Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ) is a multiracial, multisectoral alliance of grassroots organizations building popular movements for peace, democracy, and a sustainable world. Following the departure of our longtime director, Cindy Wiesner, who led the alliance through nearly two decades of growth and impact, GGJ is now looking for our next executive leader to guide us forward through years that promise to be both challenging and transformational.
Our Story
NAFTA. WTO. Battle of Seattle. These are the conditions that birthed Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ). In 2002, after a delegation of U.S. base-building organizers returned from the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, they decided to create an alliance that focused on movement building here in the U.S. while also strengthening international solidarity. Since then, GGJ has grown to encompass more than 60 U.S.-based grassroots organizing groups comprised of working class communities and communities of color. GGJ brings base-building organizations into a long-term process of relationship building, political alignment, and transformational leadership development. We build a bridge between U.S.-based organizations and global social movements working for climate justice, gender justice, an end to war, and a just transition to a feminist, anti-racist, regenerative economy.
Through all our programs, GGJ aims to strengthen movement building by engaging four meta-strategies:
- Political Development: Growing our members’ understanding and practice of a shared politic and strengthening the ability to make meaning of this political moment through that conjunctural analysis.
- Movement Coherence and Alignment: Building the ability of the grassroots left to act together and lead in broader social movements in the U.S. and globally.
- Testing Our Ideas and Power: Organizing our members to put our shared vision into practice by contending for social, economic, narrative, and governing power.
- Resource Mobilization: Growing GGJ’s base of resource support from institutional philanthropy, individual donors, and other forms to support our alliance’s powerful work and to move greater resources to the grassroots organizing sector.
As an alliance grounded in the framework of Transformative Organizing, we seek to advance a Transformative Program that:
- Forwards the People’s Care Agenda: a campaign to resist authoritarian attacks, take back governing power, and advance local initiatives and projects that invest in real solutions for the crises we face.
- Builds the number of organizers who are clear on their stake in stopping militarism, and advancing climate justice and grassroots feminisms.
- Works in relation to movements internationally through political education in our Transformative Organizing School, our Feminist Organizing School, and our International Feminist Organizing School.
- Exercises an integrated resource strategy to mobilize resources from multiple sectors in support of GGJ’s program, our membership organizations, and the broader grassroots organizing sector. This includes GGJ’s leadership in Funders for Demilitarization, a project to organize philanthropy and donors to move more resources to the sector in order to transform our society to divest from institutions of harm and invest in economies of care.
Core Responsibilities
GGJ’s Executive Director (ED) guides the political and programmatic direction of the 501(c)(3) alliance and our 501(c)(4) sibling organization – the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance Action Fund (GGJAF). The ED ensures the organization’s financial stability and legal compliance, engages in fundraising, and represents GGJ to national and international audiences.
GGJ is a mid-sized movement building organization with a multimillion dollar budget and diverse revenue sources.
Our ED reports to the 501(c)(3) Board of Directors (BOD), who are also part of the 15 elected membership representatives on the Coordinating Committee (CC), responsible for the programmatic strategic direction of the alliance. The ED leads a fully remote team of over 20 dedicated staff members, including 5 direct reports.
While the position is fully remote, our ED is expected to be based in and authorized to work in the U.S. Travel is required, on average, 10+ days per month in the U.S. and 15+ days per year internationally. Other travel may be needed to represent the alliance at meetings and events or to participate in optional leadership development opportunities.
Leadership Profile
GGJ is seeking a collaborative and practical leader with deep experience in transformative organizing and movement building, and who is grounded in grassroots feminism and internationalism. Our next ED will be a visionary, resilient, and strategic leader with the skills to foster alignment across the grassroots organizing sector, to build power, and to advance radical change. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with GGJ members to plan a strategy that leverages their sophisticated political analysis with practical on-the-ground experience.
We especially seek candidates with the following experience, skills, and attributes:
Leadership & Organizing
- Deep experience as a grassroots organizer (at least 10 years) and senior leader (at least 5 to 7 years) within mid-sized, grassroots, base-building organizations.
- Experience working in a national alliance, coalition, or network of multiracial, grassroots groups led by Black and Indigenous people, and people of color. The strong candidate will have the proven skills to guide the governance of our alliance.
