The ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLUF-SDIC) seeks an External Affairs Project Manager.

The ACLUF-SDIC is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) civil liberties and civil rights organization. working to advance equality, freedom and justice through public education and litigation. Together with the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that does our legislative lobbying work, we are a prominent force for the protection and expansion of fundamental rights in Californias second-most populous county (San Diego) and the county with the highest per capita Latina/o population (Imperial).

While there are more than 50 ACLU affiliates nationwide, our work covers the length of Californias border with Mexico. We work collaboratively with the National ACLU and with ACLU affiliates in California, on the U.S-Mexico border and throughout the United States. In addition, we value partnerships and collaboration with community organizations and groups across the state and throughout the binational border region.

The ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties and ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties (known collectively as ACLU-SDIC) have a proven track record of success combining impact litigation, policy advocacy, legislation, research and analysis, public education, strategic communications and community organizing to achieve meaningful social change. We are dedicated to confronting issues that threaten our most cherished civil rights and freedoms and defending the progress the ACLU has made over its 100-year history.

Deciding to apply for any position is an investment of your time and energy. We are providing the detail below to help you decide if exploring this opportunity feels right to you. To learn more about us and have a small peek into our organizational work, please watch the videos linked below.

Videos:Why we do this work|Hope for the Future

Position Summary:

The External Affairs Project Manager drives the planning, coordination, and execution of projects across the External Affairs department, ensuring strong operational infrastructure, clear workflows, and consistent follow-through on priorities. This role leads project management and internal systems, partners closely with departmental leadership, and serves as a central point of coordination to keep cross-departmental initiatives moving forward. The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, and proactive, with a demonstrated ability to anticipate needs, bring structure to complex work, and ensure projects are completed on time and with care.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Project Management

• Partner with project owners across the EA team to establish roadmaps, milestones, and Asana projects for departmental events, campaigns, and initiatives.
• Work closely with the Philanthropy Relations Manager to provide logistical support for events throughout the year. This includes serving as the logistics lead in securing venue, catering, decor, invitations, publication, volunteers, AV needs, speaker arrangements, and any other component for a successful event.
• Project manage the production of donor engagement collateral, including one-pagers, end of year appeal, case for support and more.
• Support project management for department-led grants, including application and reporting deadlines.
• Work with project owners and the Finance & Operations (FAO) team to execute administrative and logistical tasks related to larger events, campaigns, and projects.
• Project manage annual cyclical activities such as budgeting, work plan development and reviews.
• Coordinate and track regular cyclical activities such as board reports, all-staff updates and supporter updates.
• Prepare and reconcile expenses for External Affairsowned projects in collaboration with project owners and directors.

Team Infrastructure

Focus: workflows, tools, documentation, and internal efficiency

• Maintain, develop, and refine departmental workflow systems, ensuring processes are clearly documented, communicated, and consistently followed.
• Manage and maintain the teams Asana environment, including workspaces, project templates, recurring tasks, …