Roles & Responsibilities
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES OF IJA VOLUNTARY OFFICERS
IJA Officer positions are filled by volunteers with a particular interest or knowledge of the required roles for a specific position. Each year around August, the IJA Board puts out a public call for people to indicate interest in specific officer positions.
Below is a full list of the current Officer positions, with descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of each position.
The Affiliates Director will find and work with juggling groups and clubs to promote the IJA and develop a stronger sense of community in the juggling world.
Responsibilities:
- Communicate with Affiliates
- Set up chapter and affiliates programs, forms and guidelines
- Send orders to Merchandise Distributor for mailing festival auction prizes and membership forms/incentives to local festivals of Affiliates
The IJA Archives Director is responsible for the archives of the International Jugglers’ Association — gathering, maintaining, preserving, and cataloging items related to the history and activities of the IJA, as well as of jugglers and juggling in general.
Responsibilities:
- Maintain the IJA archives
- Create a short and long-term plan for cataloguing IJA archives
- Make, document and report annual progress towards cataloguing archives
Organize, produce, and direct the annual IJA Juggling Championships.
Responsibilities:
- Field questions from members and prospective competitors about the Championships.
- Adjust and improve the Championships rules as needed.
- Select judges for the preliminary round and judges, timers, drop counters, and backstage personnel for the finals.
- Review competitors’ video submissions to confirm they meet the requirements.
- Select a host for the finals.
- Coordinate budget with the Festival Director.
- Run the scoring system for prelims and finals.
- Produce and direct the Championships show.
The IJA Chief Teller is responsible for creating the ballots, running the election at the annual festival, and reporting the results of the election for the board of directors to the board. The Chief Teller should be available to attend the annual IJA Festival.
Responsibilities:
- Oversee the IJA elections
- Set up voting area
- Monitor voting process
- Count ballots
- Report final results
The IJA Communications Director is responsible for the overall message and voice of the IJA organization, creating a consistent point of view for all internal and external media, writing and business interactions.
Responsibilities:
- Review (before publication) the clarity, correctness, professionalism and effect of any important official public communications from Officials, Board members, or the Board
- Review web pages, eNewsletters, emails, policies, etc., used to communicate with members, former members and other jugglers, prior to release
Gathers content, prepares eJuggle Monthly newsletter, creates the WordPress Page.
Responsibilities:
- Manage all eJuggle processes
- Maintain eJuggle site
- Recruit and communicate with contributors
- Manage and report on monthly and annual eJuggle budget
- Submit a monthly report for IJA board meetings
- Coordinate with the Marketing Director
The IJA eNewsletter is sent to each member once per month. It is intended to inform members of IJA projects, and to remind members that the IJA is more than a yearly festival.
Responsibilities:
- Gather news items monthly for the member eNewsletter
- Ensure that important IJA news, such as fest info, is included in the eNewsletter
- Layout each eNewsletter and proof check it
- Cause the eNewsletter to be emailed each month to members
- Get each eNewsletter posted to the IJA website
The European Liaison serves as contact for the Board and helps develop ideas and projects to encourage greater European membership and representation.
Responsibilities:
- Liases for the IJA with the European juggling community
The IJA Festival Director is responsible for organizing and overseeing all aspects of the IJA Annual Festival. This includes but is not limited to making a site visit, being the main liaison between the facility and the IJA, creating and maintaining a festival budget, finding volunteers for key festival positions including Show/Championship Directors, Workshops Director, and registration personnel among others and working with the Show/Championship Directors to provide the highest quality performances/competitions while remaining in budget.
Responsibilities:
- Assemble and lead a team to produce the IJA festival, including Registrar, Volunteers Coordinator, Security Coordinator, Vendors Coordinator, Championships Director, Shows Producer, Stage Manager, Games Director, Numbers Director, and many others
- Negotiate for facilities and services on behalf of the Board
- Prepare and maintain a festival budget
- Report progress to the Board on a monthly basis
The Future Festivals Coordinator attends conventions, seeks sites and works with local venues to find and secure future festival facilities.
Responsibilities:
- Locate and negotiate for future festival facilities and services on behalf of the Board
- Conduct site visits to potential sites
The IJA Graphic Designer is responsible for making artwork and designing layouts for print and web graphics. The graphic designer will work with the content provided by other IJA officers to create items like posters, postcards, stickers, letterhead, brochures, Facebook ads, show programs, and other promotional materials.
