Director of Policy and Program

The Position:

The American Constitution Society (ACS), one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations, seeks an experienced, creative, and detail-oriented Director to lead the Policy and Program Department’s rule of law efforts.

The Director’s portfolio will focus on legal efforts to defend and strengthen the rule of law, maintain the proper balance of power between the three branches of government, as well as between the federal government and the states, and includes work on administrative law and government accountability. The Director will work closely with other members of the Policy and Program Department to coordinate a unified, intersectional, and strategically coherent vision for ACS’s rule of law work. The position may be responsible for additional, substantive portfolios based on experience and interest.

The Director will play a central role in coordinating and facilitating ACS's substantive legal and public policy work in the areas described above and will:

  • Work closely with constitutional scholars, practitioners, advocates, public officials, and law students to formulate and advance a progressive vision of the law that is intellectually sound, practically relevant, and faithful to our constitutional values.
  • Serve as an expert voice by moderating and speaking on panels, providing substantive direction and support for other departments within ACS, representing ACS before relevant coalitions, authoring op-eds, blog posts, articles, and white papers related to ACS’s work, and responding to inquiries from the media.
  • Work with outside experts on various ACS publications and projects.
  • Develop and oversee execution of conferences, convenings, and other live programming.

Qualifications:

Applicants should possess a J.D. degree from an accredited law school and have four to seven years of professional experience. The ideal candidate will be familiar with constitutional and other legal scholarship, and have outstanding analytic, writing, and interpersonal skills.

ACS values a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. ACS encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, and veteran status.

Compensation and Benefits:

This position will report to the Vice President of Policy and Program. The successful candidate’s salary will be commensurate with relevant professional experience. The salary range for this position is $70,000 to $80,000.

ACS offers generous benefits, including: a 4-day work week schedule; health, vision, dental and life insurance; paid holiday, vacation, and sick leave.

Location:

ACS’s has a flexible remote work policy but this position is based in Washington, D.C. The Director may work hybrid in-office/remotely if they live in the Washington metropolitan area or remotely if they live outside that area with the expectation of occasional travel to Washington D.C., when necessary.

How to Apply:

Interested applicants should email a cover letter, resume, and writing sample of no longer than five pages to jobs@acslaw.org. No phone calls please.

Major Gifts Officer

The American Constitution Society (ACS) seeks a dynamic, collaborative, and driven fundraising professional to serve as Major Gifts Officer. Reporting to the VP of Development and collaborating with all levels of the ACS team, the Major Gifts Officer has a unique opportunity to support ambitious goals around expansion of resources from individual donors for the nation’s leading progressive legal organization. This role provides strategic leadership for individual fundraising and stakeholder engagement, ensuring the organization builds strong, lasting relationships with donors.

ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Fundraising and External Relations

  • Grow the organization’s resources through innovative, dynamic fundraising strategies, and effective communications with donors and prospects.
  • Lead efforts to engage and cultivate current and prospective ACS major donors to increase contributed revenue.
  • Actively manage a portfolio of donor prospects, including all aspects of moves management.
  • Build out a major donor/high net-worth individual cultivation and engagement process.
  • Act as a thought partner to the VP of Development to support organization fundraising goals
  • Report regular progress against strategic and operational goals, including donor engagement and stewardship touchpoints, revenue targets, and pipeline management details.

Event Strategy

  • Develop and help execute opportunities to use existing and new ACS events as fundraising vehicles.

Annual Giving Strategy

  • Implement a data-driven annual giving solicitation system; employ and monitor proactive strategies to increase performance metrics such as average gift size, donor retention, acquisition, and upgrades, and return on investment.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES/QUALIFICATIONS/COMPETENCIES 

Candidates should possess five or more years of successful fundraising with increasing responsibility. Desired qualities and background include:

  • Record of accomplishment in fundraising; experience developing or growing a major gifts program, and experience with planned gifts and endowments desired.
  • Experience building and expanding relationships with diverse constituencies, both internal and external.
  • Commitment to ACS’s mission and vision, experience in the pro-democracy field a plus
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills. Strategic thinker with organizational, project management, and problem-solving skills
  • Possess a command of cultural sensitivity and value and embrace cultural, political, and social differences. The Major Gifts Officer will contribute to an environment that encourages diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Strong professional ethics, transparency, integrity, and accountability in all actions.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's degree required; Advanced degree preferred.

