New York, NY

Field Building Officer, Perspective Fund

The Organization

Perspective Fund believes we are strengthened by the diversity of our staff, and welcomes such diversity including race, gender identity or expression, educational attainment, disability, veteran status, and personal experience with the criminal justice system. We welcome applications from people of all cultures, backgrounds, and experiences, and we strongly encourage people of color and persons with disabilities to apply.

We actively cultivate an institutional culture that reflects the values of respect, equity and inclusion that we seek through our work to amplify in the larger world. We hire, promote and retain interns based on their professional qualifications, demonstrated abilities and work performance, as well as on the degree to which these qualities are required in the employment positions made available by the Foundation’s service needs and business requirements.

All personnel decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, assignment, training, promotion, discipline and discharge, are made without discrimination based on any protected characteristic as defined by law, e.g., race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, age, disability, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, domestic partner status, veteran or military status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, and prior criminal convictions, as well as educational attainment.

Position Overview

●        Increase Perspective Fund’s ability to measure and analyze the “success” of media impact campaigns (in partnership with Metrics-focused consultants) and create an internal standard for how we define impact.

●        Find and leverage new tools and distribution platforms to improve influence and engagement.

●        Actively seek out expertise and test approaches from other fields to improve messaging, influence, mapping, distribution, etc.

●        Lead the charge in growing the non-fiction media impact field and cultivating a more unified impact movement (by funding, convening and evangelizing).

●        Collaborate with organizations and filmmakers to experiment and test innovative models & ideas.

Medium-term Priorities

●        Support sustainable career opportunities and roles within the media impact space.

●        Connect civil society with the media impact space to work collaboratively on large scale systemic problems, bridging the gap between outreach and movement building.

●        Spearhead innovative models and structures which can be replicated, scaled and learned from by the field. Seeding innovative organizations and for-profit models through program-related investments and recoverable grants.

●        Discover the “secret sauce” for navigating outreach in the age of streaming platforms.

●        Increase Perspective’s internal capacity to add value and advise on outreach strategy and impact infrastructure.

Long-term Priorities

●        Build and strengthen network of grantees to address the field’s challenges (see below) at various levels.

●        Create an open channel of communication with grantees and partners to share learnings and  rapidly elevate successful models and/or iterate promising experiments.

●        Further develop the sophistication and effectiveness of outreach campaign strategies  and execution.

●        Normalize impact funding into production budgets/costs/fundraising so a portion of outreach costs are realized by everyone (investors, distributors, production specific donors), instead of a few philanthropic players baring the bulk of the financial responsibility.

●        Expand our understanding and support for other forms of media beyond feature non-fiction.

Challenges of the field

●        Redundancy in impact efforts and development.

●        Vacuum of funding in the media impact space.

●        Aversion to testable models as well as metrics/quantitative based approaches.

●        Lack of alignment between film investors’, distributors’, filmmakers’, and grantmakers’ interests.

●        Impact Producers and experts leaving the space because of a lack of career stability.

●        Reliance on old models and complacency (while acknowledging there is value and existing low hanging fruit with existing models). Non-fiction media impact is lagging behind efforts to use misinformation and modern tools to influence public opinion.

●        Lack of resources and access to leverage sophisticated tools/methods.

●        Grantmakers’ and funders’ aversion to higher-risk innovation and experimentation.

Knowledge and Skills Requirements

 

●        7+ years of experience in the social justice media impact field, documentary film space and/or the media field in general.

●        Professional experience in impact/outreach campaigns utilizing media for social change.  This could be as a film producer, proposal evaluator, or strategist.

●        Extensive network and connections in the media impact, documentary, and human rights fields.

●        Proven track record of strategizing and delivering major media impact and field strengthening initiatives, helping organizations adapt to rapidly evolving field.

●        Eagerness to expand media impact expertise by learning from other fields to improve messaging, influence, mapping, distribution, etc.

●        Strong understanding of all phases of media production, finance, evaluation, distribution and impact, and provision of strategic support.

●        Familiarity with and commitment to human rights and social justice issues.

●        Excellent English-language writing and editing skills, as well as research, analytical and organizational abilities.

●        Understands and values social justice, including racial and gender equity as an organizational operating principle – and is committed to continued learning on issues related to race, gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

●        Knowledge of Google Suite and Microsoft Office; experience with Airtable a plus.

●        Comfort with financial information, budgets and databases.

●        Ability to remain flexible, work independently and in a team, and manage one’s own time.

●        Ability to handle confidential information with complete discretion.

●        Willingness to learn, be open to new ideas, and have fun.

●        Understands and values social justice, including racial and gender equity as an organizational operating principle – and is committed to continued learning on issues related to race, gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications

●        Knowledge of emerging digital and multi-platform storytelling practices globally.

●        Experience working in a cross-cultural environment.

●        Proficient in a second language a plus.

How To Apply

For employment consideration, please submit application to jobs@perspectivefund.org. Subject Line: “[Your name]— “Field Building Officer.”

All applications must include:

1.       a resumé;

2.       a cover letter outlining relevant and applicable experience and salary requirements (MUST specify actual amount and range); and

3.       one writing sample that shows your relevant experience in media impact film (in PDF format).

Only applications that include these materials will be reviewed and considered.

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