Position Summary

Heartland Fund is seeking an experienced Strategic Communications Trainer to design and lead tailored narrative and communications coaching, training, and resources for our grantees and partners. The Strategic Communications Trainer will create materials, provide guidance, and train and coach individuals and groups from rural civic engagement, climate, and economic development organizations to engage news media and alternative platforms, deploy social media, utilize persuasive narratives, and employ other communications tactics. Training will range from topical webinars to a year-long cohort.

This position requires excellent meeting design and facilitation skills to create participatory educational experiences. The Strategic Communications Trainer must also bring strong messaging, earned, and social media communication skills and coaching experience and be a proficient project manager.

We are looking for a highly relational, organized, and strategic team member with a commitment to rural people and places, and racial, climate, and economic justice. You will have an opportunity to design and lead creative training programs and directly support inspiring rural communicators. This is a unique and dynamic position with increasing opportunities for leadership and rewarding collaboration.

Applications will be reviewed and considered on a rolling basis, with initial phone screens anticipated to start in January 2025. The desired start date is March 2025.

This is a remote position with a salary range of $90,000 to $110,000 and includes a generous benefits package.

Location: Fully Remote, with regular travel  

Reports to: Communications and Policy Director, Heartland Fund

Status: Full-time, Exempt

In your cover letter we are interested in learning why you are interested in this specific role at this time in your career, more about your connection to rural people and places, and the unique skills and talents you bring to this position. Anticipating a lot of applications, candidates who demonstrate persuasive communications skills will stand out in the process.

About the Organization

The 501(c)(3) Heartland Fund is a growing funding collaborative with 200+ grantees building power toward a thriving democracy, healthy climate, and shared prosperity across diverse communities in rural areas and small cities. As a funding collaborative, we bring together resources from leading philanthropic organizations and individual donors to implement a coordinated strategy.

We support rural people to protect and expand democratic participation and create solutions to critical local and national issues. We invest in the tools rural leaders and organizations need to organize our friends and neighbors to action, and build diverse sustainable coalitions united by shared values and purpose. On top of grantmaking, we help bring rural folks together through conferences and peer learning, provide useful research and data, and support rural leaders to communicate powerfully about the issues that impact our lives.

Heartland Fund has three programs: 

• Rural Democracy expands civic participation in rural places and counters narratives and policies that harm our democratic institutions. Heartland’s Rural Youth Voter Fund is a signature initiative of the Rural Democracy program.

• Resource Rural focuses on effective federal funding implementation to ensure historic climate and infrastructure investments land for maximum impact in rural communities. 

• Rural Climate Partnership supports hometowns across America to accelerate climate solutions and build healthy local economies.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

The Communications Trainer will collaborate with the Communications and Policy Director and communications staff across Heartland’s three programs to support grantees and partners to expand their impact through powerful communications. They will coach leaders so they can most effectively advance solutions for their communities, showcase their groups’ work, engage rural storytellers, and persuasively engage more people. Through training, coaching, and engaging materials, they will support organizations to deploy trusted messengers, tell compelling stories, and frame issues within an effective narrative, as well as utilize best communication practices. The Strategic Communications Trainer will coach people with a broad range of communications experience — from grassroots organizers with limited communications experience to seasoned communicators looking to level up in a new field or context or adopt a new narrative framework. They will tailor offerings to the unique opportunities and challenges of communicating in rural places while recognizing the wide diversity of rural communities and their media landscapes.  

The Strategic Communications Trainer independently owns and manages the communication training and coaching programs from ideation to implementation. 

Activities Include: 

• Lead a 20+-person, year-long Rural Communicators Cohort program, including program and curriculum development and managing several contracted trainers

• Develop and lead webinars and in-person trainings on communications tactics and narrative

• Provide one-on-one and small-group communications coaching to the Heartland network

• Create templates, handbooks, and sample written materials demonstrating recommended communications practices

• Support groups to more effectively communicate their public policy priorities and amplify advocacy and policy advances related to the Rural Policy Action Report

• Contribute to Heartland Fund’s external communications as part of an entrepreneurial communications team changing the public conversation about rural America. External communications include articles, op-eds, social media, podcasts, videos and more

• Fill in for other Heartland communicators when additional communications capacity is needed

• Support storytelling and public speaking preparation on the Heartland Fund team

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will combine strong communications experience and training and facilitation skills with a passion for environmental and economic justice and a thriving democracy. They will bring exceptional people skills, strong organizational talents, and a connection with rural people and places.

