Trans Affirm: Board of Directors Applicant Form

Joining our board means playing a crucial role in guiding our mission to support the trans and gender diverse community in Idaho. As a board member, you'll be involved in several key activities:

Governance and Oversight: You'll help shape the strategic direction of Trans Affirm, ensuring we stay true to our mission and achieve our goals. This involves reviewing and approving policies, budgets, and programs.
Regular Meetings: You'll attend regular board meetings, potentially held 1-2 times a month, mostly online. These meetings are essential for discussing our progress, making decisions, and planning future activities.
Fundraising and Advocacy: You'll assist in our fundraising efforts, which are vital for sustaining our programs. This could include identifying potential donors, participating in fundraising events, and advocating for our cause within your network.
Event Planning: You'll help plan and execute events such as transition resource fairs and pop-up events, ensuring they run smoothly and effectively serve the community.We ask you attend and create 70% of events in your area. 
Community Engagement: You'll act as an ambassador for Trans Affirm, helping to build relationships with community members, other organizations, and stakeholders.

Organizational Structure and Capacity
Trans Affirm is a small, volunteer-run nonprofit (“nano-organization”) with no paid staff or physical office, minus a part-time executive director. Our board members and volunteers directly operate all aspects of the organization — from planning and hosting events to coordinating programs, outreach, and resource distribution.

Despite our size, our team’s lived experience, dedication, and community connections allow us to run impactful programs across Idaho. Each member takes on multiple roles, ensuring that our events, educational workshops, and resource fairs are executed with care and authenticity. We rely heavily on volunteer support and partnerships to keep our programs accessible and community-driven.

Our structure allows for flexibility and direct involvement in the communities we serve, particularly in rural and underserved areas. While small in scale, our team’s passion and commitment ensure that Trans Affirm continues to grow and meet the needs of Idaho’s trans and gender-diverse population.

We understand that this is a volunteer position, and we're committed to being flexible with your time. However, being on a nonprofit board does require a significant commitment. We ask that you dedicate approximately 20-35 hours per month to board-related activities. This time commitment includes meeting attendance, event participation, and any additional tasks you take on. 

It's a rewarding experience where you'll have the chance to make a meaningful impact on the lives of trans and gender diverse individuals in our community! Please note: this application may take some time to complete. We encourage you to set aside enough time to read through it carefully and answer thoroughly. If this position is something you are interested in, please proceed!

 As of July 2026, we are looking for the following positions: 

• General Board Members
• Community Grant Distribution Coordinator
• Community Resources & Education Coordinator
• Volunteer Specialist
• Art Director

If you have a position you'd like to create, please feel free to add it to the application, and we will review it. It does not guarantee that a position will be offered or given to you. 

💡 Want to Get Involved but Short on Time?
We understand that not everyone has the capacity to commit to a full board position, and that’s okay! We need *alot* from our team to keep us going, so we want folks who can realistically commit that time. 

If you’re passionate about supporting Trans Affirm but don’t have the time to take on full board responsibilities, you can apply to join one of our subcommittees instead. Subcommittee members play a vital role in helping us organize events, plan programs, fundraise, and manage community outreach, but keep it centered on only certain events or programs. 

Subcommittee work is flexible and project-based, allowing you to contribute your skills and ideas without the ongoing duties of a full board seat. You’ll still be part of the team, collaborating directly with board members to make an impact across Idaho’s trans and gender-diverse communities. If you choose to be the subcommittee chair, you may have a larger role and responsibility than others. 

If you have an interest in subcommittee service only, and not as a board member, please apply here: https://form.jotform.com/253338297050054 

Position Description Information: 

 Listed are short descriptions of each role you may be applying to. If you'd like more information on the role before applying, please reach out to info@transaffirm.org for the entire role explanation!

Community Grant Distribution Coordinator (New!)
The Community Grant Distribution Coordinator oversees Trans Affirm's direct assistance and grant programs, helping ensure community members can access available financial support in a fair, organized, and compassionate manner. This position manages the day-to-day administration of programs such as HRT assistance grants, electrolysis grants, and future community aid initiatives. Responsibilities include reviewing applications, communicating with applicants, maintaining confidential records, coordinating recipient selection processes, tracking program outcomes, and working with the Board to ensure grants are distributed in accordance with program guidelines and available funding. The Coordinator also helps identify community needs, recommends improvements to existing assistance programs, and supports the expansion of new grant opportunities that increase access to gender-affirming care and resources for transgender and gender-diverse individuals across Idaho.

