Vancouver Coastal Trust Coordinator

- Position Type: Part-Time (minimum 20 hours/week, adaptable )
- Reports To: Board of Directors, Reciprocity Trusts Society
- Key Collaborators: South Island Trust Lead, prospective Vancouver Coast Beneficiary Nation Leaders & Trustees
- Location: Vancouver-based, with some travel to Victoria office
- Salary Range: $30 to $35 an hour (equivalent to $60k to $70k FTE based on a standard 1950 hr work year) plus benefits (flexible work, vacation, health, professional development)
- Application Deadline: Please submit your cover letter and resume to by end of day on Monday October 12th 2026. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

About Reciprocity Trusts

Reciprocity Trusts Society (Reciprocity Trusts - reciprocitytrusts.ca) is a registered Victoria, BC based non-profit organization working to shift the culture of private property ownership on Indigenous lands in BC and beyond.

Reciprocity Trusts provides a simple and direct way of meaningfully recognizing the Indigenous lands we call home by making voluntary “real rent” payments into a regional, Indigenous-led trust that is distributed annually amongst participating Nations.

We offer the opportunity for homes, small businesses, non-profits and events to start saying “thank you” by returning a little wealth every year, and creating a direct and ongoing Indigenous-owned revenue stream that is independent of federal or provincial governments, and increases over time as land values increase.

The first regional trust, the South Island Indigenous Reciprocity Trust, was launched in June of 2023 and has since facilitated the transfer of over $295,000 in voluntary reciprocity payments from local homes, businesses and events.

Beneficiary First

Nations within the South Island, have put the funds towards important community identified initiatives. Based on several years of work with Vancouver area First Nations, we are looking to establish a Reciprocity Trust for the Vancouver Coastal region in the next several months (Q1 or Q2 2027), with an initial focus on core Vancouver areas.

As a non-profit, Reciprocity Trusts is part of a family of companies including Reciprocity Research Inc. and Reciprocity Restoration Inc. For administrative purposes, the successful candidate will be employed through Reciprocity Research: a BC living wage employer and a social enterprise.

Position Overview

Working closely with our South Island Lead, and our Board of Directors, this position will build the relational groundwork needed to establish a new Vancouver Coastal Indigenous Reciprocity Trust. Your primary job will be to represent Reciprocity on the lower mainland, build and maintain excellent relationships with key Vancouver First Nations, develop a strong foundation of contributing homes, businesses and events, and grow a successful Reciprocity Trusts community in the Vancouver area. You will also support Reciprocity Trusts more broadly as a key part of a communications and cultural change team.

This role requires a combination of deep situational awareness, cultural agility, energetic community building, and strategic communication skills. Working with the broader Reciprocity Trusts team, you will need to help navigate complex cultural relationships between Nations, local residents and homeowners to establish a regional trust structure that builds on the success of the South Island, and is also unique to the Vancouver context.



You will help design and implement social marketing campaigns, messaging, and public outreach that helps reframe wealth-generating (and wealth-consuming) private property relationships into positive, voluntary acts of recognition and reciprocity.

Key Responsibilities

- Vancouver Coastal Trust Development & Relationship Building: Working with the Reciprocity Trusts team, you will:

- Research & Communications: Develop clear, direct, and audience-friendly communications that make local Indigenous lands, waters, and perspectives in the Vancouver area more visible, and encourage residents to consider their connections to ideas of home, private lands, and the complex and ongoing history of colonialism in BC – specifically Vancouver.
- Relational Groundwork: Continue to build and nurture trust-based relationships with the host First Nations in the Lower Mainland (Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and surrounding Coast Salish communities) who will lead the Vancouver Coastal Indigenous Reciprocity Trust
- Diplomatic Navigation: Paddling with deep political and historical awareness, humility, and care, you will seek to understand, and steer the Reciprocity family canoe towards goals set by our Board and Trustees.
- Trust Deed & Governance Setup: Work alongside Nation leaders, our Board, and legal counsel to co-design Regional Trust terms and onboard Nation-appointed Trustees to lead and govern the Trust.

