The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative (IDPI), based in Washington, DC, is seeking a new executive director to lead our efforts toward non-punitive, non-coercive drug policies nationwide.
IDPI mobilizes religious denominations and organizations, clergy, and other people of faith to promote the drug policy reform proposals currently under serious consideration in Congress and several states (e.g., medical marijuana, sentencing reform, and needle exchange), while gradually building public support for replacing drug prohibition with reasonable regulations. IDPI has mobilized hundreds of clergy behind successful legislative campaigns.
QUALIFICATIONS
Candidates must have a proven track record of strong, results-oriented management, as well as outstanding fundraising abilities and excellent oral and written communication skills. Although it is not necessary to be an ordained clergy person, the executive director must have credibility within the faith community and be able to persuade and organize religious leaders from a wide variety of denominations. He/she must be a strategic thinker with high motivation, persistence, resourcefulness, and focus. Non-profit management experience is a plus, whether or not faith-based.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The executive director will maintain IDPI at its present level of operation (three employees) and soon expand the organization into a larger, more formidable opponent of the "war on drugs." The executive director reports to the organization's board of directors, develops the annual budget, and establishes measurable goals in collaboration with other drug policy reform organizations. To these ends, he/she will:
- oversee IDPI's fundraising efforts (including a membership renewal program) and directly solicit contributions from large donors;
- ensure that IDPI's strategy is sound and the tactics are effective and cost-efficient;
- recruit, hire, and manage the staff, with an emphasis on setting and meeting clear and ambitious goals;
- ensure that IDPI remains in compliance with relevant non-profit laws and financial regulations;
- participate in some of IDPI's programmatic work, such as directly educating and soliciting the involvement of religious leaders, generating favorable media coverage, and speaking at public forums.
COMPENSATION
The starting salary is between $70,000 and $85,000, with the possibility of rapidly increasing well beyond $100,000 depending on the success of his/her fundraising efforts.
TO APPLY
To apply, read IDPI's Job Application Process and follow the instructions there.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Existing view propped up by empty arg. from authority
Correction: The last "popular notion" above has to be split into two sentences:
Popular notion taken as fact, and as the only possible view: "Eliade explained that only in the recent, decadent phase were drug-plants used in shamanism. Wasson explained that only in prehistory were drug-plants significant in Jewish (thus Judeo-Christian) religious practice."
As Wasson points out, Eliade simply declared this, on authority, by fiat. And Wasson did the same, in the very same book where Wasson points out Eliade's baselessness and lack of any actual argumentation. What worked for Eliade worked for Wasson, to bluff and mislead the uncritical. All it takes to prop up the already-established status-quo view is to give the fleeting superficial *impression* that scholars have done their work, their due diligence in investigating the question of the role of visionary plants in religion. It didn't require any actual argumentation, and neither Eliade nor Wasson supplied any actual argumentation for their dismissive views, yet everyone has cited their views as if those views were the conclusion of critical scholarship.
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