The Manager, Communications & Grassroots Engagement (MCGE) will manage the execution of our communications plan and external stewardship work. The MCGE equips the Miami-Dade region to build a diverse movement toward educational equity by developing and executing external collateral and campaign materials that elevates regional strategy and rallies our donors, district stakeholders, community partners, corps members, and alumni to engage deeply in our work, mission, and vision. The MCGE prepares our front-line storytellers, including regional staff and board members, to inspirationally share our full story of impact and vision for “One Day”.
The MCGE will help cultivate and execute elements of a regional marketing and communications strategy that supports our programmatic and fundraising goals. Reporting to the Managing Director of Institutional Advancement and working closely with our national marketing and communications teams, the MGCE will be responsible for key projects and ongoing actions that advance the brand and stakeholder engagement strategies of the Miami region. This includes developing and executing a social media strategy; creating regular newsletters and special communications to stakeholders with compelling content; working across teams to ensure consistent branding of all events and collateral; sourcing local stories to be considered for pitching to members of the media; and identifying new and innovative ways for the organization to develop and share its narrative and brand. The MCGE will be responsible supporting donor stewardship by developing written materials, including grant writing and pitch decks that inspire commitment to our work and investment in our strategic direction. The MCGE will also lead out on our grassroots fundraising campaigns, including Give Miami Day and our Alumni Challenge. The MCGE will design the strategy for maximizing fundraising opportunities in these campaigns; design and execute on related collateral; and prepare staff, corps members, alumni, and external stakeholders to be compelling storytellers and solicitors.
The Manager will have knowledge of the Miami media landscape, as well as experience with multi-media tools and leveraging social media to cultivate public opinion. The Manager will need to excel as a critical thinker and relationship builder with exceptional organizational and communication skills. The Manager must be hyper-attuned to end user experience and quality assurance, ensuring that our external and internal stakeholders see and hear compelling content, in error-free and style-aligned presentation. They should be ambitious, with a desire to help envision, as well as execute, with an eye toward not just activities, but accelerating the region’s ultimate impact on education in Miami. The Manager, Communications and Grassroots Engagement orients to communications work in a fundamentally “we-oriented” way: in order for Teach For America Miami-Dade and Teach For America nationally to reach strategic goals, all regions, sub-teams, and individuals must lean-in to hard work “outside their lane” and inform/be informed by the theories of success of all other teams and roles. In this orientation, the MCGE must maximize Teach For America’s impact and future growth while gaining an in-depth understanding of the organization. The MCGE will accomplish these goals with an innate curiosity, keen eye for detail, and a readiness to be the resident expert on the facts, stats, and numbers of our work.
You will equip our Storytellers and will help grow our network (online and offline) (45%)
- Collaborate with the MD-IA and Program Continuum team to envision the marketing and communications priorities, strategies and tactics necessary to achieve the regional vision, accelerate our impact in schools and communities, and build a network that can activate toward One Day.
- In partnership with the MD-IA and our national marketing and communications teams, manage all mass communications, both traditional and digital, to shape the regional brand and ensure communications consistency to corps members, alumni and partners.
- Drive communications norms for the region, including print, web, social media, print, etc., as well as systems of accountability and acknowledgement to ensure staff members’ embrace of and adherence to set protocols.
- Develops systems and job-aids for our frontline storytellers to effectively and accurately share our work (e.g. sponsorship templates, personal narrative guides, communications toolkits, and other resources).
- Drive region’s online presence to ensure consistency and accuracy of brand and narrative (regional website, social media outlets, e-newsletters, functional-team micro-sites, wikis, etc.)
- Liaise with national communications team to source stories for local media that contribute to our narrative and build stewardship across the region.
- Collaborate with national team members to ensure organizational consistency and leverage national resources, while still maintaining the uniqueness of the regional brand
- Support the MD-IA and the Executive Director in cultivating positive working relationships with media outlets throughout the Miami area.
- Visit corps member classrooms, alumni-in-action, and other programming opportunities to ensure authentic experience with TFA – Miami’s direct-service and widespread-impact work.
- Develop compelling profiles of corps members, alumni and students, as well as other sharing of data and impact, to be used for development and programmatic purposes.
- Coach and educate the regional staff in best practices in cultivating and maintaining a compelling and authentic brand identity and ensuring consistency of communications in support of that brand.
- Copy-edits and proofreads all external-facing content for error-free, grammatically correct content aligned with TFA Miami-Dade brand, style, and tone as well a regional case for support. Develops content appropriate for target audiences. Double-checks that all facts, dates, and statistics are accurate and true.