Community Resources & Education Coordinator (New!)

The Community Resources & Education Coordinator oversees Trans Affirm's educational initiatives and resource programs, helping connect transgender and gender-diverse individuals and allies with accurate, accessible, and affirming information. This position manages the organization's educational portion of our resource fairs, online educational materials/blogs, workshops, guides, and community learning opportunities. Responsibilities include developing educational content, coordinating community resource events, building relationships with service providers and partner organizations, and ensuring information shared by Trans Affirm remains current and relevant. The Coordinator works to increase community access to knowledge, services, and support while helping empower individuals to navigate topics such as healthcare, legal processes, social transition, advocacy, and other areas important to the transgender community.

Volunteer Specialist

The Volunteer Specialist serves as a primary connection point between Trans Affirm and the community, helping recruit, train, coordinate, and support volunteers across the organization's programs and events. This position requires a highly self-motivated and dependable individual who can work independently, communicate regularly with community members, and take initiative in identifying volunteer needs and opportunities. Responsibilities include onboarding new volunteers, facilitating trainings, maintaining volunteer records, assisting with scheduling, and helping ensure volunteers feel supported and prepared in their roles.

Because Trans Affirm's busiest season occurs during Pride and community event season, the Volunteer Specialist is expected to maintain availability for Pride festivals, outreach events, resource fairs, and other occasional community programs throughout the year. This role plays a critical part in building and sustaining a strong volunteer network, fostering positive community relationships, and helping ensure events are staffed, organized, and welcoming for all participants.

 

Art Director (New!)

The Art Director oversees the creative vision and visual identity of Trans Affirm, helping ensure that the organization's educational materials, outreach efforts, and public presence remain engaging, accessible, and consistent. This position manages projects such as zine creation, brochures and resource updates, printed materials, event signage, website aesthetics, and community art initiatives while also supporting the Social Media Committee with graphics and creative content. The Art Director coordinates art contests and other creative engagement opportunities, works collaboratively with board members and volunteers, and helps transform ideas into visually compelling resources that educate, connect, and empower transgender and gender-diverse communities across Idaho. If videography is in your lamphouse, we also welcome tasks to improve, expand, and create new videos and interviews. Illustrators welcome! 

 

Digital and Social Media Manager

The Social & Digital Media Manager oversees Trans Affirm's online presence, digital communications, and public storytelling, helping ensure our content remains educational, engaging, accessible, and reflective of our mission. This position manages social media platforms, develops awareness campaigns, coordinates content calendars, writes blogs and educational posts, oversees newsletters and website updates, and collaborates with the Art Coordinator to create compelling graphics and multimedia. The Social & Digital Media Manager also helps capture community stories through photography, interviews, and video content while working with volunteers and board members to highlight programs, events, advocacy efforts, and the voices of transgender and gender-diverse Idahoans. Creative thinkers, writers, photographers, videographers, and social media enthusiasts are all encouraged to bring new ideas that expand our reach and strengthen our connection with the community.

Please note that this position is open to Idaho residents only!
Trans Affirm serves communities across the entire state, with a special focus on rural areas where access to gender-affirming resources is often limited. Because of that, larger cities like Boise may not see as many events or programs, as we prioritize reaching smaller or underserved towns first.

Please note that our board follows a policy ensuring that we do not have more cisgender members than trans members. This helps us keep the voices of those we serve at the center of our leadership.

That said, ALLIES and cisgender individuals are still very much welcome to apply! Allies play an important role in our work. All cisgender board members will be asked to complete a short training on LGBTQ+ topics to ensure our board space remains safe, inclusive, and well-informed.

Divulging criminal record will NOT disqualify you from the board, so please be honest! Do not include expunged records unless necessary. We do not drug test.

Providing your ethnicity, race, or disability information is completely optional and will never negatively affect your application. Many of our current board members are neurodivergent, and we encourage applicants of all abilities and backgrounds to apply.

Applications from BIPOC, trans, and gender-diverse individuals will be prioritized in order to strengthen diversity and ensure that people directly impacted by our work are guiding the organization

When filling out your application, please include as much detail as possible! The more you share, the better we can get to know who you are, what drives you, and how you might fit within our team. We want to feel confident that we’re bringing on folks who truly align with our mission and values, and that means we want to see you in your answers.

And yes, we really do read every single one. Trust us!

