Kabissa Volunteering Positions and Job Descriptions

Kabissa is a volunteer-run nonprofit network connecting people and organizations working in Africa for peer learning and information sharing.

Kabissa is organized into four teams and a board of directors. On this page, you can find the positions which are in place in our organization, be them filled in or not. All of them are volunteering positions (no financial benefits), with the exception of the book keeper.

You can apply for the positions which appear to be vacant, by following the link 'Apply for this position'. Volunteering positions typically require a commitment of at least 10 hours a week for six month at least. Other volunteering opportunities, for example on web projects, may be offered separately.

Network Team - Nurturing and Growing the Kabissa Community 

Executive Director

• Oversees the ongoing work of the four volunteer teams to implement the strategy set by the board of directors and to fulfill our mission
• Supports volunteer coordinator in recruiting, onboarding, evaluating, managing, and offboarding volunteers throughout the volunteering cycle 
• Provides leadership to all volunteers, collectively and individually, to inspire and encourage them to make the most of their Kabissa volunteering also so they meet their own personal career and volunteering goals 
• Manages Kabissa projects in collaboration with volunteers and contractors 
• Represents Kabissa at events, in the press, in the blogosphere and on twitter 
• Keeps the board of directors informed of the organization's finances, fundraising, projects and programs through two board updates (Q1 and Q3) and two board meetings (Q2 and Q4) annually
• Directly manages the book keeper on month to month basis to ensure finances are in order, that filings, tax returns and official reports are submitted on a timely and accurate basis, and that the annual independent audit is carried out properly

This is a permanent position held by Tobias Eigen, Kabissa Founder, at the pleasure of the board of directors. 

Volunteer Coordinator

• Maintains Kabissa-wide project plan (roadmap) in collaboration with the executive director
• Provides support to volunteers in projectizing their activities as needed and slotting them into the roadmap, and help them keep on track and get any help they might need from other volunteers, contractors and partners
• Monitors volunteer workplans and weekly team meeting summaries and recordings for projectizable action items
• Maintains project management tools to be used by all volunteers and monitors it (Kabissa currently uses Redmine as the project management software)
• Handles the project management mailbox correspondence
• Performs quarterly evaluation interviews with current  volunteers and exit interviews with outgoing volunteers
• Provides constant support to volunteers on Kabissa infrastructure and procedures, as well as on the project management software
• Moderates the volunteers discussion group
• Participates in team calls/chats (as needed) and in community calls/chats (as needed)
• Liaises with Executive Director and volunteer teams on any volunteering issues and developments
• Maintains updated the Kabissa Operating Procedures related to project management tools and tasks, as well as the section related to coordinating volkunteers

This position is currently held by Diana Cocoru.

Volunteer Recruiter

• Advertises the new openings as indicated in the Kabissa Operating Procedures
• Handles volunteering mailbox correspondence and volunteer applications
• Sets up and conducts interviews with prospective volunteers
• Helps the recruited volunteers to set up their first 3 month workplan 
• Inducts the recruited volunteers in the team and assists them in getting familiar with the Kabissa infrastructure and procedures specific to the initial phase
• Maintains the relevant Kabissa Operating Procedures section updated ('Recruiting Volunteers')

This position is currently held by Eva Coundoul.

Membership Manager

• Handles community mailbox correspondence
• Reviews New Member (user) signups
• Reviews New Organization signups
• Provides personalized tech support to help members make the most of Kabissa 
• Develops and maintains self-help pages and FAQ to answer common membership questions
• Organizes community calls/chats
• Participates in Network team meetings (as necessary)
• Keeps Executive Director and team informed of notable membership issues and developments
• Maintains the membership management section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures and keep it updated with the latest procedures and templates

This position is currently held by Sabeen Bilal.

Database Wrangler

• Maintains the database of users and organizations and resolves existing problems (formatting and character set, start date/end date, updated by, identify broken website urls and fix them, fix formatting, flag ‘dead’ or outdated organizations to be followed up with by the membership manager, flag user accounts that need to be transformed into user with related organization, etc.)
• Provides support to info-intermediaries who want to access and use Kabissa data (see http://kabissa.org/open) 

Apply for this position

Event Coordinator

• Handles roundtable mailbox correspondence
• Manages Skype engagement with participants between and during events
• Creates and manages event info and registration pages
• Develops and maintains events FAQ for event organizers, speakers and participants
• Coordinates with event organizers
• Coordinates with content team on promoting announcements of events
• Coordinates with authors of post-event roundup blog posts highlighting featured speakers
• Participates in Network team meetings (as necessary)
• Keeps Executive Director and team informed of notable events issues and developments
• Maintains the events section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures and keeps it updated with the latest procedures and templates 

This position is currently held by Ana Graur.

