At the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina (ACLU-SC), we envision a just South Carolina where We the People means all of us. To bring this vision to life, we advocate, litigate, educate, and mobilize to defend and advance the civil rights and civil liberties of all South Carolinians. Whether we’re defending free speech, enhancing voting rights, reforming the criminal legal system, advocating for immigrant rights, or protecting transgender kids—our employees engage in meaningful work.

The ACLU-SC is an affiliate of the ACLU, a federated organization. When people refer to the ACLU, that generally includes the national office as well as a nationwide network of autonomous and independent ACLU Affiliates, of which the ACLU of South Carolina is one.

The ACLU-SC is a highly rewarding place to work for those interested in protecting our fundamental civil rights and civil liberties. To learn more about the work of the ACLU-SC and the ACLU, please visit www.aclusc.org and www.aclu.org.

The ACLU-SC is headquartered in Columbia and has a distributed team with staff working in communities across South Carolina. All team members spend significant time traveling throughout the state, including monthly trips to Columbia. Staff mileage is reimbursed.

This position is based in Columbia with a hybrid schedule that allows for some remote work.

The Organizing Director develops and manages a robust and nonpartisan organizing infrastructure with the goal of advancing a civil rights and civil liberties policy agenda. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Organizing Director manages two organizers and is a member of the senior staff, working in collaboration with other directors to develop integrated advocacy initiatives.

The Organizing Director is a new role at the ACLU-SC. The role will set the vision for how organizing can support the achievement of campaign goals within the ACLU organizing approach:

We organize to advance ACLU-SC priorities, including LGBTQ rights, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, free speech, and juvenile justice.

Organizing is one part of our theory of change, alongside lobbying, communications, and litigation, and we work interdependently.

Our organizing approach includes developing volunteer leaders for the civil liberties movement, mobilizing grassroots support for campaign objectives, and educating South Carolinians about policy goals through person-to-person field contact.

We engage existing ACLU supporters and seek to reach new constituencies. We center the experiences and leadership of directly impacted people, while ensuring that non-impacted allies engage in effective and substantive action.

We are oriented toward systemic and policy change—moving people to take strategic actions that lead to decision-makers making different decisions, ones that result in the advancement of specific campaign objectives. These actions can take place in the electoral, legislative, legal, and community education contexts.

We aim to build long-term political and community power for the civil liberties movement, so that civil liberties and civil rights are better protected and strengthened.

Leadership and Strategy

Set the vision for how organizing campaigns can advance ACLU-SC’s goals.

Develop and manage the execution of regional field plans that achieve the organization’s priority electoral and advocacy campaigns.

Conduct a power analysis of the state to understand volunteer growth opportunities.

Design training and leadership development curricula to ensure the creation of a powerful grassroots advocacy force statewide.

Create ACLU-SC’s ladder of engagement and ensure the execution of statewide and regional programming.

Serve as a leader in the ACLU-SC's integrated advocacy approach, ensuring the strategic use of field organizing, lobbying, voter education, communications, and litigation.

Management

Supervise remote organizing staff, including hiring and onboarding, developing workplans, managing personnel situations, providing guidance and feedback, and executing annual evaluations.

Demonstrate accountable management by supporting team member development, identifying opportunities for growth, and fostering trust through open feedback and shared commitment to progress.

Design and implement a metrics-based reporting system to track the department’s progress, produce reports, and adjust plans as necessary.

Develop and oversee the organizing department budget in partnership with the accounting team.

Midlands Region Organizing

Lead community outreach and relationship building in the Midlands region to create a diverse grassroots advocacy force that is empowered and connected, engaging long-time ACLU supporters and recruiting new activists.

Identify, build relationships, and track engagement with community members in the Midlands region.

Lead training and leadership development initiatives in the Midlands region:

Develop learning opportunities for activists to advance their advocacy skills and issue area expertise.

Create toolkits and educational materials to strengthen supporter advocacy.

Identify, cultivate, and mentor volunteer leaders through coaching, technical assistance, and training opportunities.

Partner with the communications team to identify and train supporters to serve as messengers.

Partner with the legal team to identify potential plaintiffs.

Lead volunteer mobilization in the Midlands region:

Mobilize volunteers to engage in state and local policymaking (e.g., testimony at legislative hearings, attendance at rallies, lobby days).

Engage volunteers in support of state and local elections, including poll monitoring, get-out-the-vote efforts, and voter education.

Activate volunteers to engage in canvassing, tabling, phone or text banking, organizing rallies and marches, collecting stories, and engaging on social media.

Coalition Building

Develop and manage relationships with organizations, networks, partners, and stakeholders.

Develop equitable and reciprocal relationships with partner organizations and community coalitions.

Engage effectively in building, leading, and participating in diverse coalitions.

Cultural Responsibility 

Serve as a leader on the team in demonstrating awareness of one’s own cultural identity, views about differences, and the ability to learn and build on varying cultural and community norms.

Bring a complex understanding of racial justice and the urgency of confronting institutional racism and inequity into our work.

Commit to equity and inclusion as organizational practice and culture.

Applicants must have the following qualifications and skills:

A commitment to and enthusiasm for civil rights and civil liberties.

At least 6 years of experience developing and leading successful community engagement and organizing efforts in legislative, ballot, issue, and/or political campaigns.

Experience in senior-management roles that required significant judgment, emotional intelligence, and management finesse.

Demonstrated ability to engage volunteers in short, medium, and long-term policy campaigns.

Proficiency in relationship building and mass mobilization.

Understanding of the ways organizing and advocacy work together to achieve policy goals.

Strong public speaker and meeting facilitator with the ability to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences.

Demonstrated commitment to diversity and to valuing differences of race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and socio-economic circumstance.

Superb organization and time management skills.

Ability to work evenings and weekends when volunteers are available.

A vehicle, valid driver’s license, and the ability to travel locally, regionally, and nationally as needed.

The following qualifications and skills are highly sought after:

Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Experience working with marginalized or impacted communities, grassroots organizations, and non-governmental organizations.

Experience working at an organization with an integrated advocacy model where legal, advocacy, and organizing tactics are used collaboratively to achieve results.

Experience using software, tools, and technology used to contact and mobilize volunteers and voters, especially EveryAction and VAN.

The ACLU of South Carolina offers a competitive compensation package. Consistent with the ACLU-SC's compensation philosophy, a salary is set for each role. The annual salary for this position is $100,000. In addition to an annual salary, full-time staff receive health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance as well as access to a 401K plan with employer matching. Time off benefits include 22 days of vacation time and 12 days of sick time.

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to [email protected]. The resume and cover letter should be in one PDF titled with your name, and the email subject line should read: “Organizing Director: Your Name.”

Resumes or applications sent via other avenues will not be considered. Early applications are strongly encouraged. The position will close on May 31, 2026.

The ACLU of South Carolina is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, disability, and veteran status.