Oklahoma State Director

Salary: $45,000 – $65,000, depending on experience
Location: Remote
The position reports to the director of state affairs.

DUTIES

1. Building animal welfare capacity in Oklahoma

• Work with the digital communications team and help to build a list of 100,000 supporters, with regular outbound communications to the universe of supporters in the state, and find coordinators in as many of the state’s 77 counties as possible.
• Cultivate small, medium, and large gifts from Oklahomans concerned about animal welfare
• Identify legislative priorities in the state legislature and lobby on priority items as available, including possible ballot initiatives.
• Play defense on legislative initiatives that attempt to set the state back on animal welfare.
• Support pro-animal county and city ordinances and resolutions where appropriate.
• Monitor state agencies and their respective activities and develop executive agency reform goals. Become familiar with the workings of agencies such as the state Dept of Agriculture, Animal Care & Control, and Game & Fish agencies. Examine issues related to:
  o Euthanasia rates in animal shelters
  o Oversight in animal care facilities

2. Empower local animal advocates and supporters

• Develop a state council that will allow you to harness the energy of advocates and extend your reach into more communities. Work with them to find tasks and activities that they can meaningfully invest time and energy in.
• Coach and develop local volunteers and support them in their goals to be effective in their advocacy for animals.
• Consider establishing a “lobby day” once there is a critical mass of support.
• Build local and state coalitions, including religious organizations, law enforcement, domestic violence organizations, and others whose values and work intersects with animal welfare.
• Establish relationships with other animal protection groups, including shelters, rescues, sanctuaries, wildlife rehabilitation centers. Activate them to the extent practicable on our legislative and other programmatic campaigns.
• Recommend candidates to open positions on various state agency boards and commissions.

3. Be a cultural change agent and leader

• Set a high-water mark for Oklahoma when it comes to animal welfare, creating an expectation of success in the state.
• Identify a list of major businesses in the state that include animals in their supply chains, R&D programs, or operations and those with extractive or waste disposal activities that have an impact on wildlife, habitat, and biodiversity.
• Participate in or plan an annual day of awareness around adoptions, pet care, roadkill, and other common concerns about animals.
• Follow the work of affiliated organizations, including the Animal Wellness Foundation, Center for a Humane Economy, and the Kirkpatrick Foundation, and direct supporters with a keen interest in their work to the leaders of those organizations.

4. Other duties

• Ability to present yourself in a friendly, professional and non-partisan manner.
• Attend biweekly check-in meetings with supervisor, attend weekly teleconference meetings. Other meetings as necessary.
• Attend meetings of state commissions and agencies, including Oklahoma Fish and Wildlife Commission and Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry as warranted.
• Share and support AWA’s mission and core values; adhere to AWA’s policies.

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Minimum five years’ experience in animal welfare policy, or a related field.
2. Experience in a nonprofit advocacy organization, or with an agency that works with advocacy clients, strongly preferred.
3. Bachelor’s degree required.
4. Ability to travel frequently to state capital and as needed to various destinations within the state.
5. Ability to achieve results with minimal supervision.
6. Ability to successfully manage key internal and external stakeholders and relationships.
7. Ability to prioritize and multitask efficiently.
8. Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
9. Ability to adapt and be flexible in a dynamic work environment. Ability to act quickly and change course as needed.
10. Commitment to animal welfare.
11. Lobbying experience.
12. Research and synthesis skills.
13. Basic computer literacy and an ability to learn appropriate new communications tools.
14. Self-motivated, especially as it relates to working from a home office.

HOW TO APPLY
Interested applicants should be submit a resume, cover letter and salary history to: HR email.

ABOUT US
Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.- based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies, and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.

The Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.- based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that focuses on influencing the conduct of corporations to forge a humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both.