Regional Social Innovation Coordinator (CA)

Islamic Development & Empowerm; Buena Park (CA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

IDEA, the Department of Social Innovation, seeks a Regional Social Innovation Coordinator in Buena Park, CA. You will find and develop Idealists, host events, run trainings, and connect volunteers to IDEA's programs from food distribution to medical missions.

This field role covers five states—Southern California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and Hawaii—requiring travel and evening/weekend work to engage communities and support leadership development.

Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 3+ years in community organizing, volunteer management, program coordination, or similar work
• Experience planning and running events, from small gatherings to large public programs
• Experience designing or leading trainings, workshops, or leadership programs
• Strong communication skills with audiences from students to executives
• Ability to work evenings and weekends and travel regularly across the region's five states (expenses covered).

Responsibilities

• Recruit, train, and lead volunteers for IDEA's Fund Development events, US Programs, food distributions, disaster response, and medical missions
• Partner with IDEA teams from the start of planning to design volunteer experiences people love, then follow up and invite volunteers to their next step
• Recruit emerging leaders for international volunteer trips to see IDEA's projects firsthand
• Build relationships with MSAs, young professional groups, masajid, nonprofits, and social enterprises across your region, and show up at their events
• Host a monthly IDEA Night in your home city, building toward a large Ramadan IDEA Night with iftar, fundraising, vendor booths, and local organizations
• Run quarterly convening in other cities in your region, such as pitch days and hackathons for good
• Turn relationships into support for IDEA's work, in partnership with our Fund Development team
• Lead two IDEA Fellowship cohorts a year: a three-month leadership program for emerging change makers
• Deliver workshops on organizing, storytelling, and social innovation, and help partner organizations build their capacity
• Guide volunteers into IDEA's online leadership training and support them from their first event to leading their own projects

Skills

Community organizing

Volunteer management

Event planning

Training design

Communication skills

Evenings/weekends travel

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Status: Full-Time

Position Summary

IDEA's Department of Social Innovation is on a mission to become America's top social innovation hub: the place where poverty ends and human flourishing is grown. We empower, connect, and educate emerging change makers we call Idealists, giving them the training and community they need to reduce suffering, build prosperity, and lead lasting change in their own communities.

Idealists believe a better world is possible. They are hopeful in times of despair. They plant seeds even in soil that shows no signs of life. They choose to change systems rather than go quietly into them.

As a Regional Social Innovation Coordinator, you will find these people, help them grow, and give them a home at IDEA. You'll be the go-to convener for emerging leaders, young professionals, students, masajid, and community organizations in your region. You'll host events that inspire, run trainings and a leadership Fellowship, and connect volunteers to meaningful work across IDEA's programs, from food distribution to medical missions.

While this role is based at IDEA's office in Buena Park, CA, it is a regional job spanning five states: Southern California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and Hawaii. You'll build first and most deeply in SoCal, and you'll also be responsible for engaging communities and providing volunteer support across the rest of the region. This is a field role: you'll spend most of your time out in the community, not behind a desk.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Power IDEA's programs and fundraising (about 40%)

• Recruit, train, and lead volunteers for IDEA's Fund Development events, US Programs, food distributions, disaster response, and medical missions.
• Partner with IDEA teams from the start of planning to design volunteer experiences people love, then follow up and invite volunteers to their next step.
• Recruit emerging leaders for international volunteer trips to see IDEA's projects firsthand.

Convene and connect your community (about 40%)

• Build relationships with MSAs, young professional groups, masajid, nonprofits, and social enterprises across your region, and show up at their events.
• Host a monthly IDEA Night in your home city, building toward a large Ramadan IDEA Night with iftar, fundraising, vendor booths, and local organizations.
• Run quarterly convening in other cities in your region, such as pitch days and hackathons for good.
• Turn relationships into support for IDEA's work, in partnership with our Fund Development team.

Train and grow leaders (about 20%)

• Lead two IDEA Fellowship cohorts a year: a three-month leadership program for emerging change makers.
• Deliver workshops on organizing, storytelling, and social innovation, and help partner organizations build their capacity.
• Guide volunteers into IDEA's online leadership training and support them from their first event to leading their own projects.

Qualifications and Competencies:

• A bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 3+ years in community organizing, volunteer management, program coordination, or similar work
• Experience planning and running events, from small gatherings to large public programs
• Experience designing or leading trainings, workshops, or leadership programs
• Strong communication skills with audiences from students to executives
• Ability to work evenings and weekends and travel regularly across the region's five states (expenses covered).

Bonus points for: experience with fellowships, social entrepreneurship, impact investing, corporate employee resource groups, or storytelling and video, and familiarity with Muslim community institutions.

At IDEA we are committed to safeguarding and protecting all individuals we come into contact with through our work. IDEA representatives must adhere to its organizational values: Sincerity, Excellence, Compassion, Social Justice, and Custodianship. In accordance with these values, IDEA operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Code of Ethics, and Anti-Harassment and Discrimination.