You will support Donor Engagement and Stewardship (35%)
- Will drive strategy for and execute on all aspects of our grassroots fundraising work, including alumni giving and online-giving events such as Give Miami Day
- Accelerate the work of the Development team by creating written communications including pitch decks for donors and grant proposals that reflect our story of impact, as well as regional branding
- Lead our Annual Report development process to steward our mission and progress in Miami-Dade annually
- Develop varied and tiered documents to use for donor engagement meetings that are tailored to the various interests of our target audience and reflect our story of impact
- Collect and maintain quantitative and qualitative measures of our impact to utilize in donor materials
- Support our Development team in drafting written communications to donors in order to provide updates on our work, including Board communications
- Create clear and compelling analysis and presentations for one-off requests needed for meeting prep and for special projects
- Collaborate with the MD-IA to identify opportunities to accelerate our impact in ongoing donor engagement communications, as well as donor engagement materials
You will contribute to broader organizational vision, mission, and culture (20%)
- All members of Teach For America Miami-Dade’s regional team are expected to bring functional expertise into cross-functional teams that plan and execute toward team- and region-wide goals. In this, you’ll play an important support role in team-wide efforts, inclusive of long-term projects such as regional Summer Institute. You’ll also be expected, after time acclimatizing to the region and its work, to sit on an occasional task force focused on time-limited projects
- You’ll support donor and event logistics across our team, including school visits and donor events; corps member and alumni programming; and other high-stakes donor engagements.
- Fulfill foundational responsibilities that allow our region to do our work, make decisions, grow as professionals, and strengthen our team culture, including but not limited to attending regional meetings, operating with our Core Values and commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness, completing our performance management cycle, and upholding our data management, office operations, and fiscal responsibilities
- Make a direct impact on the organizational mission of enlisting, developing and mobilizing leaders to strengthen the movement for educational equity by participating in selection (6-10 days total plus preparation and close out time), matriculation (up to six windows across the year), regional recruitment activities, member-facing events (including Leadership Summits 4-5 days per year), our alumni survey, national committees/working groups, staff meetings, functional team meetings and retreats, and other initiatives that impact our members and partners.
- Minimum of three years of professional experience in communications, marketing, or public relations.
- Prior communications and/or executive operations experience strongly preferred
- Experience managing social media a plus
- Must be proficient in MS Outlook, MS word, Excel, Power Point, particularly in Excel
- Experience with salesforce.com or other CRM systems a plus
Skills & Work Approach
- Brand-Obsessed: Helps equip our most front-line storytellers to be trend-setters in the fight for educational equity. At all times, seeks to elevate a consistent and effective brand message that captivates our external stakeholders and inspires them to action aligned with our strategic vision.
- Is a Wiz: From inspirational videos, to one-pagers, to long-form stories, crafts powerful, positive marketing content to help inspire target audiences to action. Equips our storytellers with a brain (deep insight into the quantitative need and impact of our work), heart (an emotional connection to the work), and courage (readiness to be a front-line ambassador for our work, no matter their role).
- Loves puzzles: Can proactively seek out missing information, identify discordant views, and build a recommendation for the next right step. Is a quick learner with strong strategic thinking and analytical skills.
- Proof-Positive: Has an eagle-eye for end-user experience and quality assurance. Deeply believes that proofreading and copy-editing aren’t just part of the grind--they are ways of life for an education organization.
- A Storyteller: Works ardently to create intentional connections between stakeholders and organizations. Believes shared stories are the catalyst for human connection. Builds strong, authentic relationships with our network stakeholders. Constantly seeks to learn more about what moves our various network segments to action. Based on information acquired, can develop a wide swath of marketing collateral for various target audiences, equipping our network to quickly mobilize toward calls-to-action. Analyzes and synthesizes large volumes of information into consumable chunks.
- Rivets Like Rosie: Believes that “I don’t know…” should always follow up with an enthusiastic “...but I’ll find out!” When confronted with a challenge requiring a new skill or new information, proactively seeks ways to build individual and team capacity and competence.
- Entrepreneurial: Wants to build a “best in class” communications and grassroots engagement program. Will iterate and innovate (nimbly) until we get there, learning and systematizing all the way.
- A cheerleader: Loves the challenge of empowering folks who are aren’t natural storytellers to be share our story with confidence and competence. Comfort in behind-the scenes work prepping the ED, staff, board members and external storytellers with the information, talking points, and collateral they need to land the call-to-action.
- Roadrunner with juggling skills: Works effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, prioritizing and juggling several projects simultaneously with a spirit of flexibility in order to meet deadlines and achieve results.
- DEI is what we do and how we do: Aligned toward and resonates deeply with Teach For America's core values and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusiveness.
- An enthusiast: Loves Miami-Dade, education, turning frowns upside down, and cringe-worthy dad jokes. Brings levity and authenticity to work.
Work Demands
- Teach For America generally assumes a 50 hour workweek for its exempt staff members. Work hours are flexible based on the needs of the team and the position
- Occasional weekend or evening work hours required
- Travel in-and-around the Miami-Dade region required
- Some travel required for conferences or trainings (1-2 times per year)