Work With Us

Full-Time  |  New York City (Remote-Flexible)  |  $160,000 - $192,000 plus a benefits stipend

About Us

The Train Foundation, which annually awards the Civil Courage Prize (CCP), is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating extraordinary acts of civil courage in the face of great evil. Founded over 25 years ago by John Train, a friend and ally of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Prize honors individuals who have taken principled stands at great personal risk, defended democratic values, and protected others in the face of injustice. Instead of naming and shaming perpetrators, the CCP seeks to “name and fame” inspiring examples of civil courage.

At this pivotal moment, the Foundation is embarking on an ambitious program of expanded public engagement. This is an exciting and unusual opportunity to help lead the expansion of a solid organization with a strong reputation into its next, more robust phase. The organization is deepening its reach through a curated series of substantive events (“symposia”) designed to bring the concept of civil courage to new and influential audiences. With the board, the Executive Director will be the architect and driver of that expansion and ideally will create a sustainable organization to continue to have impact long into the future.

Position Overview

The Foundation seeks a full-time Executive Director with exceptional skills in high-level event production, network cultivation, and donor engagement. This requires a person who knows how to convene influential people around powerful ideas, who moves comfortably among diplomats, editors, foundation officers, journalists, and philanthropists, and who can produce substantive events that leave participants inspired and connected.

The mission of the Train Foundation is to promote civil courage worldwide, and the Executive Director must also have a sophisticated understanding of rule-of-law, human rights, and democracy issues relevant for being a visible interlocutor and occasional spokesperson for the Civil Courage Prize.

The central initiative is a major anniversary event (planned for early Fall, 2027). Additionally, throughout the year, the ED will organize a series of “Symposia” leading to the award ceremony. Various Board members will host intimate gatherings at their home or a comparable venue featuring a former Civil Courage Prize laureate or a compelling figure who embodies civil courage for substantive conversations. The Executive Director will design, coordinate, staff, and follow up on each event, and will manage the capital campaign conversation that naturally follows.

The ED reports directly to the Board of Directors and works in close collaboration with board members.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

●      Exercise strategic leadership for all aspects of the events program, from content, to invitation lists, to logistics. The ED must understand and own the role of developing the prize and the symposia in terms of norm diffusion, promoting democratic values, donor development, and network building.

●      Chart the Foundation's strategic direction in close collaboration with the Board of Directors, with particular responsibility for developing and executing board-approved strategies for promoting civil courage worldwide, including a deep understanding of these issues in contemporary global affairs.

●      Prepare professional materials that enable efficient, well-informed Board decision-making: event proposals, post-event reports, budget updates, donor pipeline reviews, and strategic recommendations.

●      Support the Foundation's Young Leaders program, which is designed to bring the next generation of civil courage advocates into the Prize's orbit as future Board members and supporters.

●      Develop impact measurements for the event program, including audience composition, follow-on relationships, media coverage, and donor conversion, to enable evidence-based strategic decisions.

Network Cultivation and Relationship Management

●      Cultivate and maintain relationships with a selection of former laureates.

●      Map, develop, and manage the Foundation's network of diplomats, journalists, editors, NGO leaders, foundation officers, and scholars, the epistemic community the Prize needs to influence.

●      Build relationships with peer organizations (including Front Line Defenders, the Martin Ennals Award, the Oslo Freedom Forum, RFK Human Rights, and the Meta/Facebook Civil Courage initiative) and identify opportunities for collaboration and joint programming.

●      Represent the Foundation at external events, conferences, and convenings relevant to human rights, civil courage, and democratic norms.

Event Design, Production, and Management

This is the primary operational side of the role and will require the most time and energy. The ED will:

●      Design and manage the full calendar of Foundation events, including the Board Symposia series, donor cultivation gatherings, and the 2027 anniversary event.

●      Produce the 2027 Anniversary Event: full-day programming, speaker coordination, guest management, press logistics, patron lunch, and award ceremony.

●      Work directly with each Board member to plan, script, and staff their individual salon-like event/Symposium: selecting the featured guest (former laureate or civil courage exemplar), developing a program arc, preparing briefing materials, and managing logistics from invitation to follow-up.

●      Identify and develop additional event opportunities, including programming tied to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2027, which concentrates the world's most senior diplomatic and civil society leadership in New York for one week.

●      Evaluate potential venues beyond Council on Foreign Relations that extend the Foundation's reach to adjacent epistemic communities, including the National Press Club (Washington), peer institutions in New York, and possibly an event in California.