Responsibilities:
- Help with graphic designs for all IJA projects
- Evaluate proposed designs
- Suggest possible design directions.
The IJA Regional Competition Director is responsible for coordinating and leading the yearly regional competitions and helping with the on-site competition itself.
Responsibilities:
- Encourage, help organize and support IJA Regional Competitions in various regions of the world
- Publicize IRCs worldwide, including in social media
- Interface between local IRC organizers and the IJA board, including managing IRC budgets.
The IJA international representative is a natural or legal person established in the region who, explicitly designated by the International Jugglers’ Association, acts on his behalf in carrying out the tasks of coordinating the promotion of the IJA in the region, providing information about the IJA and representing the IJA in their country.
Current IJA Representative Regions: Mexico, Perú, Colombia, Central America, Europe and Canada
Responsibilities:
- Represent the IJA in a specific country or region of the world
- Recommend and implement collaborative ideas and programs that allow the IJA to support the juggling scene of a specific region
- Promote IJA programs and events in designated region, such as IJA Regional Competitions and World Juggling Day
- Promote IJA membership
- Coordinate with IJA Marketing Director on how the IJA can promote events and juggling programs from designated regions
The IJA Marketing Director is responsible for creating and implementing an annual marketing plan that coordinates all programs and events of the IJA, with the IJA’s social media outlets, eNewsletter and eJuggle.
Responsibilities:
- Find and/or create ongoing social media content for the IJA’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts (goal 1 post every 1-2 days on all platforms);
- Coordinate with directors of IJA programs to implement effective promotion;
- Work closely with eJuggle Editor In Chief and eNewsletter Editors to ensure content matches IJA brand and tone of voice.
- Maintain brand and cohesive tone of voice in marketing materials;
- Coordinate graphic designers, video editors, and animators as needed for specific projects;
- Creatively promote IJA membership and merchandise;
- Implement online programs to keep target market engaged (contests, video collaborations, Instagram story takeovers, etc.);
- Track effectiveness and results of marketing campaigns, and report to IJA board of directors.
The IJA membership director is responsible for: maintaining the IJA membership database, managing member inquiries, providing access to IJA publications and forums, providing the communications director and roster publisher with membership information, and sending physical membership renewal cards. During the festival, the membership director provides access to the IJA membership database to the registration desk team, processes membership renewals and new members on-site, and creates the membership election report.
Responsibilities:
- Respond to membership inquiries from members or potential members
- Process membership applications and renewals
- Send renewal notices to members whose memberships would shortly lapse
- Keep an eye on the membership database to ensure processes are happening accurately
- Provide monthly reports to the Board regarding the current membership situation
- Brainstorm with the IJA Board and Marketing Director on Membership Drive Strategies
Organize and distribute IJA merchandise.
Responsibilities:
- Store the IJA’s merchandise including T-shirts, videos and magazine back issues
- Ship orders received from the online store and Store Manager
- Ship a selection of merchandise to the annual festival for direct sale to members
- Manage inventory
- Perform an annual inventory and send results to the Treasurer
The Operations Officer (OpsO) is a volunteer responsible for the daily operation of the IJA, including facilitating protocol with officer/board applicants, and converting problems and events to suggestions and solutions.
Responsibilities:
- Liases communication between applicants and the Board of Directors
- Point person for assorted daily tasks
- Presents a monthly report to the board of directors
In the event that an OpsO is dismissed without replacement, the Chair fulfills both roles until a suitable replacement is appointed.
The IJA Store Manager is responsible for the online IJA Store, which uses the YourMembership eCommerce package to accept donations and to sell IJA memberships, T-shirts, DVDs, magazines, etc. YourMembership is managed through a web browser.
Responsibilities:
- Add graphics and descriptions for new products and services to IJA Store
- Communicate with program and festival volunteers who require store item setups and changes
- Communicate with IJA Merchandise Distributor to get occasional updates on store inventory
- Adjust online inventory based on reports
- Facilitate shipping of products ordered through the IJA Store, as needed
The IJA system administrator manages the servers that run the IJA website(s).