Content Team - Editing and Spreading Content Shared by Kabissa Members

Blogger in Chief

• Handles editors mailbox correspondence
• Reviews and handles new posts and comments (delete spam, edit for presentation and taxonomy, promote to frontpage, etc)
• Maintains Kabissa calendar of notable events at http://kabissa.org/calendar
• Maintains the Kabissa editorial calendar 
• Invites, encourages and supports Kabissa bloggers and cross-posters
• Writes blog posts about trends in the African blogosphere (at least one post per month)
• Compiles best blog posts for monthly member newsletter and writes introduction
• Coordinates with other blogs relevant to African civil society to cross-promote, cross-post and include Kabissa members in campaigns and blog events
• Writes Kabissa event roundup blog posts (or finds and supports authors)
• Manages content taxonomy (categories and tags)
• Participates in content team calls/chats (as needed)
• Participates in community calls/chats (as needed)
• Keeps Executive Director and teams informed of any member content issues and developments
• Maintains the Content Editor section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures and keeps it updated with the latest procedures and templates 

This position is currently held by Kirthi Jayakumar.

Newsletter Editor

• Coordinates with all team members to compile and get approval to send out newsletter
• Sends outs, and monitors sucess of monthly Kabissa Gong Gong member newsletter
• Provides personilzed support by email to subscribers needing help with subscribing/unsubscribing from Kabissa newsletters
• Participates in Content team calls/chats (as needed)
• Participates in community calls/chats (as needed)
• Keeps Executive Director and team leaders informed of any newsletter issues and developments
• Maintains the Newsletters section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures and keeps it updated with the latest procedures and templates

Apply for this position

Social Networks Outreach

• Monitors social networks for content relevant to Kabissa
• Contacts authors of relevant content and invite them to join Kabissa and add their content to Kabissa groups or blogs as appropriate
• Coordinates with Kabissa content team on promoting content to the frontpage and spreading it via social networks
• Coordinates with Kabissa organization team (esp marketing) to ensure that Kabissa is accurately represented on social networks
• Participates in content team calls/chats (as needed)
• Participates in community calls/chats (as needed)
• Keeps Executive Director and teams informed of any social networks issues and developments
• Maintains the Social Networks Outreach section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures and keeps it updated with the latest procedures and templates

Apply for this position

Platform Team - Maintaining and Improving the Kabissa Online Platform

Server Administrator

Planning

• Creates and maintain a detailed overview of our technology stack
• Maintains Server Admin section of operating procedures
• Sets up recovery plan in the event of a server emergency (eg DDOS attack or hardware failure); brings server back online as quickly as possible if and when emergencies do happen
• In technology choices, strive to meet the needs of our users, volunteers and network while maintaining good security, low costs, vendor independence and software freedom.

Building

• Researches and installs additional server software or services needed for kabissa website or community needs
• Cooperates with the Site Maintainer on server optimization for hosting the Kabissa website

Monitoring

• Logs into the server on a regular basis and check vital statistics / server health
• Sets up monitoring solution to inform self, site maintainer and other staff about outages, performance problems
• Stays abreast of security holes, software end-of-life, or other threats or opportunities for our platform; plans and implements appropriate responses.

Maintaining

• Performs regular system upgrades as needed (preferably at scheduled intervals so outages are known to the team)
• Maintains Kabissa domain registration and DNS records at enom.com and Media Temple Account Center; makes changes as needed by Kabissa team

Coordinating

• Securely maintains server passwords, shares login credentials with other admins or outside volunteers / contractors as needed, and changes passwords regularly
• Participates in Network team calls (as needed) 

Apply for this position

Site Maintainer

• Keeps website code up to date, secure and bug free as much as possible (drupal core and modules, civicrm core and modules)
• Maintains Kabissa git code repository and contributions to it 
• Maintains automated backups of code and databases
• Coordinates with server admin on server optimization and disaster recovery planning
• Coordinates with executive director, project manager, platform team, and contract programmers on implementing minor and major upgrades on an ongoing basis 
• Participates in Network team calls (as needed) 
• Maintains Site Maintenance section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures

This position is currently held by Matt Galley.

Organization Team - Securing Longterm Sustainability of Kabissa as an Organization

Marketing 

• Develops a general presentation of Kabissa and a variety of collateral material that promotes Kabissa to stakeholders including prospective members, donors, partners (material includes brochures, flyers, stickers, etc.)
• Provides a voice on the visual identity of Kabissa as needed
• Develops and updates language to be used for Kabissa website and other marketing materials, such as brochures to be used by Kabissa representatives
• Works with Fundraising volunteer to develop strategy for outreach to potential funders and develop copy for fundraising communications
• Brainstorms and helps write News Items about Kabissa; works with content team to publish and push out to external sites to amplify their impact
• Updates information about Kabissa on third-party sites like Wikipedia and Global Giving
• Collaborates with Executive Director to issue the Kabissa Annual Report
• Brainstorms and implements creative marketing initiatives (e.g. Photo Competition that will help promote participants’ organizations to the entire Kabissa community and Case Studies about Kabissa members to be featured on Kabissa website and in other Kabissa communications) that engage a variety of Kabissa stakeholders (Members, Representatives, Key third parties, Kabissa volunteers)
• Brainstorms new ways to showcase Kabissa membership
• Participates in Organization team calls/chats (as needed) 
• Maintains the Marketing section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures in collaboration with Marketing Manager: Member Focus

