ABOUT NEW ROOTS INSTITUTE

What do we do?

New Roots Institute is a growing nonprofit that educates people across the country on factory farming’s devastating impacts on people, animals, and the planet, and empowers them to advocate for systemic change in their communities. Our approach is designed to build significant and lasting capacity for the movement to end factory farming. 

How do we do it? 

• We believe our competence must be as fierce as our compassion. 

• To amplify our impact through collective action, we call people in rather than out, always striving to see beyond our egos to meet others where they’re at rather than treat them like they should already be where we are. 

• Because we care deeply about each other and our mission, we elevate accountability, openly addressing issues with honesty and directness and holding ourselves to a standard no lower than excellence. 

• We recognize that we don’t have all the answers and will listen to others, including those we believe we disagree with, to grow as individuals and as an organization. 

• The magnitude of the systemic change we’re aiming for requires readiness to adapt. As circumstances and information around us shift, we update our approach. 

• Last but not least, we genuinely enjoy our co-workers and have fun despite the tragic nature of what we’re up against. (Check out our Rotten Truth series on YouTube to see how we use humor to grapple with the grim reality of factory farming.) 

If all this appeals to you, we encourage you to apply! 

Application Details

We consider traditional and nontraditional qualifications and carefully review each application.

We are committed to hiring and retaining a diverse, culturally competent staff at all levels of the organization. We envision a team that not only reflects the demographics of our country, but also continues to deepen their skills and competencies to serve the full range of our audiences. We strongly encourage people of the global majority, especially Black and Indigenous folks, LGBTQIA+ individuals, persons living with disabilities, women, non-binary individuals, and people of various socioeconomic backgrounds to apply for this position.

Unfortunately, we are only considering applicants based in the United States at this time.

By submitting your information, you are indicating that you have read our Privacy Policy and accept its terms.

To Apply

Please follow the “Apply for this position” link. In lieu of a cover letter, please answer the application’s questions.

Empowering the Next Generation to End Factory Farming: What would it mean to you if you could dedicate your time, talent, and energy to creating a more just and sustainable food system?

Serving on the Board of Directors at New Roots Institute isn’t just a role; it's a commitment to a cause. We are a growing nonprofit dedicated to ending factory farming, and we are seeking passionate, strategic leaders to help guide our organization toward long-term impact and sustainability.

Is New Roots Institute the Right Place for You? 

We are looking for board members who:

• Are motivated to make a difference and are willing to work hard to achieve it.

• Continuously question assumptions and adapt when necessary, putting the shared mission above ego.

• Strive for excellence and can meet deadlines consistently.

• Embrace giving and receiving honest, constructive feedback to foster personal and organizational growth.

• Communicate proactively and respond quickly, building trust and effectiveness in a remote work environment.

• Enjoy working collaboratively, while finding ways to bring humor and lightness to the serious work of ending factory farming. Check out our Rotten Truth series on YouTube to see how we use humor to grapple with the grim reality of factory farming.

What the Board Does:

Our board’s primary functions are:

• Providing long-term financial oversight including:

• Reviewing and approving the annual budget

• Reviewing annual audits of financial statements and financial controls

• Overseeing investment strategy and review compliance with Investment Policy

• Serving as contacts for staff on an ad hoc basis

• Providing oversight for the Executive Director, including:

• Conducting annual performance evaluations and salary guidelines

• Providing legal oversight for the organization, such as:

• Helping assess risky and complicated situations and providing feedback on plans to navigate them

• Ensuring that New Roots Institute is compliant with its charitable purposes

• Serving as ambassadors for New Roots Institute including:

• Using networks and influence to enhance the organization’s public profile

• Building key partnerships

• Supporting fundraising efforts

• Advising on long-term strategy and direction including:

• Providing guidance to ensure the organization remains mission-aligned and positioned for sustainable impact.

High-Priority Board Needs:

While all board members play a vital role in guiding New Roots Institute, we currently have several areas of high-priority expertise where we would especially value additional leadership:

1. Development

• Extensive experience in fundraising.

