Join rare impact agency
Seasonal Copywriter
Contract · Remote & Async
(August – December)
Who We Are
Rare Impact Agency is a fundraising and communications agency that creates compelling fundraising campaigns for health and science organizations, specifically rare disease foundations. We translate complex science into compelling donor stories and bring beautiful design, inspiring copy, sophisticated digital strategy, and engaging video to grassroots organizations who are transforming healthcare and spearheading life-changing treatments and cures.
Nonprofits outsource their End-of-Year and Giving Tuesday campaigns to us and our work includes providing all copy, design, video, and strategy for their campaigns. This work is creative, heartfelt, interesting, and inspiring. We take creative risks and bring new ideas to our clients. Our new Seasonal Designer will join a passionate, high-performing team to create content that literally changes the lives of families across the globe.
Rare Impact serves organizations with big missions and lean teams. Our clients are patient advocacy groups and scientific institutes that often lack in-house fundraising and communications capacity. We step in as that capacity: we exist to bring ease, strategy, and joy to fundraising.
Our team brings over 40 years of combined fundraising and communications experience, led by Shannon Bowen, a former Chief Advancement Officer for a scientific institute that focused on rare disease research. Shannon brings a nuanced lens and a deep understanding of rare disease advocacy to our work.
The broader consultant group includes six people, with a core team of three who work together on a weekly basis. Everyone operates as a fully remote independent contractor who works asynchronously on their projects. We share a love of creative ideas and a deep commitment to our clients.
Why We're Hiring
September through December is our busiest season. Rare Impact delivers a high volume of fundraising campaigns during these months, and we need copywriting capacity to match. End-of-year giving is the most important revenue period for most of our clients. The words we write carry real weight: they move donors, inspire action, and fund research that changes lives.
Some weeks will be steady. Others will be a sprint. We need someone who can write quickly and cleanly, follow campaign briefs and voice guides, take direction without a lot of back-and-forth, and keep quality high when the pace picks up. If that sounds like you, we’d love to chat.
What You'll Do
The writing spans several formats and varies by client and week. One of the most valuable skills you bring is the ability to capture and write in multiple distinct voices, stepping into each organization’s identity and writing as them authentically. Our CEO will provide campaign briefs, templates, and clear direction. You’ll execute from those briefs accurately and efficiently.
We will provide the campaign brief, templates, guidance on the voice and tone of the client, and the stories and quotes to include for you to draft the needed written materials. Expect feedback rounds and revisions, and occasionally a direction shift mid-project. The ability to receive notes gracefully, adjust quickly, and keep moving is one of the most important things we look for here.
- Write end-of-year appeal printed letters and emails, including full campaign sequences for Giving Tuesday and year-end deadlines, following campaign briefs and approved templates
- Write donor acknowledgement letters that feel warm, specific, and human rather than generic
- Write text messages for text-to-give campaigns, where brevity and a strong call to action are everything
- Craft voiceover scripts for short-form fundraising videos, writing for the ear as much as the eye
- Create social media captions across platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn) that match each client’s established voice and campaign messaging
- Adapt copy across formats while keeping tone and message consistent within each campaign
- Utilize AI tools (ChatGPT and Claude) for drafting, ideation, and iteration and bring your human editing skills to polish it off
- Switch accurately between client voices and brand guides across multiple accounts
- Respond to texts and emails promptly; this team moves quickly and communication is part of the job
- Iterate and communicate with the CEO throughout the revision process
How We Work
We are fully remote and work async by default. There are no set hours or required check-ins. Shannon built the agency this way intentionally: good work doesn’t always happen between 9 and 5, and we trust our team to manage their own time. Async does not mean slow, though. It means you own your schedule and your output.
We communicate by text, email, and very occasionally calls. Deadlines and turnaround times are communicated clearly upfront. When something is urgent, we say so. During September, October, November, and December, the pace picks up significantly and we need everyone available and responsive (holidays will be off of course). Clients will begin to book packages in July, so most of this written work will occur August through October.
We run on Google Suite (shared drives, Docs, Sheets). Fluency in Google Docs is required. The team also uses Toggl to track hours and Trello to project manage; an openness to learn these is required. We communicate with a lot of heart, passion, humor, and emojis. This is a fun creative team!
We use AI tools throughout our production process and expect everyone to write proficiently with AI. Speed and affordability matter to our clients, and smart tool use is part of how we deliver both. It also helps us more accurately write in their voice and have tailored our AI tools to our clients’ voices.
What We're Looking For
Must Haves
- Strong copywriting skills with an understanding of fundraising and what moves people to give
- A natural ability to capture and write in multiple distinct voices, adapting authentically to each organization’s identity and tone
- Able to follow a campaign brief and voice guide closely, executing with precision rather than improvising beyond the direction given
- Writes fluently across formats: email sequences, print appeal letters, text messages, voiceover scripts, social captions, and acknowledgements each have their own conventions
- Fluent in using AI tools as a drafting and productivity layer. You know how to use AI to move fast, and you know where the human edit has to happen to make it land. Takes direction well and moves through revision rounds without friction
- Manages work across multiple client accounts simultaneously without details slipping
- Self-managed and organized; hits deadlines and communicates early when something is off track
- Responsive by text and email, especially during busy periods
- Comfortable with production-mode work; a lot of this is templated, repeatable writing and that’s fine
- Genuinely believes in the power of storytelling to create good in the world
- Note: We expect AI fluency or an openness to learn how we use it. This role uses AI tools (ChatGPT and Claude) actively for drafting, ideation, and iteration. The skill you bring is your judgment: knowing when the output is good enough to build on, when it needs to be thrown out, or when/how it can be re-prompted to create a better product. The goal is quality work delivered efficiently, and AI is part of how we do that.
Bonus points
Experience in nonprofit fundraising or health-adjacent communications is a real plus. If you already understand what makes a year-end appeal land, how to write a Giving Tuesday email that stands out in a crowded inbox, or what donors need to feel in an acknowledgement letter, you will hit the ground running.
The Details
This is a 1099 independent contractor role, hourly, with hours assigned by Shannon and her Project + Operations Lead based on client workload and project volume. Think of it as a solid side gig: flexible, fully remote, and async.
Hours will fluctuate week to week and ramp up significantly during end-of-year giving season (August through November). There are no benefits, set hours, or guaranteed minimums. We are open to people in all timezones. Check out our social media to see our work @rareimpactagency.
We hope you enjoy the interesting and inspiring work, collaborating with a fun team, and having the opportunity to build your portfolio with mission-driven clients in the health and science space.
- August – December 2026 (potential to extend)
- 1099 independent contractor, hourly rate TBD based on experience
- Paid monthly via direct deposit
- Hours determined based on active projects and client needs. We will ask you how many hours a week you are available and plan accordingly
- No benefits, no set schedule
- Fully remote, async hours
Sound Like You?
Send us a short note about yourself and a few writing samples, ideally fundraising-related: an appeal email, a social caption, an acknowledgement letter, anything that shows how you write. Tell us about your copywriting background, how you handle async work, and any nonprofit or fundraising experience you have.
Email hello@rareimpactagency.com with the subject line Seasonal Copywriter Application by Friday, June 19th. No cover letter required.
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