters to move from initial engagement into education, volunteer participation, leadership, and collective action.
• Track engagement, participation, relationship development, and follow-up commitments to keep organizing accountable and responsive to directly impacted communities.

Community and Political Education

• Develop an NCBF Political Education Series and facilitate workshops and community gatherings focused on cash bail, pretrial detention, abolition, racial justice, and community power.
• Translate complex legal, legislative, and policy information into accessible presentations and other materials.
• Collaborate with the Volunteer Program Manager to build volunteer and partner skills in political education, facilitation, advocacy, and organizing.
• Center directly impacted knowledge and leadership in curriculum development, facilitation, and public education.
• Gather feedback and update educational programming in response to participant experience, policy changes, and lessons from NCBF’s advocacy work.
• Connect participants with concrete opportunities in campaigns, coalition work, Court Watch, and other advocacy activities.

Advocacy Program Management and Reporting

• Develop annual priorities and resource needs with the Executive Director and staff.
• Maintain systems for tracking advocacy and organizing activities across program areas.
• Produce periodic reports and partner with the Executive Director on quarterly advocacy updates and presentations for the Board of Directors.
• Build accessible feedback, campaign-debrief, and reflection practices with volunteers, partners, and directly impacted participants to inform program improvements.
• Use quantitative data and qualitative input to evaluate progress—measuring success through community power and long-term impact, not activity counts alone.

Required Qualifications:

• Commitment to NCBF’s mission, vision, and values, including racial equity, abolition, non-reformist strategies, cultural humility, directly impacted leadership, and community-centered justice.
• Ability to work remotely in or near Snohomish, King, or Pierce Counties and reliably travel throughout the region.
• Experience in community organizing, legislative or policy advocacy, coalition building, political education, campaign management, and/or a related field.
• Experience building relationships with directly impacted community members, grassroots organizations, volunteers, policymakers, and/or community partners.
• Experience coordinating volunteers and/or community-based campaigns.
• Strong written, verbal, facilitation, public-speaking, training, and relationship-building skills, including the ability to make complex legal and policy information accessible.
• Ability to monitor fast-moving developments, manage multiple priorities, and communicate significant changes, deadlines, risks, and opportunities.
• Ability to navigate conflict, political disagreement, and coalition tensions with discernment, transparency, cultural humility, compassion, and accountability.
• Availability for occasional evening and weekend volunteer meetings, community events, advocacy activities, and coalition gatherings.
• Fluent in English.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Lived experience or knowledge of Washington’s criminal punishment system, pretrial detention, and bail practices.
• Experience centering the knowledge and leadership of directly impacted community members.
• Knowledge of the Washington State Legislature, legislative session, local policymaking, and public-comment processes.
• Experience developing legislative agendas, analyzing bills, coordinating testimony, and/or organizing advocacy days.
• Experience developing coalitions grounded in shared governance and collective decision-making.
• Experience managing Court Watch, participatory research, community-based data collection, and/or court-accountability initiatives.
• Experience developing and facilitating political education, leadership development, and/or organizer training.
• Strong trauma-informed communication, conflict-navigation, problem-solving, and campaign-strategy skills.
• Experience using advocacy and organizing data to evaluate participation, relationships, policy influence, and movement capacity.
• Existing relationships with grassroots organizations and directly impacted communities in King, Pierce, and/or Snohomish Counties.
• Fluency in an additional language is a plus.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Salary range: $65,000–$80,000
• Four-day workweek: Monday–Thursday
• 128 hours of combined PTO annually
• 11 paid holidays
• Employer-funded health and dental insurance
• SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with 1–3% employer contribution
• Up to $750 in annual professional-development funds
• $75 monthly stipend for remote-work expenses

• Four-day workweek: Monday–Thursday
• 128 hours of combined PTO annually
• 11 paid holidays
• Employer-funded health and dental insurance
• SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with 1–3% employer contribution
• Up to $750 in annual professional-development funds
• $75 monthly stipend for remote-work expenses

Professional English Fluency.

Fluency in an additional language is a plus.