EVERY MOTHER COUNTS

Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy and childbirth—that’s

more than 800 preventable deaths every day around the world. For each death, 30 women experience a life-threatening complication or life-long disability. Most global maternal deaths can be prevented by ensuring that everyone has timely access to quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care.

Motivated by the belief that maternal health is a human right, Every Mother Counts (EMC) works to advance evidence-based strategies to address the global maternal health crisis and improve maternal health outcomes and the experience of care for all. EMC supports community-centered care and workforce development by raising awareness, investing in community-led solutions, and advocating for critical systems change.

Founded by Christy Turlington Burns in 2010, the organization was born to inform, engage, and mobilize new audiences to take action and raise funds that support maternal health programs around the world. Today, EMC has an $8.6M operating budget and invests in organizations rooted in the communities where they are based as EMC firmly believes that local teams are critical to identify and develop effective, appropriate solutions to improve maternal health. The organization supports community-based partner organizations in underserved and historically marginalized communities that are delivering high-impact, cost effective, person-centered initiatives. Most critical to EMC’s mission is their prioritization of the needs of mothers. The organization strives to ensure that each person is informed of their birthing options, has a voice in their own care, and has access to quality care.

Since its inception, EMC has invested more than $42M to make pregnancy and childbirth safe, respectful, and equitable for everyone, everywhere through grants and public education that support models of care across 9 countries including the United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Tanzania, and Bangladesh, and awareness raising worldwide. As maternal death rates have been steadily on the rise in the United States, despite spending more money per capita on maternal health than any country in the world, EMC doubled its grantmaking in the U.S. since 2020.

In addition to investments in community-led models of care, EMC is committed to diversifying the healthcare workforce, and advocating for systems change. Through collaboration with key policymakers, practitioners, and community members, the team identifies priority maternal health issues. EMC’s program and policy efforts are complemented by our compelling storytelling, which is at the core of the organization’s founding. Some of EMC’s most impactful films include:

• No Woman, No Cry

• Giving Birth in America series

• Con Madre

THE ROLE

Every Mother Counts seeks a dynamic and dedicated leader who can develop and lead the policy and advocacy strategies as Director, Policy & Advocacy. The ideal candidate will bring experience that demonstrates a nuanced and expert understanding of maternal health policy issues, how policy changes happen in the United States, including a robust understanding of the U.S. maternal health policy ecosystem's key players and coalitions, and a deep knowledge of the range of policy issues impacting maternal health.

Reporting to the VP, Programs & Impact, the Director, Policy & Advocacy will develop and lead a concrete policy and advocacy portfolio to advance Every Mother Counts' maternal health policy priorities and those of the community-based grantee partner organizations in the United States. The Director, Policy & Advocacy will play a pivotal role in furthering EMC's robust history of policy and advocacy engagement and will advance the organization’s policy and advocacy work in alignment with EMC’s strategies to advance the mission to make the continuum of maternity care accessible, safe, respectful, and equitable for every mother, everywhere.

Strategy Development:

• Develop and Execute a Strategic Vision: In partnership with the VP, Programs & Impact, create and implement a strategic framework that outlines EMC policy and advocacy priorities, role in maternal health policy space, and strategies to advance policy changes that improve maternal health.

• Center Equity in Policy Engagement: Identify policy opportunities that center the needs of marginalized pregnant individuals and those most impacted by maternal health disparities, including BIPOC communities, those residing in maternity care deserts, and the uninsured. Develop corresponding policy stances and advocacy plans.

• Integrate Policy Across Programs: Work cross-functionally to align policy priorities with the organization’s grantmaking and awareness-raising initiatives to maximize impact.

Maternal Health Policy Expertise:

• Drive Policy Impact: Oversee a comprehensive policy and advocacy strategy, including monitoring, analysis, and advocacy efforts to advance the organization’s mission.

• Develop Informative Resources: Lead the creation of educational materials and advocacy tools such as reports, policy briefs, fact sheets, and blog content.

• Shape Policy Landscape: Stay up to date with the evolving maternal health policy landscape and formulate evidence-based maternal health policy positions. Manage the organization’s approach to maternal health policy priorities at the federal and state levels. Oversee the development of regulatory comments, responses to information requests, and other policy communications.

• Provide Expert Guidance: Serve as a leading authority on maternal health and birth equity both internally and externally, offering strategic and technical counsel to policymakers, government agencies, researchers, advocates, community-based partners, and the EMC team.

External Collaborations:

• Develop and Foster Partnerships: Cultivate strong relationships with policymakers and allied organizations to identify opportunities for collaboration and advance shared goals.

• Lead External Engagement: Represent the organization at policy forums, coalitions, conferences, and public events. Facilitate consensus-building, relationship development, material dissemination, and coalition management to drive policy and advocacy.

• Communicate Policy Agenda: Articulate the organization’s policy priorities through public speaking, media interviews, and other outreach platforms. Provide strategic support to leadership for public engagement on relevant topics.

• Collaborate on Messaging: Work closely with the Communications team to develop compelling public statements, social media content, and other communications materials.

Working with Community-Based Organizations:

• Advance Intersectional Advocacy: Build and cultivate strong, inclusive relationships across diverse movements, prioritizing partnerships with underrepresented communities. Center the voices, priorities, and needs of those most impacted by policy outcomes in coalition building and shared initiatives.

• Develop a Global Policy and Advocacy Framework: In collaboration with the VP, Programs & Impact and Director, Grantmaking, lead the exploration and creation of a comprehensive policy and advocacy strategy that identifies and leverages common ground between the policy and advocacy priorities of US and global grantee partners and provides strategies and tools that can be applied to local contexts.

Supervision and Leadership:

• Lead and Develop Team: Oversee the Policy & Advocacy team, providing guidance, mentorship, and support for professional growth.

• Drive Team Performance: Develop, implement, and delegate clear work plans to achieve organizational objectives.

• Foster Organizational Culture: Collaborate with the VP and EMC's broader leadership team to cultivate a team and organizational culture aligned with the organization’s mission and values.

QUALIFICATIONS

The successful candidate will bring equity-focused values alignment, intellectual curiosity, and a strong work ethic. Additional ideal qualifications include:

• 8+ years of experience in public policy or advocacy experience at the national, state or local levels advancing maternal health, reproductive health, or related issues;

• MPH, JD, or proven/equivalent professional experience

• Extensive subject matter expertise on the maternal health policy landscape in the U.S., e.g. policy levers to advance midwifery care, doula care, birth centers, Medicaid coverage of maternal health services, and more.

• Experience collaborating or working with community-based organizations.

• Intuitive, action-oriented team member with strong project and time management skills.

• Experience in a growth-stage environment; willingness to "roll up sleeves" to create and implement new systems, processes, and tools.

• Track record of collaboration across an organization’s various departments.

• Experience in mentoring or coaching team members.

• Strong interest in contributing to an organizational culture that values personal connection and face-to-face interaction.

• Display excellent and versatile oral and written communications skills including the ability to summarize detailed information.

• Passion for and demonstrated commitment to maternal and reproductive health; alignment with EMC ethos and culture.

COMPENSATION

Annual base pay range: $120-130K.

Every Mother Counts has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what the organization may pay for the position at the time of posting.