Goals:
1) Coordinate SMWC’s Annual Karaoke Fundraiser event, to be held in May or June 2023
2) Support SMWC’s member Fundraising Committee (aka FUNCom) to participate in the planning and execution of Karaoke and gain skills in grassroots fundraising and donor organizing
Deliverables:
The event organizer will work with SMWC staff and FUNCom to:
1) Actively engage FUNCom members in bimonthly committee meetings, and as needed between meetings, as advisors, participants, and learners to implement Karaoke and build their future fundraising capacity
2) Coordinate a Karaoke event based in Portland including sponsors, karaoke participants, outreach, and fundraising asks
3) Reach our fundraising goal of $25,000
Project Overview:
SMWC is creating a worker-led movement to improve the lives, working conditions, and terms of employment for working and poor people in Maine. We promote worker justice through anti-racist education, organizing, and advocacy amongst non-unionized low-wage workers; including young people, immigrant workers, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, seniors, and disabled workers. We follow a base-building and transformative organizing model that asks us to go an inch-wide and a mile-deep with our members. Our main focus is on developing the power and leadership of those who, through their lived expertise navigating the systems of oppression, become uniquely capable agents of systems change.
Since 2018, SMWC has held a Karaoke (sometimes called “Care-aoke”) Fundraiser to bolster our grassroots fundraising efforts. Grassroots fundraising is key to the success of our organizing work, as it allows us the flexibility to be nimble and respond to crises in ways that foundation funding does not– and it brings more people into our orbit as donors and grassroots fundraisers. Each year, dozens of members and supporters share songs, poetry, dances, and even music videos and circus acts. In the weeks leading up to the event, members and supporters create online fundraising pages, asking for donations from individuals and organizations in their networks and communities. A huge part of Karaoke’s success is due to the planning team proactively supporting members, including folks who are brand new to fundraising, to make those asks. In 2021 and 2022, we switched to a virtual event due to the pandemic but still reached or approached our $20,000 fundraising goal. This year, we have upped our fundraising goal to $25,000 and we may explore the possibility of returning to an in-person event, or holding a hybrid Zoom/in-person event.
Budget:
- The budget for compensating the event organizer is $50/hr at 60-80 hours, negotiable
- The budget for the Karaoke fundraiser is $1,000
Timeline:
| Onboarding from SMWC staff | Late March or April |
| Convene first FUNCom meeting to overview planning, roles, & timeline | April |
| Set up fundraising platform + event materials | April |
| Promotion + turnout on social media and within SMWC meetings | April – May |
| Support member + board fundraising | April – May |
| Coordinate day-of logistics (host, performers, location, materials) with a dress rehearsal | May |
| Debrief with staff + FUNCom | Late May or June |
Additional opportunities for paid grassroots fundraising work may exist after the Karaoke Fundraiser, depending on SMWC’s need and budget.
Ideal candidates will:
- Be able to work with people from many different backgrounds and identities, and demonstrate a commitment to an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and social justice-centered practice.
- Bring a high degree of initiative, resourcefulness and flexibility, an ability to prioritize and delegate tasks, and experience successfully working collaboratively within a team.
- Have strong relationship-building skills, including mentoring and supporting the leadership of others, deep listening skills, and an ability to view conflict as an opportunity for transformation.
About the Southern Maine Workers’ Center
The Southern Maine Workers’ Center is a 501 c(3)nonprofit membership organization committed to creating a grassroots, people-powered movement that improves the lives, working conditions, and terms of employment for working and poor people in Maine. We believe that we must organize together to ensure our human rights. We are a dynamic, smart, collaborative group of people who are passionate about our work and committed to supporting and advancing the health and wellbeing of working class people in Maine.
Our Values and Commitment to Equity and Racial Justice
As an equal opportunity employer, we recruit and hire with the understanding of systemic oppression and of the lived reality of people with marginalized identities.
Therefore we value a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage working class, immigrant, Black, Indigenous and people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with disabilities, parents, and formerly incarcerated people to apply.
Submitting a Proposal:
- Please submit a resume, 2 references, and a brief proposal outlining a process you’d propose for meeting the deliverables outlined above. Experience working with grassroots social movement organizations is preferred.
- Proposals are due by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 22nd and should be emailed to info@maineworkers.org
