Bulk Purchasing and Communications Coordinator

APPLY HERE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoP2ZGgWBlMVs33j5RDWP4Mdgu_Mome8zL0fb_iKaoKuq6vg/formResponse

Time commitment: 25-35 hours/week, $25/hr, starting as contractor and transition to employee after 3 months. This might increase to a full-time position over time if desired and as the program/organization grows. We are ideally looking for a long term member of the team, minimum 1-year commitment.

Summary:

We’re seeking a passionate, organized, collectivist and adaptive human who is grounded in a history of relationships and trust in WNC communities to join our team. This person will support our mission by working in the core areas of 1) cooperative bulk purchasing of food, farming supplies and other needs identified by communities in our network and 2) essential network communication and social media management, particularly as related to bulk purchasing and mutual aid hub formation.

Applicants need to:

• Have lived in WNC for at least 3 years and be familiar with the geography, roads and people here.
• Be self-aware, conversant in collaborative process, excited to embrace conflict and values-level conversations in service to good strategy and healthy work culture.
• Have some familiarity with mutual aid, cooperatives and their context in U.S. social movements (you don’t need to be an expert).
• Possess strong competence and familiarity with social media platforms, content creation, and use of various tech, and enjoy generating unique posts that tell compelling stories.
• Possess the ability to move and lift bulk purchased items weighing up to 50 pounds.
• Be willing to work some evening and weekend hours (approx 1-2 times/month as determined by the needs of bulk purchases).
• Have a reliable vehicle, ideally a van or truck that can drive well on gravel roads (we won’t ask you to regularly use your vehicle for work).
• Be available for 20-35 (estimated average 25, with 35 on weeks when there’s a big purchase distribution) hours/week, starting on March 1, and consistently throughout the year.

Responsibilities will include:

A) Bulk purchasing Coordination (20-30 hrs/week)

• After onboarding and training, maintain a holistic view of, and act as point person for, the bulk purchasing program.
• Communicate with farmers, communities, and businesses in WNC to understand needs and identify bulk purchase opportunities.
• Work with other local and regional organizations and community groups who are doing bulk purchasing and distribution. Coordinate a cooperative approach to “peace time” purchasing and supply chain needs, in ways that also create capacity for emergency response needs.
• In 2025, mainly work from our established purchasing calendar of prioritized food and farming supplies, with some space for adaptation as we emergently learn about needs and opportunities and understand how many purchases we have capacity to coordinate.
• Research, develop, and maintain relationships with producers/suppliers of high quality food, farming supplies, solar equipment, etc. (including current producers we already work with).
• Promote our purchases through direct relationships, through our CWNC newsletter, social media, website, and through our network and partners.
• Start and maintain relationships with Hub Organizers at rural distribution sites throughout different WNC counties, participating in design of storage and access infrastructure at those places as needed, and fine-tuning coordination systems with Hub Organizers.
• Receive shipments to our central warehousing space(s), sort into sub-deliveries for hubs.
• Deliver and/or arrange delivery of items from central warehouse to rural hubs.
• Work with volunteers and collaborators on all of the above, on a case-by-case basis.
• Create back-end order pages on GrownBy or other platforms for our purchaser interface for each purchase.
• Work with our book-keeper to track and report finances and time usage related to all facets of the purchasing operation
• Regularly solicit, gather and organize feedback from everyone involved in these above processes, and integrate it along with the CWNC team into continued improvement, trouble-shooting and innovation

B) Communications coordination (5-15 hrs/week)

• Work closely with the Cooperate WNC team to creatively promote our programs, events, purchases, and network functions.
• Keep CWNC website regularly updated, do structural improvements as needed, and help generate ideas for long term improvements.
• Generate newsletters related to bulk purchasing, generate and post 3-5 various social media posts/week (related to the full spectrum of CWNC’s mission) on Facebook and Instagram, and update GoFundMe and Patreon pages as needed.
• Maintain contact with CWNC Board, program participants, CWNC network members, larger WNC community, and other media sources, to identify and express stories, publicize needs and offers, promote partner org events, solicit special topic articles and blog posts
• Field requests from media for interviews, articles, podcasts etc. and direct them to the best sources within our team/network.
• Work with the team to create press releases when needed.
• Archive posts, articles, communications for longterm history/storytelling.

NOTE: We are ideally looking for someone who has the skills necessary to carry out the Bulk Purchasing Coordination and the Communications Coordination aspects of this role. That being said, building out our bulk purchasing program is a higher immediate priority than communications.

Job Types: Part-time, Contract

Pay: $25.00 per hour

Expected hours: 25 – 35 per week

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Weekends as needed

Ability to Commute:

• Asheville, NC 28803 (Required)

Ability to Relocate:

• Asheville, NC 28803: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Asheville, NC 28803

Salary : $25