Marketing & Communications Manager (FT) Job at Cradles To Crayons Inc
About Cradles to Crayons:
Cradles to Crayons® (C2C®) believes that all children deserve the essentials they need to feel safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued. Founded in 2002, Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play—for free. C2C sets a gold standard of individual, family, and corporate volunteer engagement, and through its “Giving Factories®” provides unique, hands-on opportunities to directly help local families. Headquartered in Boston, MA, C2C opened in Philadelphia in 2007, Chicago in 2016, and New York City via an innovative online platform, Giving Factory Direct, in 2020.
How Our Model Works: Two in five children in the United States—20 million—are at risk of Clothing Insecurity and going without other essentials. Through its three Giving Factory warehouses, Cradles to Crayons collects new and nearly new children's clothing, diapers, school supplies, and other essential items through bulk purchases, community and corporate drives, and individual donations. These items are sorted and packaged by volunteers and then distributed through a network of nonprofit service partners, schools, and government programs. Cradles to Crayons is also known for its excellence in volunteer management, providing an efficient and engaging volunteer opportunity for 50,000+ adults and children—ages five and up—annually.
In 2020, Cradles to Crayons completed a strategic planning process to develop a digital solution to accelerate its national reach. The result was the design of an innovative new online platform—Giving Factory Direct (GFD)—which was piloted and built the same year. Donors with children’s clothing log on to GFD to be matched with a child who wears the same size and gender as their donation. The clothing is then packed at the donor’s home and shipped directly to that specific child. In early 2021, GFD launched on a small scale in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and NYC, and will be the primary vehicle for C2C’s national expansion.
Since 2009, Cradles to Crayons has earned Charity Navigator’s highest four star rating every year. Only 1% of charities rated have received this distinction, differentiating C2C from its peers, exemplifying the high standard of service at C2C, and indicating that C2C outperforms most other charities in the United States.
POSITION OVERVIEW:
The Marketing and Communications Manager will promote and drive participation in Cradles to Crayons Chicago signature initiatives and campaigns. She/he will collaborate with all Chicago departments with their marketing, graphic design and communications needs, including design of and copywriting for marketing collateral, website, press releases, social media and email and direct mail communication. She/he will also support and provide the Chicago market perspective on strategic Chicago-market and national marketing initiatives as opportunities arise.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:
Model and lead a positive “One Cradles” culture, underpinned by Cradles’ Cultural Values and related behaviors.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY:
- Work with Executive Director and cross-functional Market Leadership Team on marketing and promotional strategy for signature initiatives and special events.
- Help design and implement strategy, ensuring adherence to marketing best practices.
- Work with Executive Director in conjunction with an external PR Agency to increase presence and brand awareness for Cradles to Crayons in Chicago, including providing support for the creation and implementation of the organization’s first city-wide marketing campaign.
- Identify challenges and emerging issues faced by the market. Work with the market leadership team and staff to recognize internal and external communications opportunities and solutions and define and execute appropriate strategies to support them.
EMAIL:
- Oversee, design, coordinate, and help implement external email communications to Cradles to Crayons Chicago’s email database, working in partnership with the Development, Partner Relations, and Community Engagement departments.
- Create and implement email blasts, including targeted outreach, annual appeals, and special promotions/notices via Sugar
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Manage, design, plan, write, and edit content for the website and social media sites, and increase awareness of Cradles to Crayons through building its online presence.
DESIGN:
- Design flyers, informational packets, and other print and online materials.
- Manage internal and external communications and collateral materials to ensure they are current, effective, and consistent with Cradles to Crayons’ brand & messaging.
- Maintain the integrity of sponsor logos and brand in marketing and sponsor materials.
WEBSITE:
- Create and maintain new and updated content for the website, work with other departments to ensure information is engaging, accurate and timely, and relevant depending on the initiative and campaign. Includes Chicago website calendar, news, and pages.
GENERAL:
- Lead work with external agencies and partner vendors, including graphic designers and PR and digital media agencies.