●      Be the liaison and staff contact for the Next Gen/Young Leaders program, intended to attract a younger generation to the work of the foundation and the prize.

●      Ensure every event reflects the seriousness, precision, and moral weight of the Civil Courage Prize's identity.

Fundraising and Donor Development

The Symposia series is itself a fundraising vehicle, but one built on substance first. The ED will:

●      Lead all major donor cultivation and stewardship, managing the pipeline of prospective supporters identified through Board relationships and the event series.

●      Design and execute a capital campaign in support of the expansion program and the 2027 anniversary event, with a target of raising sufficient funds to sustain the Foundation's expanded activity beyond the current reserve period.

●      Develop and maintain detailed donor profiles and individualized engagement strategies for each prospect, with clear timelines and follow-through.

●      Identify potential grant opportunities and institutional funding aligned with the Foundation's mission.

●      Develop new donor relationships within the technology and artificial intelligence philanthropic community, a growing source of mission-aligned giving that is largely untapped by the Foundation's current network.

Communications and External Relations

●      Serve as the Foundation's primary external spokesperson in event contexts, conveying the Prize's history, theory of change, and founding vision with authority and fluency.

●      Oversee and implement the Foundation's communications strategy and brand, ensuring that all public-facing materials (invitations, programs, press releases, social media, and the website) reflect the Prize's identity accurately and compellingly.

●      Develop event-specific communications, including pre-event briefing materials for hosts and guests, in-room program materials, and post-event follow-up that sustains the relationships formed.

●      Build strategic partnerships with media organizations, academic institutions, and civil society bodies that can amplify the Foundation's events and extend its reach.

Financial and Administrative Oversight

●      Promote sound fiscal management and work with the Board Treasurer to monitor event budgets, total expenditure, and reserves against the Foundation's financial plan.

●      Maintain the highest standards of governance and compliance.

●      Manage relationships with vendors, contractors, and consultants engaged in support of the event program.

Qualifications

While the organization occasionally contracts consultants and event planners, this is a relatively solitary position in which the ED must be enthusiastic about doing everything required, from soup to nuts. There is no support staff.

Required

●      Demonstrated experience producing, developing, and leading an event-based program for senior and influential audiences in a policy, civil society, philanthropic, or media context.

●      Deep commitment to and fluency in the values of civil courage, human rights, and democratic norms; the ability to speak about these values with conviction and precision.

●      Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills; a natural ability to cultivate trust with diplomats, editors, foundation leaders, and philanthropists.

●      Proven success in donor cultivation and individual fundraising, ideally in the context of events-based engagement.

●      Excellent written and verbal communication skills; the ability to draft compelling event concepts, donor proposals, and briefing materials.

●      Experience working with or reporting to a Board of Directors; comfort managing upward and supporting Board members in their own cultivation activities.

●      Based in or able to have regular in-person meetings in New York City with willingness to travel for events and donor meetings as required.

●      Self-starter and ability to work independently with minimal staff support.

Preferred

●      Existing relationships within the New York and Washington foreign policy, media, and philanthropic communities that the Prize most needs to engage.

●      Experience with international human rights organizations, award programs, or civil society convenings.

●      Familiarity with the concept of civil courage and the tradition from which the Prize draws, including the work of Solzhenitsyn, the German understanding of zivilcourage, and the Prize's 29 laureates.

●      Experience and enthusiasm for engaging new audiences, such as technology-sector and Silicon Valley philanthropists as a donor constituency.

●      Fluency in French, Spanish, German, or another major language relevant to the Prize's international laureate community.

Compensation and Benefits

●      Salary: $160,000 - $192,000 annually

●      Benefits: a benefits stipend of up to $1,800/month (reimbursable) for health insurance.

●      Flexible hours and remote work, with regular in-person presence required in New York City for events, Board meetings, and donor engagements, occasionally working with people in diverse time zones.

Reporting Relationship

The Executive Director reports directly to the Board of Directors, with regular interaction with the Board Chair and committee chairs. The ED serves as an ex-officio member of Board committees as appropriate and works in close operational partnership with the Foundation's Acting Executive Director during a defined transition period.

How to Apply

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to jobs@civilcourageprize.org by Monday, August 31st. Your cover letter should address specifically your experience producing substantive events for senior audiences and any background information relevant to the goal of expanding the Civil Courage Prize's reach through an events-centric model. Please, no phone calls.

The Train Foundation is an equal opportunity employer that complies with EEOC rules and regulations. The Foundation does not discriminate based on race, age, disability, or other characteristics as protected by New York and federal law.