Heartland Fund’s growing team takes pride in building an organizational culture rooted in learning, collaboration, racial justice, and a deep commitment to our mission. All staff are expected to provide leadership and vision to advance our mission, vision, and core strategies.

Qualifications 

We realize that great candidates may not have everything on this list. If you believe you would be a great fit for this role, we encourage you to apply. 

Essential Skills and Characteristics

• 5+ years experience in communications and/or training roles

• Broad range of communication skills, including strategy, storytelling, narrative and message development, media relations, social media, and digital

• Meeting facilitation - engaging public speaker who creates participatory, educational experiences in virtual meetings and in-person

• Meeting and event design - develops agendas and supporting materials that engage participants with different learning styles, and meet strategic goals for virtual, in-person, and hybrid meetings

• Coaching - creates trust and establishes relationships to support people, with reliable follow-up and personalized support structures that foster long-term professional growth 

• Effective project management - develops, implements, and adapts plans to meet ambitious goals, engaging other team members and maximizing the impact of limited resources

• Strong attention to detail and ability to ensure complex projects move forward efficiently, and involved team members and contractors are engaged, supported, and consulted  

• Connection to and passion for rural people and places

• Experience advancing equity and racial justice 

• Entrepreneurial and resourceful, a proactive and creative problem-solver

Preferred Skills & Knowledge

• Understanding of narrative strategy and the ability to learn to teach the Winning Jobs Narrative and Rural Climate Solutions Narrative framework

• Familiarity with rural policy issues and communications styles, and the ability to learn to coach groups working on issues advanced by the Heartland Fund, Rural Climate Partnership, and Resource Rural

• Success designing communication campaigns and writing communications plans

• Experience with rural organizations and practitioners, especially those working on grassroots organizing, climate, economic development, and voter advocacy 

• Background living in, working in, and/or a cultural history that includes rural America

• Experience working with Black, Indigenous, and people of color-led organizations, as well as facilitating workshops with diverse participants

• Working knowledge of a range of collaboration and technology platforms, including Zoom, Monday, Slack, and Google Apps.

Travel Requirements

This position requires occasional travel within the United States. 

Compensation & Job Design

This is a full-time, exempt position. The organization is virtual, and the position may work remotely from their home within the United States. Expected compensation will be based on skills and relevant experience, with a salary range of $90,000 to $110,000. 

The comprehensive benefits package includes 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for employees (and their families). Employees are able to enroll in a 401k retirement plan and are eligible for a 3% automatic contribution and up to a 3% employer match on 401k contributions. Employees are also eligible for pre-tax transportation benefits. Employees will receive 120 hours of vacation time, 80 hours of health leave, up to 2 days of casual leave, and 20 hours of volunteer leave annually. Employees will also receive 13 paid holidays throughout the calendar year. Employees are eligible for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave after 90 days of employment. All employees of Windward are required to complete timesheets. 

Heartland Fund is fiscally sponsored by the Windward Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grantmaking programs. Windward is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional people and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. Windward’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working. 

The individual holding this position will also work part-time for a coordinated project, Rural Victory Fund, in Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization, under a resource-sharing agreement between Windward Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund. The responsibilities under that position will be overseen by Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Windward participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with employees’ Form I-9 information to confirm authorization to work in the United States. Job candidates and employees authorized to work may not be discriminated against on the basis of national origin or citizenship status.  

How to Apply

Applications will be reviewed and considered on a rolling basis with interviews anticipated to start in January 2025. Desired start date by March 2025. Apply by submitting a cover letter and resume. In your cover letter we are interested in learning why you are interested in this specific role at this time in your career, more about your connection to rural people and places, and the unique skills and talents you bring to this position. Anticipating a lot of applications, candidates who demonstrate persuasive communications skills will stand out in the process.