• Collaborate closely with the Development Department to provide tailored support and leverage your strengths for organizational success.

• Contribute to fundraising strategy, networking, and visibility, particularly in environmental and youth development spaces.

• Help drive increased revenue and organizational growth.

2. Board Governance

• Experience serving on nonprofit boards.

• Review board meetings, structure, and overall health to ensure alignment with organizational culture.

• Advise on board communication, planning, and best practices.

• Hold an officer position and support board succession planning.

• Help the board operate at the highest standard, serving as an exemplar in the movement to end factory farming.

3. Accounting/Finance

• Extensive experience in nonprofit accounting or finance.

• Support the audit committee and collaborate with the operations department.

• Ensure compliance and provide high-level financial and investment oversight.

Rolling Application:

This ongoing, multi-year search supports volunteer positions for New Roots Institute's board for 2026 and beyond. We welcome applications year-round for current and future periods. 

Please note: This is a rolling application process without fixed deadlines. The search committee meets approximately every two months to review submitted applications. We appreciate your patience with the potential wait. We will follow up once your materials have been reviewed.

To Apply:

Please click the “Apply for this position” link to tell us why you are interested in serving on New Roots Institute’s Board of Directors. 

Empower the Next Generation to End Factory Farming

What would it mean to dedicate your time, talent, and energy to creating a more just and sustainable food system?

New Roots Institute is a growing nonprofit dedicated to ending factory farming by empowering the next generation of advocates. Our fellowship programs train students to lead real-world campaigns that create structural and behavioral change in their communities. 

We're seeking a Chief of Staff to keep New Roots operating at peak effectiveness. Working in close partnership with the Managing Director (MD), you will sharpen organizational thinking and ensure that strategy moves reliably into execution. You will sit within senior management as the connective tissue between departments, owning the meetings, communication flows, and planning processes that keep directors coordinated and the organization moving with clarity. You are someone who reads the room before the room knows it needs reading, catching misalignments early, naming what others have left unsaid, and moving quickly to resolve what stands in the way of good execution. When work stalls, priorities collide, or information breaks down, you step in, find the path forward, and make sure the right people are moving on it. You will build and maintain the systems that enable effective execution, protect the MD's time for strategy and leadership development, and serve as the organization's primary liaison to the board. This is a role for someone who communicates with precision, and who can align an organization without the leverage of formal power.

Is New Roots Institute the right place for you? Here’s what you should know:

• We value having the opportunity to make a difference and aren’t afraid of working hard. We’re looking for people who possess the resilience and determination to excel in fast-paced and demanding roles while understanding how to differentiate between working really hard (good) and unsustainable self-sacrifice (not so good).

• We continuously question our own biases and assumptions and adapt when we recognize we’re wrong. We’re looking for people who are keenly self-aware and know how to put their ego aside to achieve shared goals.

• We're results-oriented, strive for excellence, and are looking for people who can say they never miss deadlines.

• Giving and receiving honest and direct feedback is foundational to our culture. We're looking for people who are eager to use constructive feedback to grow, and help others to grow, both personally and professionally.

• Because we work remotely, proactive communication and quick responses are key to building trust and working effectively together. We’re looking for people who excel at keeping everyone updated.

• We genuinely enjoy working together and look for ways to have fun, despite the tragic nature of what we are up against.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Organizational Planning & Execution

• Design and facilitate the annual and quarterly planning cycle, including OKR development, roadmap coordination, and progress tracking, working closely with the MD to ensure organizational strategy is reflected at every level.

• Proactively coordinate cross-departmental problem-solving when deliverables are delayed or misaligned, surfacing issues before they escalate.

MD Partnership & Support

• Serve as the MD's closest organizational partner, helping sharpen priorities, stress-test decisions, and translate strategic thinking into focused action.

• Prepare the MD for high-stakes meetings and conversations by providing relevant context and clear framing.

• Filter and route requests, correspondence, and decisions to determine what genuinely requires MD attention versus what can be handled or delegated elsewhere.

• Manage the MD's time as a strategic asset, ensuring it is allocated in proportion to organizational priorities and protected from the accumulation of low-leverage demands.