BENEFITS AND COMPENSATION

  • Salary range for this role is $70,000 - $80,000.
  • 4-day work week schedule.
  • Generous health, vision, dental, life insurance.
  • Paid holiday, vacation, and sick leave.

How to Apply

Those wishing to apply should submit a résumé and cover letter (each as a PDF) to Morgan Washburn, HR Manager, at jobs@acslaw.org. Please include “ACS Major Gifts Officer” in the subject line.

ACS values a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. ACS encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, and veteran status. Former government employees are encouraged to apply.

ACS Applauds President Biden's Commitment to Nominating the first Black woman to SCOTUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Pablo Willis, pwillis@acslaw.org   

 

Washington, DCToday, the American Constitution Society released the following statement on President Biden's commitment to nominating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States.  

 ACS applauds President Biden for reaffirming his commitment to nominating a Black woman to fill Justice Breyer’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has never represented the diversity of the American people. For most of our history, it was uniformly white and male. To our collective detriment, there has never been a Black woman justice on the Supreme Court, and ACS looks forward to this changing soon.

 There are many exceptionally qualified Black women lawyers —both within and outside of the federal judiciary. This includes the Black women being discussed in the press as potential nominees, all of whom are without doubt qualified to serve on the Supreme Court and would make excellent justices.

 ACS is appalled by the racist remarks being made about President Biden’s commitment to nominating a Black woman and about potential nominees. Such racist attacks are repugnant and serve only to underscore the systemic racism and oppression that Black women have consistently faced in this country. These attacks further highlight how unrepresentative our highest court has been and why it is imperative that we prioritize diversity on our courts.

 Justices inevitably bring their life experience to their deliberations on the Court. In order for the Court to truly understand and address the needs of the American people, it is imperative to have its members reflect the diversity of the American public and a variety of lived experiences.

 ACS looks forward to the first Black woman justice on the Supreme Court and is committed to further diversifying our federal courts moving forward.

 

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY

ACS believes that the Constitution is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We interpret the Constitution based on its text and against the backdrop of history and lived experience. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, and many others, we work to uphold the Constitution in the 21st Century by ensuring that law is a force for protecting our democracy and the public interest and for improving people’s lives. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter @acslaw.

March 2019: Julie Girard and Kevin Golembiewski

Julie Girard and Kevin Golembiewski, Co-Presidents, ACS Tampa Lawyer Chapter

Julie Girard and Kevin Golembiewski 
Co-Presidents, ACS Tampa Lawyer Chapter


There’s a debate going on, and it affects all of us, no matter who we are or what we do to pay the bills.  We the People are debating the judiciary—its role and what features it should have.  We are debating whether the judiciary should reflect our communities and shared values.  We are debating whether a judge’s primary role should be deciphering the precise meaning of legal text or, alternatively, making law work and upholding justice.  We are debating what qualifies someone to don the hallowed black robe.  And so much more.

We joined ACS in law school (Julie at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Kevin at Harvard Law School) because we wanted to participate in this debate, and after graduation, we founded the Tampa Lawyer Chapter because we believe our community has a lot to contribute to it.

We are interested in the role of the judiciary not only because of our careers, but also because of our personal experiences.  We are both litigators, so we spend much of our time interacting with courts.  Julie practices employment law at Phelps Dunbar, and Kevin is a civil rights lawyer with Berney & Sang.  We are also millennials, so throughout our lives we have experienced transformative U.S. Supreme Court decisions.  Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Kevin still remembers the controversy over the 2000 presidential election and how his community reacted to Bush v. Gore.  Both of us still remember celebrating Obergefell v. Hodges with friends and family.  And we both remember the day the Court handed down Shelby County v. Holder, striking down part of the Voting Rights Act.

In 2015, we moved to Tampa (we’re not only colleagues but also married), and we immediately met lawyers who share our interest in the role of the judiciary.  We met solo practitioners, corporate lawyers, criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors, and law clerks who are interested in discussing the judiciary and who, like us, believe that the law should be a force for improving the lives of all people.  So in 2017, we founded the Tampa Lawyer Chapter.

As ACS members and chapter leaders, we are immersed in the debate about the role of the judiciary, and we are committed to providing a platform for the progressive voices in Tampa to share their views and ideas.  Over the past few years, for example, we have organized talks on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, Florida’s Federal Judicial Nominating Commission, the Florida Supreme Court, and the role of State Attorneys General.

We are grateful to ACS not only for affording our community the chance to lead the debate about the judiciary, but also for amplifying our voices.


Learn more about the Lawyers of ACS »