2. Campaign Co-Planning & Vancouver Outreach, Working with the Reciprocity Trusts team , you will undertake:
- Collaborative Campaign Design: Partner with the South Island Coordinator to co-design overarching outreach and engagement campaigns, according to our established seasonal round (e.g., summer community celebrations; fall storytelling; winter reflections & learning; and spring annual reporting and new beginnings).
- Build & Demonstrate Social Proof: Develop and grow the community of Vancouver-based homes, businesses, organizations and events that are ready and willing to participate in Reciprocity Trusts once it is up and running in the area. This may include direct outreach activities, press releases, presentations and virtual campaigns.
- Establish Network Partners: Seek out and build relationships with other municipalities and values-aligned non-profit organizations that furnish opportunities for collaboration and cross-pollination.
- Regional Storytelling: Gather and highlight stories from Vancouver Coastal contributors and host Nations, to help show momentum of Reciprocity regionally.

3. Cross-Regional Alignment & Operations, working with the Reciprocity Trusts team you will be responsible for:
- Peer Operations and Team-Building: Maintain a weekly rhythm with the South Island Lead to align regional priorities, effectively achieve timelines, share operational learnings, distribute overarching organizational tasks, and maintain organizational cohesion.
- Grant Co-Management: Work with the South Island Lead to fulfill all grant seeking and grant reporting requirements and associated tasks in a timely and effective manner.
- Board Reporting:



Provide quarterly or as needed updates to the RTS Board regarding Vancouver Coastal development milestones and joint campaign results.

Who You Are & Key Competencies

- Cultural Agility & Rooted Understanding : Deep, demonstrated experience walking alongside Indigenous Nations, Elders, and community leaders. You have a firmly-rooted understanding of Indigenous rights and self-determination. You are culturally informed and understand how to move forward with humility, and respect. You are mindful of your own history, and your place within shared histories. You approach interactions with people of all sorts of backgrounds and positionalities with curiosity and kindness.
- Diplomacy & Nuance: Exceptional political acumen. You can navigate delicate conversations around unceded land, private property, the socio-economic consequences of settler colonialism, cumulative changes to critical landscapes, municipal boundaries in relation to traditional territories, and inter-Nation relations with tact, grace, and patience.
- Strategic Communications: Proven track record and success in campaign planning, movement building, or public engagement. You know how to translate complex Aboriginal law and decolonial concepts into warm, inspiring, compassionate messaging that resonates with everyday urban residents who all come to be and belong to shared place in different ways.
- Relational Entrepreneurship: Self-directed and comfortable building something from the ground up. You thrive in ambiguity and know how to move from initial coffee chats to collaboratively formalize governance agreements, building trust through recognizing and achieving shared goals.

Qualifications

- Kind, competent, and experienced;
- Very strong verbal, written and visual communicator with demonstrated proficiency in digital and print graphic design, social media strategy, plain language writing about complex or contentious concepts, and public speaking;
- A high level of organizational ability and attention to detail are essential, as well as being goal-oriented, self-motivated, reliable, positive and flexible;
- Culturally and historically informed as demonstrated through a degree in Indigenous studies, anthropology, history or other social sciences, communications, media or equivalent education and experience;
- Ability to work independently, but also in peer-to-peer collaboration and as part of a distributed team;
- At least two years of experience and demonstrated success in marketing, targeted social media marketing and digital communications, especially within a social marketing and community building context;
- Personal integrity, sound judgment and a sense of humour!
- Demonstrated sincere interest and current knowledge of Indigenous rights and issues and an understanding of intersectional forms of oppression and privilege;
- Very comfortable working in a mostly digital environment, with occasional in-person meetings and travel;
- Must be based primarily in or near Vancouver, and must be able to work from home or remotely;
- Comfortable with a flexible work week where you decide your hours based on the tasks required and up to a weekly maximum;
- Genuine care, interest, understanding and enthusiasm for promoting Reciprocity Trusts.

Pay: $30.00-$35.00 per hour

Benefits

- Extended health care
- Flexible schedule
- Wellness program

Education:
- Bachelor's Degree (preferred)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Vancouver, BC

📌 Vancouver Coastal Reciprocity Trust Coordinator
🏢 Reciprocity Research
📍 Vancouver