Policy Program Manager; SAFSF

Reports to:

Program and Operations Director

Location:

Negotiable

About SAFSF

The Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) amplifies the impact of philanthropic and investment communities in support of just and sustainable food and agriculture systems. SAFSF is a vibrant and growing network of more than 100 organizational members from the philanthropic and investment sectors whose work spans a broad range of issues and strategies as well as a wide geographic range—domestic and international.

Our vision is that all resources invested in food and agriculture systems enhance our collective well-being. Our core values of collaboration, equity, respect, stewardship and integrity drive our organization on an everyday basis. We use these values to guide our decision-making process in all our work, from developing programs and hiring new staff to choosing caterers and hotels.

SAFSF recognizes that diversity of perspective, lived experience, professional, and personal skills among our staff, leadership, and membership is critical to our success as an organization.

SAFSF seeks a full-time manager to lead SAFSF’s public policy work. While working closely with the team of SAFSF staff based in Santa Barbara, CA, this position is not required to be based in Santa Barbara.

Core responsibilities:

• Provide coordination of, communication to, and education for funders to deepen their understanding, and build their capacity and common policy goals. This work will be related to—but not limited to—U.S. policies such as farm bill, healthy food incentives, childhood nutrition reauthorization, food safety, and many other federal, state, tribal, and local policies.
• Foster greater learning about and appreciation for the equity and social justice implications of policy and policy changes/proposals.
• Stay abreast of developments in relevant policies at the federal, tribal, state, and local levels.
• Lead the development and management of effective working relationships with key policymakers and peer advocacy organizations in relationship to SAFSF’s policy work.
• Develop policy priorities and design an annual policy agenda with effective strategies, realistic goals, and performance measures to reach SAFSF strategic goals in collaboration with SAFSF senior staff and Policy Committee.
• Provide coordination of activities at a state, regional and national level in support of SAFSF’s partnership with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA).
• Represent SAFSF in a variety of capacities, including speaking engagements, written presentations and correspondence, and participation in conferences and meetings.

Required Skills and Experiences:

• Network Leadership and Facilitation: ability to connect and build alliances among a wide range of players—funders, peer advocacy organizations, and policymakers/staff. Previous experience working in collaborative efforts that relied on clear communication, and strong, values-driven relationship building. Strong facilitation skills for both in-person and virtual meetings.
• Understanding of the Food System in the U.S. context: broad understanding of current ag/food system and relevant policies.
• Analyzing policy from a racial/social justice lens in a U.S. context: ability and comfort in discussing race, class, gender, and other forms of structural bias in food/ag policy; analyze policy proposals for impact on disadvantaged communities and suggest changes to make proposals more equitable.
• Translating Policy: ability to translate complex ‘wonky’ policy for a lay audience in written and verbal communication without losing important nuanced information.
• Direct policy experience: previous professional experience at any level of government, or within advocacy organizations, or policy support organizations. Relevant experience can be in food and ag or related fields e.g. health policy.
• Program/Project management skills: manage multiple projects simultaneously, work within a team/collaborative staff environment, plan backwards and anticipate obstacles, identify and involve stakeholders appropriately, use resources wisely.
• 7-10 years relevant experience: may be a combination of work and…