If you’re not super familiar with Trans Affirm yet, that’s totally okay! Just make sure to check out our website before applying so you can get a good sense of who we are and what we do — especially since we focus on supporting rural trans and gender-diverse communities across Idaho! Our Discord is where we do most of our chatting, so make sure you join and get familiar with it!

Read More about TA Here

Board Member Expectations:
Serving on the Trans Affirm Board is a meaningful leadership role that carries both responsibility and impact. Our board exists to guide the organization forward, ensure accountability, and build systems that allow us to continue supporting the trans and gender-diverse community across Idaho. This role is not a social club — it is a job and leadership position that requires commitment, follow-through, and accountability.

We want to be upfront: in the past, we’ve had challenges with board members not participating, not showing up, or needing constant direction to fulfill their responsibilities. This slows down progress and puts extra weight on the few who are consistently involved. Because of this, we are making our expectations clearer than ever before.

What We Expect from All Board Members:

Commitment to Leadership

Be ready to take initiative. While we support one another as a team, board members are expected to act as leaders who can manage their responsibilities independently. You will be thoroughly trained and assisted before this is expected!

Active Participation

Attend board meetings regularly and on time. (Consistent absences may result in removal from the board.)
Engage in discussions, decision-making, and planning. Responding back in our chats and emails. Creating, running, and attending events in your area. Your voice matters, but we need you to be present!

Follow-Through

If you commit to a task, we expect you to complete it within the agreed timeline. We also expect you to fulfill your term as specified in our bylaws, which is one year. Reliability is essential.

Time Commitment

Board service takes real time and energy. Please consider your current schedule, responsibilities, and personal bandwidth before applying.
Expect monthly meetings, occasional additional planning sessions, and time outside of meetings to complete tasks. We work very actively to make sure folks can take mental health and medical breaks, most holidays off, and we have a built-in Saturday break day for the entire board, and 2 scheduled breaks after Pride and for the November/ December Holidays. All we ask is that you work to be present, work on tasks in the background, and make sure board meetings are scheduled into your calendar. 

Professionalism

Represent Trans Affirm with respect and integrity, both inside and outside of meetings.
Remember: this role involves making decisions that affect our entire community. Our community is close, but we must remain respectful, set egos aside, and be ready to work for the cause. 

Community Accountability

Recognize who is impacted by your decisions. Ask: Who is not in the room? How can we include them? How do we prioritize trans voices, BIPOC voices, and gender-diverse voices in our leadership? How do we fight topics that go along with it?

Clarity on Allies and Cisgender applicants

Board positions and subcommittee applications are open to everyone, regardless of sexuality or gender identity. We do not turn away applicants based on gender or identity status, though we do prioritize trans and gender diverse applicants and maintain a board composition in which trans members outnumber cisgender members.

All allies, cisgender applicants, and applicants who show limited familiarity with trans and queer topics are required to complete a short self paced training to help maintain a safe and affirming environment.

We remind allies that while their perspectives are valued, this space exists to serve trans and gender nonconforming community members. Allies are expected to avoid speaking for trans people and to focus on advocating with them while serving on this board.

Before You Apply:
Please take time to reflect on the following:

-Do you have the time and energy to commit to this role?
-Are you ready to be an active, reliable leader?
-Are you comfortable taking initiative without constant reminders?
-Are you applying because you want to help guide an organization, or because you’re -mainly interested in social/community events?

If you cannot realistically commit to the expectations above, this might not be the right role at this time — and that’s okay. We encourage you to stay involved in other ways that fit your capacity.

By applying, you are acknowledging that you’ve read these expectations and are ready to take on the responsibility of being part of Trans Affirm’s leadership.

As part of our follow-up process, we may request additional information or schedule an in-person or Zoom interview. We will invite you to our next upcoming board meeting as well. If you have any questions or concerns, please email info@transaffirm.org

Upon election to the board, each member is required to complete a mandatory class on parliamentary procedure, narcan training, binder sizing, and board info to ensure proper understanding of board operations. Cisgender folks will take a LGBTQ training to ensure information is up to date. Detailed information on bylaws, board positions, expectations, and other relevant matters will be provided when an offer is extended.

Certification and Commitment
By signing this application, you certify that all information provided is accurate to the best of your knowledge. You acknowledge the commitments required for board membership and understand that submitting an application does not guarantee selection. Additionally, you understand that any false information provided can result in termination from the board or discontinuation of your application. Misconduct may also result in removal from the board.

Thank you for your interest in serving on the Trans Affirm board! We look forward to reviewing your application.