Director of Communications & Marketing

United Way of Rock River Valley is reintroducing ourselves to the community and we are looking to hire a bold, flexible marketing leader to make this happen! As a collective impact organization, we strive to be collaborative, innovative, impactful, and sustainable. We are investing in our brand and leveraging the community-wide effect of coming together to address our most pressing issues and mobilize action. If you understand the science of marketing and others describe your work as creative, adaptive, equity-minded, and strategic, then we want to talk to you!

The Director of Communications & Marketing is expected to demonstrate a high standard of ethical business conduct, function with minimal supervision, and serve as a core member of the leadership team providing mature, confidential direction for the organization in concert with the other members of the team. This position provides all aspects of communications and marketing from development to execution, evaluating the impact all along the way and adjusting as needed to ensure the same message is delivered AND received. Marketing is a key component of UWRRV as it is needed to support all development efforts and promotion of the organization. The success of marketing is reflected in development.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Communications and Marketing:

This position is responsible for all communications and marketing produced and disseminated by UWRRV. They strategize are messages, develop the materials, ensure their proper production, execute their delivery, evaluate their effectiveness, and adjust any messaging to ensure the correct message is always delivered. They oversee all internal and external communication and marketing and ensure the positive promotion of the organization and all initiatives and community partners. Duties and responsibilities associated with this position include (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Create all annual campaign promotional materials for workplace campaigns and individual donors
• Create and design all public-facing documents
• Create all materials that support initiative focuses
• Create, write, design and arrange printing and/or dissemination of monthly (electroinc) and quarterly (print) newsletters
• Organize and distribute all large-scale printing needs with local printers
• Develop, plan and implement media outreach around events, announcements and results
• Utilize all that United Way Worldwide and United Way of Illinois has to offer in terms of marketing materials, ideas and connections
• Establish self as point of contact for local media
• Establish and maintain strong working relationship with any marketing consultant(s) UWRRV may work with
• Set content submission deadlines for team and ensure timely submittal for inclusion in marketing and campaign materials
• Adhere to all branding requirements when creating marketing materials
• Grow and strengthen relationships with media partners by increasing perception of UWRRV as a valuable, reliable, quick-to-respond and insightful source
• Create news releases, media advisories and OpEds as they relate to our initiatives
• Attend events, as needed, taking pictures, capturing feedback and supporting development
• Plan, organize and post all social media content across appropriate social media platforms
• Analyze social media research, impressions and clicks to determine best social media marketing practices
• Design, write, edit and maintain all content for organization’s website, unitedwayrrv.org
• Participate in leadership meetings to develop organizational goals/objectives and determine optimal marketing support
• Develop marketing budget with CEO and CFO and align marketing practices with budget
• Create, strategize and carry out year-long marketing plan
• Shoot and edit small scale video content for internal and external audiences; organize the outsourcing of large scale video projects
• Support team in the development of talking points and presentation materials for external communications
• Participate in general staff meetings and other meetings and events planned by the organization
• Performs other duties as assigned

Supervision of Marketing Manager and Leadership:

The Director of Communications & Marketing oversees the hiring, retention and development of a qualified Marketing Manager. Duties and responsibilities associated with the supervision component of the position include:

• Interview job applicants and make hiring decisions with the CEO
• Establish rules, procedures and/or standards
• Train staff and ensure they are providing quality work in accordance with the expectations of this job and theirs
• Plan, schedule and monitor work
• Evaluate and conduct formal performance evaluations
• Conduct performance improvement counseling and support
• Resolve staff appeals in accordance with organizational policy
• In addition to supervision of the Marketing Manager, this position also sits on the UWRRV Leadership Team
• On the Leadership Team, they report issues of relevance in relation to their role and ensures the smooth running of the organization by providing transparency and consistent communication with the Leadership Team

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Bachelor’s Degree in communications/marketing from an accredited institution or relevant experience

Skills and Experience:

• Five to eight years experience in public facing marketing
• One year of supervisory experience
• Graphic design experience
• Proven creativity in delivering messages in all mediums including print, audio, social, televised
• Experience with advanced web technologies and electronic communications programs
• Good written communication skills, including proficiency in correct punctuation, spelling and grammar
• Good verbal skills
• Demonstrated ability to organize and prioritize work in order to meet critical deadlines
• Proven project management skills to balance multiple projects in varying degrees of implementation
• Proven ability to supervise staff and help them to grow in their confidence, skills and abilities
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe CS Design Software
• Experience with advanced web technologies and electronic communications platforms

Core competencies:

• Relationship-Oriented: Understands that people come before process and is astute in cultivating and managing relationships toward a common goal.
• Collaborative: Must have the ability to work with and through peers and colleagues to get results in a win/win manner.
• Results-Driven: Dedicated to shared and measurable goals for the common good; creating, resourcing, scaling, and leveraging strategies and innovations for broad investment and impact.
• Brand Steward: Steward of the brand and understands role in growing and protecting the reputation and results of UWRRV and the greater network.
• Interpersonal Skills: A high degree of interpersonal skills required to smoothly interface and represent UWRRV with numerous constituencies.
• Network-Oriented: Values the power of networks; striving to leverage United Way’s breadth of community presence, relationships, and strategy.
• Judgment: Ability to assimilate a wide array of information and focus on the key issues. Ability to deal with broad issues and detailed facts.