Senior Management Coordination

• Design agendas and facilitate weekly senior management syncs, ensuring meetings are purposeful, time-efficient, and produce clear decisions and next steps.

• Drive cross-team collaboration, anticipating misalignment risks and surfacing tradeoffs early so the senior team can make clear, well-informed decisions.

• Resolve operational issues that don't require MD involvement, escalating only what genuinely requires strategic leadership judgment.

Organizational Systems & Infrastructure

• Identify where systems, processes, or information flows are creating inefficiencies and address them in partnership with relevant departments.

• Coordinate hiring processes across departments, ensuring each search runs efficiently and candidates have a consistent, high-quality experience.

• Oversee the performance management cycle, ensuring systems function and managers have the support they need to execute effectively.

• Serve as board liaison, preparing materials and coordinating logistics for board engagement.

Culture & Communication

• Maintain organizational communication rhythms, ensuring teams are informed, decisions are documented, and context flows across the organization.

• Support onboarding and transitions so new team members are set up to contribute quickly and departing staff leave institutional knowledge behind.

What We’re Looking For

Required Skills & Experience

• Highly skilled and experienced in complex project management; comfortable with leading an organization’s annual planning and OKR creation

• Highly skilled at facilitating complex conversations and meetings with multiple stakeholders, including senior leaders with competing priorities.

• Experienced in organizational operations, program management, or a chief-of-staff function within a remote nonprofit or mission-driven organization.

• Skilled in systems thinking: able to see how pieces connect, anticipate where breakdowns are likely, and design processes that get ahead of them.

• Able to manage complexity and ambiguity without losing clarity on what matters most.

• Skilled in written communication: able to synthesize information clearly, draft clean documentation, and communicate decisions with precision.

• Able to work in close partnership with an executive, exercising sound judgment about when to act, when to consult, and when to escalate.

Other Requirements

• Shared vegan and anti-speciesist values. No one on our team consumes animals or animal products or believes that non-human animals can ethically be treated as resources for human use.

• Ability to commit to attending the annual in-person team meeting, which typically takes place during the first full week of June (Monday through Friday).

Compensation and Benefits 

This is a full-time, remote position with a salary of $103,000 per year, plus a comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance, and unlimited PTO with a minimum of two weeks. 

Please note, we have a no-negotiation salary policy to ensure transparency and equity across the team.

View more of our benefits on our Join Our Team page.

Hiring Process

If a candidate is moved forward, the hiring process will include a skills task, screening interview, competencies interview, work history interview, and reference checks. See our Join Our Team page for more details.

Ready to Make a Difference?

• To Apply: Please click the “Apply for this position” link to tell us why you are interested in New Roots Institute and to submit your resume. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We hope to fill this position as soon as possible.

• We value diversity, equity, and inclusion and are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, especially those who identify as Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and people from the global majority. 

• By submitting your application, you are indicating that you have read our Privacy Policy and accept its terms.

• Please note that we are only considering applicants based in North America at this time.

Empower the Next Generation to End Factory Farming

What would it mean to dedicate your time, talent, and energy to creating a more just and sustainable food system?

New Roots Institute is a growing nonprofit dedicated to ending factory farming by empowering the next generation of advocates. Our fellowship programs train high school and university students to lead real-world campaigns that create structural and behavioral change in their communities. 

We’re seeking a passionate and experienced Head of Leadership Development to join our team and help us deepen our impact. 

Is New Roots Institute the right place for you? Here’s what you should know:

• We value having the opportunity to make a meaningful difference and are committed to putting in the work required. We’re looking for people who possess the resilience and determination to excel in fast-paced and demanding roles while understanding how to differentiate between working really hard (good) and unsustainable self-sacrifice (not so good).

• We continuously question our own biases and assumptions and adapt when we recognize we’re wrong. We’re looking for people who are self-aware and know how to put their ego aside to achieve shared goals.

• We're results-oriented, strive for excellence, and are looking for people who can say they never miss deadlines.

• Giving and receiving honest and direct feedback is foundational to our culture. We're looking for people who are eager to use constructive feedback to grow, and help others to grow, both personally and professionally.

