The deadline for applying to this role has passed.
We’re looking for 5-7 regional partners to help us produce localized and contextualized tools for funders looking to support open source digital infrastructure.
- You’ll bring familiarity with funders in your region, and work with our team to ensure the toolkit meets the needs of those funders.
- This is a 6-month freelance contract, from approximately mid-June to mid-December 2021. Each contract pays USD $3,000.
- We are a US 501(c)3 organization. We can contract in many countries, and are limited by the OFAC sanctions list. We can pay in currencies supported by Transferwise.
About the project:
Simply Secure is working on a grant-supported Digital Infrastructure Funders’ Toolkit project. We’re creating a set of resources for funders around the world who are interested in supporting digital infrastructure and open source technologies but may not yet know how to approach the topic. Funders might include private foundations, government programs, corporations, and high net worth individuals. Our goal is to provide tools for better funding processes in this topic area, and ultimately impact the sustainability of open source and foundational software, keep standards and protocols interoperable and up-to-date, and create a more resilient and secure digital infrastructure.
We believe it is important to acknowledge that regions, languages, and governments articulate and understand “infrastructure” in very different ways. The creation of a regional team of non-US / non-EU researchers will ensure we capture and share these nuances, and offer a more global understanding of the needs, wants, and opportunities in service to this work.
To that end, we are looking for 5-7 regional partners who can help us identify, connect, interview, and create region-specific portions of the funding tools. Partners who have expertise and connections in the digital funding ecosystem in the following regions are encouraged to apply:
- Eastern Asia
- South Eastern Asia
- South Asia
- Australia and New Zealand
- Arabic-speaking Middle East
- Eastern Africa
- Western Africa
- Southern Africa
- Central America
- South America
- Global
Each contract is a short-term contract for USD $3,000 running from June 2021 to December 2021, with specific deliverables and milestones throughout. These include:
- Identify relevant funders
- Conduct interviews with funders (and potentially some of their grantees)
- Facilitate 1-2 workshops
- Manage localizing information, and
- Lead production of locally, contextually relevant resources to include in the toolkit.
Our team is happy to support regional partners with interview methodology, workshop planning, scheduling, and general problem-solving as needed. We expect this to take between 60-80hrs max.
About us
We are a small US 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, founded in 2014 with the goal of making security tools easier to use. We believed – and still do – that security doesn’t have to be confusing to end users. We’ve contributed design to a variety of tools that enhance security, such as Tails and NoScript. We’ve held salons and a residency around designing for security. But we’ve done a lot more than usable security. Just in the last year, we’ve launched a report on trust and transparency in nonprofit funding; a decentralization pattern library; a campaign to save internet freedom tech; a community around human rights centered design; and much, much more.
About you
- You understand the power of open source technologies to drive societal change.
- You’ve worked with funders in your region and can work with them to advise them on their portfolios.
- You like working independently, in collaboration with a fully remote team.
- You’re comfortable conducting interviews and facilitating (virtual) workshops.
- You can either translate or manage the translation of some resources.
- You have flexibility in your schedule to meet with a global team at times that work for everyone.
Sound like a good fit?
Please send us:
- (for individuals) An updated resume or CV.
- (for organizations) Please tell us why your organization is the right fit, share relevant work with explanations, and list the names and brief bios of the people who will be working on this project.
- Your responses to the following questions:
- How do you define digital infrastructure? Why is it important, and what potential does it have for society? (250 words max)
- What is the role of philanthropy in supporting the development, maintenance, and usage of digital infrastructure? (250 words max)
- How do funders in your region or communities address the topic of digital infrastructure? Please describe your impact and/or experience working with them on this topic. (250 words max)
Send these documents to Nicola Pratt at nicola [ at ] superbloom [ dot ] design as soon as possible.
We believe that systemic bad behaviors disproportionately hurt the most marginalized people in society — including people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women and LGBTQ people. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. We strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.