What are the responsibilities and job description for the Southeast Iowa Organizer position at Food & Water Watch?
Southeast Iowa Organizer
Food & Water Watch is looking for an Southeast Iowa Organizer to join our political team. This organizer will lead outreach to residents of southeast Iowa, helping Iowans get registered to vote and involved in the election process. We will organize a combination of grassroots volunteers and students, mobilizing them to conduct outreach to their communities.
This is a temporary grant-funded position. The position is available January 5, 2026, and is initially funded through April 2026. We are continuing to raise funds with a goal of extending this position through the end of 2026.
About Food & Water Watch:
Food & Water Watch is organizing on some of the biggest issues Iowans face today, like holding factory farms accountable for their pollution, advocating for clean drinking water, stopping carbon pipelines, and supporting our growing renewable energy industry. The 2026 midterm elections offer a great opportunity to be engaging Iowans around these critical issues.
Food & Water Watch has been working for years, organizing to build power in Iowa. Our work gets real results. In 2025, we defeated the so-called “Cancer Gag Act” that was pushed on the Iowa legislature by Bayer and Big Ag. This bill would have prevented farmers, workers, and anyone affected from exercising their right to hold companies accountable for failing to warn them of health risks. We also played a role in passing legislation blocking carbon pipeline companies from using eminent domain to take property from landowners.
About the position:
The Iowa Organizer will report to the Political Director and will work with other staff on the organizing team to support Food & Water Watch’s work. This organizer will lead outreach to residents of southeast Iowa, helping Iowans get registered to vote and involved in the election process. We will organize a combination of grassroots volunteers and students, mobilizing them to conduct outreach to their communities.
Salary: $45,600 to $53,300, depending on location and experience
Location: Southeast Iowa, with a preference for Scott County. Will also consider candidates based in Johnson County.
Responsibilities:
- Recruit volunteers and allies in support of our campaigns, with an emphasis on recruiting new volunteers and developing them into leaders
- Leadership development: Build the capacity and leadership of volunteers and allied grassroots organizations by offering training and organizing support.
- Develop and implement campaign strategy: Work closely with team and partner organizations to develop and implement joint strategies.
- Hone campaign messaging by reporting back on effectiveness of outreach tactics
- Regularly report on work to supervisors.
- Participate in membership recruitment for Food & Water Watch.
- Carry out other projects as assigned.
Required Qualifications:
- Experience with grassroots organizing, either in a paid or volunteer capacity.
- Types of campaign experience that would make a good candidate include voter registration, voter mobilization, managing a paid or volunteer canvass effort, student organizing, grassroots advocacy, and relational organizing.
- Experience training others in grassroots outreach skills
- Ability to work effectively with people of diverse racial, ethnic, class, age, gender, and sexual orientation backgrounds.
- Ability to work remotely using basic online programs, including email, Slack, and Google docs.
- Excellent time management & organizational skills and ability to balance multiple projects.
Desired but not required skills and experience:
- Experience using VAN or a similar voter file database
- Experience using outreach texting and phonebanking tools like ThruText or Scale to Win
- Knowledge of southeast Iowa
Compensation: $45,600 to $53,300, depending on location and experience
Food & Water Watch provides an excellent benefits package for full-time employees. This includes 100% employer-paid health, dental and vision plans for staff; 403b retirement plans with employer contribution once eligible; 12 weeks paid parental leave; 3 weeks vacation for new employees; 12 sick days and 5 personal days; paid federal holidays and winter break (December 24 – January 1).
Please include your resume, cover letter, and three professional references to be considered. Position open until filled. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
We will review your application and if we feel that your knowledge, skills and abilities are potentially a good match for our organization, we will be in contact with you.
Food & Water Watch is an equal opportunity employer who encourages applications from women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, individuals with disabilities, and other members of underrepresented groups. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this role.
Food & Water Watch (FWW) is committed to the health and safety of its staff members. Moreover, FWW, as an organization, promotes science-based policy. Science clearly shows that unvaccinated populations drive the spread of the coronavirus and the emergence of new variants, and that unvaccinated people are more likely to contract COVID and experience severe symptoms. Effective immediately, it is strongly recommended that prospective new staff members provide proof of vaccination.
Salary : $45,600 - $53,300