Mission & Political Alignment
- A deep political alignment with our frameworks of Transformative Organizing, Feminist Economy, Demilitarization, Climate Justice, Just Transition, Grassroots Feminism, and Grassroots Internationalism, and demonstrated expertise in at least two of these priorities.
- Experience working internationally and in different regions of the U.S. and occupied territories is a significant plus.
- Familiarity with popular education is strongly desired.
Organizational & Team Leadership
- Knowledge of administrative systems, financial management, and organizational development is key to running an organization of GGJ’s size. Candidates with less experience in these areas, but who have the willingness to learn and strengthen their nonprofit management skills, are also welcome to apply.
- A proven track record in project management, supervision, and developing collaborative, leaderful teams. Our next leader will be an active listener who is open to new ideas and who can lead from the front as well as from behind. They will bring out the best in those around them, while holding themselves and their team accountable to our mission.
- Highly developed emotional intelligence, interpersonal, and relationship-building skills, and the ability to engage with diverse audiences. Our Executive Director will demonstrate integrity, authenticity, humility, and competence. They will be skilled at navigating conflict and contradictions at work, in organizations and coalitions, and within society as a whole.
Resource Mobilization & Communications
- Demonstrated success as a fundraiser, including cultivating and securing funding from individual donors and institutional grantors.
- Strong skills as a compelling writer and public speaker.
- Our ideal candidate will be fluent in English and Spanish, and may speak a third language, such as Arabic, Portuguese, French, or other languages. Monolingual English speakers who meet the other qualifications in this profile are still encouraged to apply.
Other
- Familiarity with common computer applications, such as Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Adobe Suite, Asana, Slack, and Zoom.
- Ability to travel and work flexible hours (evenings and weekends), including communicating with allies in other parts of the world in different time zones, within the parameters of our flex time policy.
Compensation
GGJ’s Board has approved a salary of $130,000–160,000 annually, depending on experience. GGJ also provides a generous benefits package estimated at an annual additional value of $30,000 that includes:
- 100% of medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, and life insurance beginning on the first month after date of hire; 80% dependent and 50% spouse/domestic partner medical, dental, and vision insurance benefits available.
- Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) benefit that can be used for any tax-deductible health costs.
- Optional pre-tax deduction for dependent care expenses through a Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
- 401(k) retirement plan with employer contribution after one year of employment.
- Additional remote work benefits are also available after the introductory period, including home office reimbursement or GGJ-paid shared work space, office equipment, and supply funds.
- Generous vacation time starting at 12 days in the first two years of employment and increasing to 15 and 20 days in years three and eight respectively.
- Additional paid time off including 9 personal days, 12 holidays, and office closures for one week at the end of year and one week over the summer.
- A flex time policy to offset the need for flexible work hours and holding meetings to accommodate other time zones.
- A three-month paid sabbatical after seven years of employment in recognition of quality performance and commitment to the organization’s work, and as a way to invest in the longevity of staff.
Application Instructions
Strategies for Social Change® LLC (SSC) is conducting the executive search and transition process for GGJ. SSC is a woman of color-owned, nationally recognized capacity building and leadership development practice dedicated to working with social justice organizations.
We are accepting applications until August 31, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. Applicants selected for interviews with our Leadership Transition Committee, consisting of board members and staff, will be contacted before the end of September.
Please upload your application materials to our application portal. Your materials should include the following as a single PDF:
- A thoughtful and compelling cover letter (no more than 2 pages) that briefly describes your leadership journey and explains why you want to lead GGJ. The search committee is especially interested in your experience with community organizing, internationalism, and mid-sized grassroots organizations.
- A resume (no more than 4 pages) that clearly addresses the qualifications above. Feel free to include links to written work products and/or speaking engagements.
- Contact information for three references, including names, affiliation, relationships to you, email addresses, and phone numbers. Please include someone you have supervised and someone who has supervised you. References will not be contacted until the final stage of the search, and candidates will be given an opportunity to notify their references in advance.
Black, Indigenous, Latine, Arab, Asian Pacific Islander people, women, femmes, queer folks, trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive people are strongly encouraged to apply.
