ACF acknowledges the structural barriers that make gaining experience in any field of work more difficult for many communities in Australia. We highly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from CALD backgrounds, LGBTIQA+ people and others who may face structural barriers in our society to apply for this opportunity.

About the Australian Conservation Foundation

The Australian Conservation Foundation is Australia’s national environmental organisation. We are over half a million people who speak out for a world where forests, rivers, people and wildlife thrive.

A handful of people formed ACF 50 years ago when mining first threatened the Great Barrier Reef. Now the ACF community has grown into a powerful force for nature.

We bring together people from the community, government and business. Our community advocates against pollution and destruction, and for our living world. We hold decision-makers to account. We champion big ideas and find common ground with unlikely partners.

We love and protect the web of life right across our continent, from the Kimberley to the reef, down the Great Dividing Range to Tasmania’s forests.

People power our campaigns. We are proudly independent, non-partisan and funded by donations from our community.

About the volunteer role:

Through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, ACF reaches thousands of people a day and has hundreds of people commenting on their content. It is important to ‘talk back’ to audiences who comment on posts to shift how they understand our issues and improve the culture across ACF’s online communities.

The main tasks of the volunteer will include:

• Creating a positive culture across ACF’s social media communities through active and friendly moderation. This includes hiding trolls, reinforcing positive comments and responding to genuine questions.
• Attending a monthly group meeting with the Social Media Moderating team.
• Following ACF message boards and narrative guides.
• Replying to positive comments
• Hiding “trolls”
• Answering genuine questions

Volunteer Skills

The volunteer should be able to demonstrate:

• Excellent writing skills with experience in developing written communications for different mediums and audiences.
• Ability to identify core information in a complex issue and convey it in a clear, simple, and persuasive way.
• Be self-motivated and demonstrate initiative to work autonomously.
• Be creative and original.
• Ability to manage and communicate priorities effectively.
• Ability to perform under pressure and work to deadlines.
• Passion for our living world and addressing climate damage.
• Paid or volunteer experience in social change and/or an awareness of ACF’s key campaigns.
• Clear, concise and professional written skills; an understanding of ACF’s target audience and the objectives of the communication; uses feedback to refine communication.
• Experience using Facebook and Instagram for personal or business use.
• An ability to work independently and efficiently.

Hours:

The volunteer will be required to undertake two to five hours of comment moderation a week. The specific time of this shift and exact hours is flexible and can be arranged between the volunteer and Social Moderator Team Leader.

Location:

The normal place of volunteering will be from the volunteer’s home. However, before starting the volunteer will be required to do one full day of inductions and their first few volunteer shifts at the ACF Melbourne office (60 Leicester Street, Carlton) to get to know the team and undertake initial training. The volunteer should ideally be Melbourne-based.

Resources:

The volunteer will be provided with a handbook to help guide them in monitoring and answering comments, as well as other ACF resources.

Duration:

The volunteer position is for an initial period of eight months, ending around December 2020. Volunteers are often encouraged to extend the volunteer role beyond the initial 8 months if their availability allows.

Volunteer program:

The program will include:

• Intensive skills training in ACF’s Change the Story narrative
• An ACF induction
• Regular peer-mentoring
• Monthly meetings and campaign updates

Why does this role matter?

ACF has a huge following on social media and reaches thousands of people a day through organic content and ads. Having a strong presence on social media allows ACF to amplify its impact during key moments and recruit new supporters to grow ACF’s community. Having passionate volunteers undertake this work elevates ACF’s online presence from good to great.

It is important to note:

This is a volunteer placement. ACF does not offer employment following the program. By signing up to this program, you agree to ACF’s policies and procedures.

Direction and Contact:

The volunteer will be asked to carry out work on the direction of and report to the Social Moderator Team Leader.