• Because we work remotely, proactive communication and quick responses are key to building trust and working effectively together. We’re looking for people who excel at keeping everyone updated.

• We genuinely enjoy working together and look for ways to have fun, despite the tragic nature of what we are up against.

How You’ll Make an Impact

• Own the strategy and outcomes of the Leadership Development team, ensuring high school and university fellows develop into effective advocates and leaders and advance impactful campaigns aligned with our mission to end factory farming.

• Manage and develop a high-performing Leadership Development team, providing clear direction, coaching, and accountability to ensure strong performance, growth, and consistent support for fellows.

• Set the strategic direction for the campaign strategy within the Fellowship, ensuring fellow-led campaigns are impactful, feasible, and aligned with organizational priorities, theory of change, and learning goals.

• Own the strategy for campaign partnerships, including identifying priority partnership areas, guiding partner selection, and overseeing the vetting and onboarding process to ensure partnerships create meaningful opportunities for fellows and advance movement impact.

• Lead the design and execution of a best-in-class fellowship learning experience—spanning curriculum architecture, session design, facilitation strategy, and individualized support structures such as discussion groups, mentorship, and coaching—to ensure fellows consistently receive high-quality support and develop the knowledge, skills, and leadership capacity needed for impact.

• Use data, fellow feedback, and campaign outcomes to continuously refine strategy, strengthening both leadership development and advocacy impact over time.

• Work cross-functionally with marketing & communications, research & data, development, operations, and other teams to ensure the Fellowship experience is integrated into the broader organizational strategy.

• Stay at the forefront of trends in animal advocacy and food systems change, integrating emerging strategies, tactics, and insights into curriculum and campaign design.

• Communicate progress, outcomes, and key learnings to internal stakeholders, contributing to organizational learning, decision-making, and long-term strategy.

What We’re Looking For

Required Skills & Experience

• Experienced people manager and team leader, with at least 5+ years of management experience and a demonstrated ability to coach, develop, and lead high-performing teams with clarity, accountability, and care.

• Experienced in designing or leading leadership development programs, learning experiences, or educational curricula, with a strong grounding in pedagogy and a deep understanding of how people learn, grow, and develop into effective leaders over time.

• Experienced in developing and managing strategic partnerships, including identifying partners, aligning on shared goals, and building long-term, values-aligned collaborations.

• Brings existing knowledge of, or a strong commitment to quickly building knowledge about, the anti–factory farming movement and developing relationships with key organizations and leaders in the field.

• Strong strategic leader and operator, able to set vision and direction and build the plans, systems, and structures needed to execute complex, multi-stakeholder programs effectively.

• Curious, reflective, and creative, with a willingness to question assumptions, learn from data and feedback, and continuously improve programs and strategy over time.

• Strong collaborator and communicator, able to work effectively across teams and with external partners, and to navigate complexity, feedback, and competing priorities with clarity and sound judgment.

Other Requirements

• Shared vegan and anti-speciesist values. No one on our team consumes animals or animal products or believes that non-human animals can ethically be treated as resources for human use.

• Ability to commit to attending the annual in-person team meeting, which typically takes place during the first full week of June (Monday through Friday).

Compensation and Benefits 

This is a full-time, remote position with a salary of $91,000 per year, plus a comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance, and unlimited PTO. 

Please note, we have a no-negotiation salary policy to ensure transparency and equity across the team.

View more of our benefits on our Join Our Team page.

Hiring Process

If a candidate is moved forward, the hiring process will include a skills task, screening interview, competencies interview, work history interview, and reference checks. See our Join Our Team page for more details.

Ready to Make a Difference?

• To Apply: Please click the “Apply for this position” link to tell us why you are interested in New Roots Institute and to submit your resume. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We hope to fill this position as soon as possible.

• We value diversity, equity, and inclusion and are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, especially those who identify as Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and people from the global majority. 

• By submitting your application, you are indicating that you have read our Privacy Policy and accept its terms.

• Please note that we are only considering applicants based in North America at this time.