Opportunities

Open Positions

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Engagement Associate Job Description / Winter 2024

The James Wilson Institute’s mission is to restore to a new generation of lawyers, judges, and citizens the understanding of the American Founders about the first principles of our law and the moral grounds of their own rights. The Institute is devoted to the study, spread, and further understanding of natural rights. Founded by Prof. Hadley Arkes, his former students, and alumni of Amherst College in 2000, the Institute was formerly known as the Foundation for Classical Studies in Statecraft and Jurisprudence. It supports events such as the James Wilson Fellowship, a twice-a-year weeklong seminar for a select group of young appellate lawyers and law students, and the James Wilson Senior Seminar, a semi-annual conference bringing together accomplished federal judges and gifted teachers of philosophy and law who have wanted to get a firmer hold on the natural law. In 2013, the Institute established a presence in Washington and assumed its present name.

Description: The Engagement Associate will represent the Institute to donors, alumni, partners, and the media. The Associate will play a pivotal role in conveying its mission, values, and objectives to those audiences. The role will primarily focus on fundraising and donor engagement.

Additionally, the role involves contributing to marketing strategies, enhancing online presence, and fostering alumni engagement. This position will report to the Deputy Director.

This is a hybrid position based in Alexandria, VA, with the option to work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Responsibilities

Spearhead fundraising initiatives, including mailings, emails, and direct contact with current and prospective donors

Travel occasionally to meet key donors and prospects

Grant writing and grant management

Contribute to marketing efforts to enhance online media presence and media representation

Facilitate alumni engagement by maintaining ongoing relationships with JWI

Fellows Alumni and connecting Alumni with JWI scholastic and pro-bono work

Work closely with the Program Manager in coordinating the Alumni Seminars

Ideal Skills & Qualifications:
Entry level position

Alignment with the James Wilson Institute mission and the teaching and application of the Natural Law in American jurisprudence

Familiarity with Salesforce or other CRM a plus

Demonstrated examples of meeting deadlines and task management

Strong interpersonal and networking skills

Excellent writing skills

Strong organizational skills

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience

Beyond anything else, an ideal applicant should have a deep appreciation of the American Founders, the regime that they crafted, and the moral principles of reasoning that undergird the system.

Compensation:
Salary commensurate with skills and experience
Potential yearly bonus commensurate with achievement of annual goals
SEP IRA annual plan available, including employer contribution

To Apply:

Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials (in order) in one PDF document:

  • Cover letter detailing your interest in the position and the mission of the James Wilson Institute, as well as your salary requirements
  • Resume
  • Brief writing sample (500 words or fewer); writing samples relevant to JWI’s work preferred, any writing sample acceptable

Applications should be submitted to Talent Market via this link: https://talentmarket.org/apply-for-your-dream-job/.

Questions can be directed to Bailey Drouant, Outreach Manager at Talent Market, who is managing the search: bailey@talentmarket.org

There is no application deadline for this position. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. This job will remain posted on our site until it is filled.

While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. Only direct applications will be considered. No phone calls, please.

Talent Market is a nonprofit entity dedicated to promoting liberty by helping free-market nonprofits identify talent for critical roles. We provide consulting and recruiting services at no cost to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations that clearly and directly focus on advancing the principles of economic freedom, free enterprise, free trade, free speech, property rights, rule of law, and limited regulation.

 

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James Wilson Institute Internship

Are you looking for a substantive internship that fosters intellectual growth while honing professional skills? Are you interested in law, philosophy, and America's founding principles? James Wilson Institute interns perform critical work in carrying out our mission to transform the legal culture.

Each fall, spring, and summer, JWI welcomes about two interns to our office in Historic Old Town, Alexandria, VA. Ideal candidates will demonstrate a commitment to the Mission of JWI, a good work ethic, and strong writing skills. Although an intern's specific responsibilities and projects vary based on the semester, past interns have:

- Interviewed scholars and public figures

- Created promotional videos

- Written commentary pieces on Supreme Court decisions

- Assisted in major fundraising initiatives

- Designed publications

 
JWI interns have been placed at many friendly organizations and we make a point of continuing to engage them with our mission beyond the short duration of their internships.

