The Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA’s mission is to cultivate markets, policies, and communities that sustain thriving, socially just, and environmentally sound family farms. RAFI works nationally and internationally, focusing on North Carolina and the southeastern United States. RAFI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Pittsboro, North Carolina and incorporated in 1990.

• Family farmers have the power to earn a fair and dependable income.
• Everyone who labors in agriculture is respected, protected, and valued by society.
• Air, water, and soil are preserved for future generations.
• The land yields healthy and abundant food and fiber that is accessible to all members of society.
• The full diversity of seeds and breeds, the building blocks of agriculture, are reinvigorated and publicly protected.

RAFI’s programs address the trends and changes in agriculture that affect us from the local to the global levels.

We combine on-the-ground services with national and international policy advocacy in order to ensure that farmers have access to the tools they need to make the right choices for their farm and families, and to ensure that the best choice for farmers will also be the best choice for the environment and their communities.

Our strategy and organization style is collaborative, achieving results through coalitions, partnerships and affiliations. Working with a variety of farm, community, university and government groups, RAFI promotes sustainability, equity and diversity in agriculture through policy changes, practical assistance, market opportunities, and access to financial and technical resources.

We also work on issues from the ground level, through one-on-one work with farm families, up to national and international strategy. This unique approach allows us to bring lessons from the farm to national strategy discussions and bring those national resources and connections back to farm families.

Come to the Table Event Planning Coordinator Position

Closing Date: October 27th, 2016

Proposed Start Date: November 7, 2016

The Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining family farms, rural communities and food security. RAFI cultivates markets, policies and communities that support thriving, socially just and environmentally sound family farms. The RAFI office is located in Pittsboro, NC. For more information about RAFI, visit www.rafiusa.org.

RAFI seeks an organized and efficient individual to assist the project manager of the Beyond Hunger Relief Program in coordinating the logistics of the Come to the Table conference and gatherings. Come to the Table (CTTT) is an initiative whose mission is to relieve hunger while strengthening just and sustainable agriculture in rural North Carolina by engaging and mobilizing people of faith, farmers and communities.  It is a joint project of RAFI and the NC Council of Churches.

The primary responsibility of the position is to bring together people of faith and diverse communities to engage in solutions to hunger and food access that sustain local agriculture, primarily through the 2017 CTTT conference and gatherings.  The event planning coordinator will be a part of the Beyond Hunger Relief (BHR) team, and will work with the Come To The Table project director, the Beyond Hunger Relief project manager, and the communications director.

Qualifications:

• Experience in event planning
• 2+ years experience working in the nonprofit sector and/or human services
• Familiarity with hunger relief and food access work
• Experience working with faith communities
• Fluency in Excel and the Microsoft Office Suite

Principal Responsibilities:

• Coordinate event logistics, including registration and attendee tracking, presentation and materials support and pre- and post-event evaluations
• Draft registration materials, assist with developing the conference program
• Coordinate with communications director to ensure that content is in place for communications and that the registration process is integrated into RAFI’s communications and existing database
• Assist with outreach about the conference to farmers, faith communities, hunger relief organizations, etc.
• Communicate event details and logistics to attendees and presenters and collect necessary information and workshop content from presenters
• Work with venue staff to prepare for day of event (including room set-up, supplies needed and audiovisual)
• Keep the BHR team updated on progress on a daily basis through collaborative work plan on the Google Drive and regular communication
• Participate in BHR team meetings
• Plan, order and track supplies needed for the event
• Assist with other administrative duties necessary for the planning of a successful event
• Assist with conference follow-up tasks such as evaluation, processing reimbursements, thank-you emails, website updates, and more

Employment Type: Temporary, part-time

Compensation: This temporary, part-time position is paid hourly from 20-30 hours per week at $16 per hour

Duration: This is a 6 month temporary position, from November 2016 to April 2017.