Special Projects Coordinator

The American Journalism Project is seeking a Special Projects Coordinator to serve a key organizational and operational support role in the nation’s first venture philanthropy dedicated to the growth and sustainability of nonprofit news organizations. 

The American Journalism Project aims to catalyze a movement of nonprofit local news enterprises that rallies our country’s next generation of social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and community leaders around this vital cause. We encourage all people who are excited by the mission and the work, regardless of background, to apply.

Who we are

We’re an entrepreneurial team that’s passionate about journalism, civic engagement, and how local news plays a unique role in shaping our democracy. We help build and grow sustainable local news organizations all over the country — through financial investment, venture support, and movement building — that are governed by, sustained by, and look like the public they serve. Since 2019, the American Journalism Project has committed more than $37M of investment in 33 nonprofit news organizations across the United States. Learn about our grantees.

Our team is deeply connected to our mission and supportive of each other’s goals and overall well-being. We aim to be an organization where everyone feels heard, respected, and valued. We are an entirely remote, distributed team and strive to maintain a healthy, fun, and productive workplace, working alongside smart, energetic colleagues who enjoy one another and the work. Meet our full team.

Our values

• Local First: We know that local journalism must serve and be led by local communities. We make a practice of listening to, and making decisions with – not for – those communities, and connecting them to find strength in each other. 
• Bold Leadership: We understand the severe economic challenge facing local news and thus democracy, and we embrace a sense of possibility with courage, urgency, and perseverance.
• Constant Learning: We recognize the unknown in front of us. Therefore, we operate with humility and a commitment to continuous improvement and collaboration.
• Commitment to Equity: We commit to creating a better, more diverse, and more inclusive news media that advances human and civil rights. We actively fight against injustice and racism, and that starts with doing the work ourselves.
• Integrity: We accept the responsibility of earning trust every day. We operate with honesty, transparency, dignity, and respect, and without allegiance to party, ideology, profit, or power.

Your team

The Special Project Coordinator’s work will touch both our programmatic work and operations, which requires a bird’s-eye view of the entire American Journalism Project organization and comfort working cross-functionally. The Special Projects Coordinator will report to the Chief of Staff, directly support our CEO and Chief of Staff, and collaborate with team members across our organization.

The position

The Special Projects Coordinator will execute on a variety of projects and tasks that will help our team operate more efficiently, and will enable the CEO and Chief of Staff to focus on broad strategic initiatives both within and beyond the organization. In this role you will have the following responsibilities:

Leadership support and facilitation  

• Facilitate meetings for leadership, including research and preparation, drafting correspondence, and monitoring action items that stem from these meetings
• Collaborate on board and board committee meeting preparation, including scheduling, project-managing the preparation of board materials, record-keeping, and helping to plan and execute in-person board meetings
• Attend meetings and conferences as requested and prepare notes as needed
• Provide administrative support as needed to the CEO and Chief of Staff 

Staff support and engagement

• Coordinate internal staff meetings and administer the systems and processes for fluid communication throughout the organization 
• Inform and help execute team events, including annual team retreats; work with external vendors as necessary to execute in-person and virtual events
• Support team- and culture-building activities, including team celebrations and social activities; manage the organizational calendar 
• Participate in the hiring process for new roles across the organization, including scheduling interviews and providing status updates to candidates; participate in onboarding new staff to set them up for success 
• Lead or support the project management of cross-organizational initiatives, such as performance review processes, goal-setting, and bi-annual reviews of all staff job descriptions

Organizational support and learning

• Learn from internal and external sources about the nonprofit news crisis and solutions, and keep up-to-date on our grantee portfolio and the field at large
• Contribute to discovering and implementing new systems and processes, including identifying and vetting new vendors
• Lead or support ad hoc projects or research as needed across the organization (examples may include: researching and writing a summary of a new software, creating a spreadsheet to track hiring at grantee organizations, or providing support for a special event)
• Coordinate administrative office functions, as needed

Who you are

We know not all strong candidates will have all the skills we list. That’s OK. Research shows that women and people of color are less likely to apply for a position if they don’t meet every skill listed. At the American Journalism Project we are committed to creating a better, more diverse, and more inclusive news ecosystem, and that starts with doing the work ourselves. So if your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, but you know this is the role for you – please tell us! 

Successful candidates will be passionate about the role local news plays in communities and care deeply about its future; will be proficient (or quick to learn) with Google Suite, Slack, and Airtable; and will have administrative and/or project management experience. 

This role might be a fit if you are…

• Detail-oriented: You are highly organized and love taking complex projects with competing priorities and many dimensions, and are comfortable and efficient working in a startup environment. 
• A motivated self-starter: You demonstrate good judgment, critical thinking, flexibility, resourcefulness, and problem-solving skills. You set clear timelines and drive projects to completion. 
• Collaborative and agile: You have strong interpersonal skills and an ability to work collaboratively with others in a team environment. You thrive in a setting that requires you to be nimble, adapt to change, and think outside of the box.
• An excellent communicator: You are a strong communicator with a willingness to learn and grow. You speak and write eloquently and with a situation-appropriate tone.
• Committed to equity: We are committed to creating a better, more diverse, and more inclusive news media that advances human and civil rights, and that starts with doing the work ourselves.
• Trustworthy: You handle confidential and sensitive information with humility, professionalism, and discretion.
• Fun and supportive: We work hard as a team and take our mission seriously, but also believe it’s important to have fun and find joy in the work we do together.

Compensation & benefits

Our total compensation package is competitive in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, and we are committed to supporting our team with what they need to show up every day, ready to bolster the local press our democracy deserves.

We benchmark our salaries against similar organizations, and use a scale that considers job complexity and magnitude of responsibility to determine role levels and corresponding base salaries, as well as offer regular opportunities for salary increases. The salary range for this position is $67,255 – $73,981. Read about our benefits here.

Please submit an application through our portal. Download the full job description here. If you have any questions please feel free to email careers@theajp.org with “Special Projects Coordinator” in the subject line.

The American Journalism Project is dedicated to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. The American Journalism Project encourages people of all races, colors, national origins, ancestries, creeds, religions, genders, ages, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientations, and marital statuses to apply.