Call for proposals, writer and storyteller, 5-year report

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The deadline for applying to this role has passed.

We’re looking for a storycrafter to help us shape and share the tale of our organization’s last five years. Is it you?

The project

  • You’ll create a written report that tells the story of Simply Secure’s projects and impact over the last 5 years. The report will be published in an interactive digital format. (You don’t need to be a web designer as well; right now we’re primarily looking for a writer.)
  • This is a 3-month freelance contract, from approximately November 2020 to February 2021 (timing negotiable). We are a US 501(c)3 organization that has the ability to hire in the US and in the EU.
  • We are inspired by work like:

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 to I2P to 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 decentralization pattern library; a report on trust and transparency in nonprofit funding; a campaign to save internet freedom tech; a community around human rights centered design; a series of videos about trust and responsibility in design; and much, much more.

(We’re actually doing a rebranding process, moving away from the name “Simply Secure.” More info over here on the blog!)

About you

  • You love finding and telling stories. You get really excited about telling the story of a group of people growing a nonprofit organization that uses design to make the internet a more humane place
  • You write clear, concise, and engaging prose meant to be read on the web
  • You like working independently, in collaboration with a fully remote team
  • You show up to remote meetings on time, prepared, with a list; you do what you say you’re going to do, on time and accurately
  • You are comfortable advocating for yourself and your work to make sure that you’re getting what you need from us
  • You understand the nuances of writing for an international audience and how to make your words direct and accessible without simplifying your message
  • You are available to meet during our prime time hours (4-6pm Central Europe / 3-5pm UK / 10-12pm US Eastern / 7-9am US Pacific)

Nice to have

  • Knowledgeable about one or more of the following areas: open source software, internet freedom, tech criticism and activism, human rights
  • Experienced in writing annual reports
  • Expert in communicating with an international audience (ideally with fluency in languages other than English)

Sound like a good fit?

Please send us:

  • Examples of work you have written. With each link or document you send, please tell us about the timeline and process: how did these pieces get created? Who was involved, what did the process look like, how long did it take?
  • A (very short!) outline of how you would approach working with us on this report. What phases would this project have, and what would you need from us to make it successful?

Send these documents to Nicola Pratt at nicola@simplysecure.org by Monday, November 15, 2020.

To help us combat bias while we review applications, please remove your name from the documents you send. One person on our team will keep a list assigning a code name to your application while we review it. If we’d like to interview you, we’ll match your code name to your real name, and get in touch. (If removing your name from your work screws up the formatting, don’t worry, this is not a graphic design job! You can also put an obviously fake name in place of your real name to keep the formatting consistent.)