We accept applications for full-time interns. We also are accepting interns who are willing to work remotely via online communication, but with a preference for in person interns. Full-time, in-person interns will receive a stipend of $1000/month, and full-time, remote interns will receive a stipend of $500/month. 

To apply, please send your resume and a cover letter, explaining your interest in the mission of JWI, to Staff at JWInst.org.

 

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The James Wilson Communication Internship

The James Wilson Communication Intern will perform the role of helping promote the external visibility of JWI through social media management, preparation of publications, advertising service administration, and website administration. The communications intern will foster clear and effective communication from JWI to targeted audiences. The communications intern will also promote the development of media, both digital and physically published. Tasks may include the creation of media content such as videos and podcasts, media editing, website management, and assisting in the editing of written media to ensure that it meets JWI quality standards. 

An effective communications intern will have a solid grasp of: clear and concise writing, social media techniques, advertising and promotional tools, interviewing skills, script development, writing styles, formatting techniques, website management, and the mission of JWI.

 
JWI interns have been placed at many friendly organizations and we make a point of continuing to engage them with our mission beyond the short duration of their internships.

We accept applications for full-time interns. We also are accepting interns who are willing to work remotely via online communication, but with a preference for in person interns. Full-time, in-person interns will receive a stipend of $1000/month, and full-time, remote interns will receive a stipend of $500/month. 

To apply, please send your resume and a cover letter, explaining your interest in the mission of JWI, to Staff at JWInst.org.

  

Internship Timeline:

Summer (May/June-August) Internship

Fall (August/September-December) Internship

Spring (January - May) Internship

Past interns have shared these accounts of their time with JWI:

"I consider the summer I interned at JWI to be one of the more deeply impactful times in my life. In the broadest terms, I would characterize my time at the Institute as an experience in seeing how things fit together. I got to see how ideas I’d encountered at Professor Arkes’s seminar table—ideas about the first principles of natural law, statecraft, and the American regime—were in fact the animating force behind the Professor’s work in the rough-and-tumble world of Washington politics. This gave me a deeper sense of what Prof. Arkes meant when he would describe law as the place where political philosophy comes down from the clouds, and is brought to bear on the remarkable realities of the lives of ordinary people. It helped me to appreciate that philosophical and practical reasoning need not—indeed, should not, cannot afford to—be treated as occupying distinct spheres."

"As for my experience at JWI, I consider myself so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such a dedicated, professional, and generous group of people this past summer in D.C.. My internship  proved to be engaging in both its educational facets and its practical work experiences. I was fortunate enough to conduct my own interview with a constitutional law scholar on a recent book, help write an essay with a my fellow intern in which we analyzed an opinion from the Supreme Court’s summer term, and attend a variety of lectures and conferences dealing with different facets of the philosophy of law in the D.C. area.
"On the practical side, I was exposed to the inner workings of a small non-profit, working alongside the staff as they went through the processes of updating their publications, running their annual summer seminar for young lawyers and law clerks, and identifying and pursuing grant opportunities from charitable foundations. These experiences all served to broaden my professional horizons and expose me to the variety of career opportunities alive within the legal professions that I had before been profoundly ignorant of.
"Moreover, I would be remiss if I failed to mention how my time working in DC this summer had introduced me to what I came to know as a real community of minds--people, personalities, most importantly, friends--and a set of relationships that were grounded in a deep kind of understanding of and feeling of gratitude towards the tradition it strives to uphold, and the truths it fights to make manifest within the legal profession and public square. So, in consideration of the amazing people I was privileged to meet, the conversations I engaged, the analytical and practical skills I sharpened, and the life-experiences I was exposed to by virtue of the professional circles JWI travels within in D.C., I cannot thank everyone there enough for taking me on over the summer." 

"My internship with JWI opened my eyes to the inner workings of D.C. through interacting with major policy and judicial figures and researching and writing on unfolding Supreme Court cases. An internship with almost any other organization would not have provided the same intimate insight into the inner workings of D.C. that I gleaned from my time at JWI."