Volunteer: Education Sector Outreach and Partnerships Playbook

About the role

We are seeking a hands-on volunteer with expertise in education business development, edtech, or educational publishing to design and execute a targeted outreach campaign. The goal is to secure institutional adoption of our free, peer-reviewed digital history resources within school boards, districts, and universities—primarily across the U.S. and Canada. This is not a commercial sales effort; the focus is on promoting a completely free resource to underfunded history and social studies departments in need of high-quality materials.

This project addresses a critical gap in modern education: as budgets tighten, social studies and humanities departments are often the first to face cuts, leaving teachers to rely on fragmented or low-quality resources. Your outreach will help ensure students in underfunded schools continue to receive a high standard of education despite budget constraints.

Responsibilities

• Develop a structured Institutional Outreach Strategy, including:
  • An outreach framework and pipeline targeting curriculum decision-makers, school boards, and administrators.
  • A prioritized target list segmented by district size, budget status, and likelihood of adoption.
  • An outreach sequence/cadence aligned with the education sector’s decision-making calendar (e.g., budget cycles, procurement windows).
• Manage Relationships by:
  • Initiating direct contact with your existing network or newly researched leads to introduce the platform at an institutional level.
  • Maintaining a contact log documenting decision-maker roles, districts, responses, and next steps.
  • Securing meetings, pilot commitments, or formal adoptions where possible.
• Refine Messaging and Pitching by:
  • Adapting the value proposition to highlight solutions for underfunded departments (e.g., budget constraints, peer-reviewed credibility, free-access framing).
  • Creating pitch templates/scripts for cold outreach, warm introductions, and board-level presentations.
  • Developing one-pagers or talking points to address compliance/procurement questions.
• Track and report progress by:
  • Maintaining a populated tracking system (using existing outreach/CRM tools) to log pipeline stages, contact history, and outcomes.
  • Summarizing results, including districts contacted, meetings secured, adoptions/pilots confirmed, and response-rate patterns by segment.
  • Providing a handover document with next-step recommendations for continued institutional outreach.

Requirements

• At least five years of experience in the education sector, with a background in education business development, edtech, or educational publishing.
• Deep understanding of the educational adoption landscape and how the market operates.
• A resourceful, hands-on approach—this is not a high-level consulting role but a practical, execution-focused project.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating directly with our leadership team.

Project Context

This is a volunteer opportunity with Taproot Foundation, a nonprofit connecting professionals to social change initiatives through pro bono service. The project will run for up to 12 weeks and is designed to scale the adoption of World History Encyclopedia, a free, peer-reviewed digital library already trusted and used in thousands of schools. The platform is officially recommended by the School Library Journal, Teach Magazine, Oxford University, and others.

Key advantages of this project include:

• Proof of Concept: The resource is already widely used and loved by teachers at the grassroots level—you’ll be scaling an established, trusted platform.
• Content and Verification: All materials are fully peer-reviewed, vetted, and mature. The platform is 100% free for schools, eliminating financial or procurement barriers.
• Tools and Support: We’ve prepared foundational assets, including outreach/CRM software, to minimize administrative hurdles. Our team will provide additional materials (e.g., landing pages, digital brochures) as needed.
• Direct Access: You’ll work closely with our leadership team, ensuring quick decision-making and support without bureaucratic delays.

Mission: World History Encyclopedia is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing historical literacy and improving history education worldwide. We believe deeper knowledge of our interconnected past fosters curious, open-minded, and democratic societies.