Responsibilities:
- Coordinate team of volunteers to maintain the IJA website ensuring that information on the website is timely, current, and correct
- Act as technical contact with the IJA’s internet service provider and domain registrar
The treasurer is a member of the Board of Directors who is in charge of fiscal oversight for the IJA. The treasurer should be aware of the fiscal situation of the IJA and help the board make financial decision, with the input of the bookkeeper.
Responsibilities:
- Produce annual financial statements
- Provide data to the IJA’s accountant to support filing the IJA’s annual IRS form 990
- Provide monthly reports to the Board regarding the IJA’s financial situation
- Assist the Board in the preparation of the IJA’s annual budget
- Ensure that appropriate backups of all financial data are kept
- Receive and deposit money for memberships, merchandise purchase, festival registrations, etc. (most of this is handled automatically through mechanisms such as PayPal and some other parts can be handled by Assistant Treasurers)
- Pay legitimate expenses incurred by IJA staff and Board members
- Administer the IJA’s credit card merchant account
- Administer the IJA’s investments, according to direction received from the Finance Committee and the Board
The IJA Video Coordinator is responsible mainly for the video of the IJA festival itself, but will at times work with the webmaster and other officers to create or manage the video for the IJA website or special events. The Video Coordinator will work with IJA members at the festival to coordinate and capture high definition video and audio of the festivals many different events, and then work with and supply that video to an editor to create the final video for sale and upload to the IJA website.
Responsibilities:
- Solicit proposals for video production, and make recommendations to the board
- Negotiate video contracts and submit to board for approval
- Provide assistance to videographers during IJA festival
- Review videos prior to publication, to ensure that they are accurate and meet the IJA’s standards for quality and content
- Manage video packaging and artwork
- Act as relationship manager with wholesale customers
- Negotiate contracts concerning videos and IJA footage
- Work with the Store Manager on pricing and marketing of videos
- Submit proposals to the board for other video projects
Promote, collect, organize and present Videos for the various IJA video contests.
Responsibilities:
- Organize the annual Video Tutorial Contest
- Solicit and organize prizes, including getting board approval for IJA prizes
- Update contest rules as needed
- Find judges for the contest
- Publicize the contest
- Determine winners and ensure they they receive their prizes
- Update the IJA website to include the winning videos and publicize the winners
The IJA Volunteer Coordinator is responsible for recruiting and maintaining the IJA’s volunteer team, as well as assessing IJA program area volunteer needs, and maintaining a database of past and present IJA volunteers.
Responsibilities:
- Seek out volunteers when needed
- Help potential volunteers who are seeking a position to try to find a good match
The IJA webmaster is the systems administrator for the server that supports the websites that are owned and operated by the IJA.
Responsibilities:
- Publish new information that the Board requests
- Keep the website information up to date
- Implement changes, enhancements and new features on the website as needed
Promote and organize one of the IJA’s most successful events. Making connections with jugglers around the world and growing the IJA brand.
Responsibilities:
- Organize all elements of the world-wide WJD event
- Facilitate the creation of the WJD promo graphics and T-shirt design
- Coordinate the T-shirt printing, selling and shipping process
- Plan special IJA facilitated world-wide WJD events (photo contest, T-shirt design contest, hashtag campaigns, etc)
- Promote WJD to regional groups around the world
- Work with the IJA Marketing Director on promotional campaigns
- Report monthly progress to the IJA board
- Create a WJD budget and track all spending. Report expenditures to IJA bookkeeper
The YJA Director works with Youth jugglers and the clubs they belong to. Organizing and promoting the well received YJA badges program and the teaching of juggling.
Responsibilities:
- Organize the YJA
- Publicize and promote the YJA
- Establish a budget, as needed, by working through the board
The International Jugglers’ Association is primarily a volunteer organization. It is thanks to the countless hours worked by these volunteers that the IJA continues to thrive. We welcome and invite you to join the dynamic international team of IJA Volunteers!
IJA Festival Volunteer Positions:
- Auction Coordinator
- Stage Championships Directors
- Festival Registrar
- Games Coordinator
- Joggling Championships Director
- Numbers Championships Directors
- Vendor Coordinator
- Festival-Volunteers Coordinator
- Youth Showcase Director
- Workshops Coordinator
- Renegade Team Chief
- XJuggling Coordinator
- Shows Directors