Apply for this position

Fundraising

• Maintains relationships with Kabissa funders and external fundraising organizations
• Collaborates with Executive Director on Kabissa’s fundraising priorities and long-term fundraising strategy
• Pursues and explore additional funding relationships in furtherance of Kabissa’s future programming and organizational goals
• Assists the Marketing volunteer in developing and maintaining "About Kabissa" marketing materials 
• Maintains Kabissa's online giving presence on Kabissa.org and external online giving sites
• Participates in Organization team calls/chats (as needed)
• Maintains the Fundraising section of the Kabissa operating procedures

Apply for this position

Bookkeeping (contractor) 

The role of the bookkeeper is twofold: to monitor the organization’s cashflow, and to produce and maintain necessary returns and reports. The bookkeeper, based on Bainbridge Island, reports to the executive director who is empowered to sign checks, provide petty cash if necessary, and assist with storage of files. Specifically, the bookkeeper has the following duties:

• Using Quickbooks, pays bills, submit invoices, deposits and tracks donations, etc.
• Submits state/federal tax returns and reports on a timely basis
• Generates quarterly reports for board meetings and updates (profit and loss statements, balances, etc.)
• Works with auditor to prepare annual audit and 990 tax return
• Maintains files of correspondence, reports, bills, invoices, board updates and minutes, and any other materials necessary for auditing

The Bookkeeper is one of few paid roles at Kabissa. The expected workload is about 10 hours per month. More than 12 hours per month will need approval from the executive director. Payment will be monthly based on invoice and timesheet.

This position is currently held by Georgene Scott.

Board of Directors - Leadership, Governance and Oversight

Board Members

Leadership, governance and oversight

• Maintains knowledge of Kabissa and personal commitment to its goals and objectives
• Serves as a trusted advisor to the executive director as s/he develops and implements Kabissa’s strategic plan
• Reviews outcomes and metrics created by Kabissa for evaluating its impact, and regularly measure its performance and effectiveness using those metrics; review agenda and supporting materials prior to board meetings
• Approves Kabissa's annual budget, audit reports, and material business decisions; be informed of, and meet all, legal and fiduciary responsibilities
• Contributes to an annual performance evaluation of the executive director
• Assists the executive director and board chair in identifying and recruiting other Board Members
• Partners with the executive director and other board members to ensure that board resolutions are carried out
• Serves on committees or task forces and take on special assignments
• Represents Kabissa to stakeholders; act as an ambassador for the organization
• Ensures Kabissa's commitment to a diverse board and staff that reflects the communities Kabissa serves 
• Elects board chair, secretary and treasurer from among board members as needed

Fundraising

Board Members consider Kabissa a philanthropic priority and make annual gifts that reflect that priority. So that Kabissa can credibly solicit contributions from foundations, organizations, and individuals, Kabissa expects to have 100 percent of Board Members make an annual contribution that is commensurate with their capacity.

Board terms/participation
Kabissa’s Board Members serve a three-year term and are eligible for re-appointment. Board meetings are held twice a year and committee meetings are held in coordination with full board meetings. 

Board Chair

In addition to duties of all board members, the board chair also: 

• Oversees board and executive committee meetings
• Works in partnership with the executive director to make sure board resolutions are carried out
• Calls special meetings if necessary
• Assists executive director in preparing agenda for board meetings
• Assists executive director in conducting new board member orientation
• Oversees searches for a new chief executive
• Coordinates chief executive's annual performance evaluation
• Works with the executive director to recruit new board members
• Acts as an alternate spokesperson for the organization
• Periodically consults with board members on their roles and help them assess their performance

Board Secretary

In addition to duties of all board members, the board secretary also: 

• Serves on the executive committee
• Schedules and help run two board meetings a year covering Q2 and Q4 
• Keeps minutes at board meetings; ensure the safety and accuracy of all board records
• Assumes responsibilities of the chair in the absence of the board chair
• Coordinates with executive director to assemble and distribute board updates covering Q1 and Q3 
• Coordinates annual evaluation of executive director
• Manages list of board member candidates and board member term limits
• Helps new board members get oriented and perform board member exit interview
• Helps outgoing board members transition to the advisory group as desired
• Manages Kabissa Board discussion group
• Maintains the Board of Directors section of the Kabissa Operating Procedures and ensures that all processes and templates are up to date 

Board Treasurer 

In addition to duties of all board members, the board treasurer also: 

• Understands financial accounting for nonprofit organizations
• Serves as chair of the finance committee
• Manages, with the finance committee and executive director, the board's review of and action related to the board's financial responsibilities
• Liaises with independent auditor on Kabissa financial matters as requested
• Works with the executive director to ensure that appropriate financial reports are made available to the board on a timely basis
• Presents the annual budget to the board for approval
• Reviews the annual audit and answer board members' questions about the audit