NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

GiveDirectly (GD) provides cash grants directly to people living in extreme poverty. GD has raised over $800M since launching in 2011, delivered cash to more than 1.2 million recipients, and launched offices in 11 countries. We’re continuing expansion across the Global South. Over the past decade, GD has also supported large-scale, experimental research, expanding the evidence that cash has a positive short and long-term impact on recipients. As a result, GD has been celebrated as one of the most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company, while the growing cash transfer movement (and GD’s leading role within it) has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Foreign Affairs, and The Economist.

Across our global offices, our culture is candid, analytical, non-hierarchical, and agile. We work alongside 750+ individuals who come from 21 different countries and speak 69 different languages. Team members at GiveDirectly attest that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just buzzwords, but a fundamental part of our culture and values. We actively seek to recruit individuals from the communities we serve, and use DEI as a lens in our hiring practices, programs, and initiatives. Our goal is to maintain a workplace where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work, and feel valued and respected for who they are. We continue to grapple with balancing inclusivity of all cultures and experiences while maintaining cohesion in our values. While there is much that we are still learning, we take care of one another, have fun, as well as provide flexible working hours wherever possible.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other status protected by law.

Location: Global, Remote. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.

Role Overview

We are seeking a creative and entrepreneurial senior manager to build out GiveDirectly’s press and earned media pillar: driving awareness for direct giving by pitching media, developing relationships with key thought leaders/journalists, and elevating recipient voices.

You are a clear, succinct communicator with a track record of end-to-end ownership of media outreach and roadmaps. You are passionate about social policy and international development, with experience translating complex policy and research into clear talking points and takeaways. You have a keen eye for risk and spin.

You’ll work closely with colleagues across Africa and the U.S. The current Press function is supported by the Director of Communications and in-country external relations managers; however, the press function will be entirely owned by the person in this role.

Press and earned media are vital channels in driving awareness for GiveDirectly’s work, and in this role you will enable us to raise and deliver more funds to people in poverty. GiveDirectly has been covered in a number of top tier outlets, including This American Life, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, CNN, BBC, Wired, Vox, Forbes and more. These features, unique for an NGO of our size, drive new donations and build awareness for the value of empowering recipients to spend aid on what they need most. Creative engagements from donors like Jack Dorsey and Vitalik Buterin drew a whole new community to giving directly.

This role involves occasional travel to program countries and around the US for in-person meetings with press or attendance to launch events. Minimum 15 business days of travel a year.

Responsibilities:

Earned Media

Run outbound pitching to print, TV, and podcast journalists – identify unique elements of our work, translate and package it to make it hooky.
Prepare GiveDirectly staff for press and media appearances, coordinate press visits to see in-country programs.
Set ambitious press strategy and roadmap, coordinate with partners and outlets for major rollouts.
Create press interest: stage launch events, propose compelling programs or research areas, etc.
Monitor and analyze press coverage, providing regular reports to senior leadership on the effectiveness of press efforts
Relationship Building

Develop and maintain relationships with journalists, editors, and producers
Design & execute creative strategies for building organic relationships with notable thought leaders (intellectuals, columnists, influencers, podcast hosts, etc.)
Engage unique, brand-aligned voices outside of GD to speak on behalf of our specific projects
Collaborate with internal teams to identify and train strong spokespersons and narratives from each country.
Represent GiveDirectly at relevant conferences, events, and meetings to strengthen the organization’s presence in the press community
Crisis comms

Coordinate crisis communications, working closely with senior leadership to develop and implement appropriate responses and ensure proper preparation has been made.

Qualifications:

Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
5+ years of experience in fast-paced content-driven role in communications, consulting, media, content marketing, or journalism
Exceptional relationship management: “Proven track record in creating and implementing successful press strategies building networks in niche topic areas”
Strong communications skills across mediums (speaking, writing, presenting, risk assessment, and negotiating with multiple stakeholders) and networking skills
Excellent attention to detail regarding text, visuals, and emails and strong project management
Dogged and bold: you work many angles to break into opaque markets and you are willing to ask busy people for exactly what you want.
Nice to haves:

(not requirements, but mention if this is you)

Deep rolodex of connections in related industry (press, entertainment, economics, politics, etc)
Located in a major media city (New York, D.C., London)
Experience producing press releases, fact sheets, or reports
Data analytics and quantitative statistics (Excel level)
Copywriting or blogging experience
Familiarity with media monitoring tools and analytics
Professional storytelling / creative writing experience
Fluency in French or primary languages where GD works (Portuguese, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Chichewa, etc.)

Priority Application Deadline: May 21, 2023

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to ensure that staff’s total compensation package (base compensation + bonus) falls within the 75th percentile of similar roles, at similar organizations. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles.

The United States base salary for this role is $108,000 USD.

This role is fully remote, so if you are not based in the US, we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process.