- Maintain a press archive for print, radio, video, or TV articles.
- Collect and distribute “impact stories” and short video snapshots for promotional and fundraising purposes.
- Design the marketing plan, and internal and external calendars, in conjunction with the Executive Director.
- Assist in the planning of existing and new events; assist during events as needed.
- Maintain photo database for use in email communication, social media, and marketing collateral.
- Test and track marketing (e.g., email, social media, website) to determine which elicits the best response/return. Adjust marketing efforts accordingly.
- Report regularly on marketing results.
- Represent the Chicago market and marketing and work with the national marketing team on the market and national projects and initiatives as appropriate and schedule allows.
- Help facilitate functions for special events (as needed).
DEVELOPMENT:
- Facilitate and support the development team’s fundraising efforts through research, donor communication, mailings, and materials (as needed).
- Collect and distribute stories about Cradles to Crayons’ impact on local children living in poverty.
- Help facilitate functions for special events (as needed).
- Act as a spokesperson at external events when necessary, presenting the Cradles to Crayons mission and model.
OPERATIONS:
- Work with volunteers, assist with product drop-offs, and give tours of the “Giving Factory” as needed.
- Establish and maintain effective communication and coordination with other employees, distribution partners, volunteers, and visitors.
- Work safely and provide a safe and secure environment for other employees and volunteers.
- Maintain security of data and secure storage of all institutional materials.
- Assume responsibility for related duties as required or assigned, and complete special projects and miscellaneous assignments as required.
Required Experience/Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
- College degree in a related field
- 2-5 years of relevant marketing/PR and graphic design experience.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with strong attention to detail.
- Experience using digital marketing to raise awareness and take action.
- Working knowledge of Sugar, or another email/marketing automation tools.
- Facility/familiarity with Adobe Suite design tools, Salesforce or another CRM, and WordPress.
- Team player.
- Can-do attitude.
- Comfortable in a matrix-management situation.
- Ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously.
- Ability to think strategically and liaise will all levels within an organization.
- Non-profit experience a plus.
- Ability to work some evening and weekend hours each week, easily walk up and down stairs, bend down, reach, push, and pull and lift up to 50 lbs.
COVID-19 VACCINES:
Cradles to Crayons has a COVID vaccine requirement for all staff. We are committed to a safe workplace and doing our part to address the pandemic.
DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH:
Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Working Conditions:
This is a warehouse environment and normal changes in temperature are to be expected while working inside the warehouse or outside, on or around the loading dock. There are no hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions. When not working with volunteers or preparing for a shift, the Group Volunteer Leader will complete tasks that are physical in nature in the Giving Factory and may also be tasked with researching and recruiting new volunteers, specifically those who have never volunteered with us in the past.
Accommodation:
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is possible that requirements may be modified to reasonably accommodate disabled individuals. However, no accommodations will be made by Cradles to Crayons that may pose serious health or safety risks to the employee or others, or which impose undue hardships on the organization.
To Apply:
Please submit a cover letter and resume with relevant experience at: https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/what-we-do/careers/
About Cradles To Crayons Inc:
Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. We supply clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Our vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive. Two in 5 kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top 10 reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity—just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. Cradles to Crayons keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of our mission and is the only large-scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than three million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, NYC, and nationally, through Giving Factory Direct—a first-in-kind online product donation platform launched in 2021. Cradles to Crayons takes a three-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity: 1. In-person Engagement—through tens of thousands of children and adults volunteering at our Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from our communities for our Service Partners to distribute to the children they serve. 2. Online Product Donations—Giving Factory Direct matches product donors directly to children who need the items they have to donate. GFD is currently available in a growing number of communities as we expand our reach nationally. 3. Advocacy and Awareness—Cradles to Crayons is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach. Cradles to Crayons has earned the highest possible rating from Charity Navigator for 13 consecutive years. Only 2% of charities nationwide have received this distinction. C2C has a budget of $12.9M for FY22.
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