Pride Foundation strives to engage the breadth of our communities in true justice and liberation for LGBTQ+ and all people. Our fundraising and communications work are key elements of community engagement. The Communications Manager role is critical in implementing communications strategies across our organizational departments, utilizing a variety of engagement platforms (digital, social media, print, events, and more).
This position plays an important role in ensuring that Pride Foundation’s partners, stakeholders, supporters, and constituents feel engaged, informed, and inspired by the organization and its vision.
This position reports to the Director of Community Engagement & Communications (DCEC), and is part of our Community Engagement Team that consists of the DCEC, Assistant Director of Community Engagement, Community Engagement Manager, Community Engagement Officer, and Donor Systems & Data Manager.
About Pride Foundation:
Pride Foundation fuels transformational movements to advance equity and justice for LGBTQ+ people in all communities across the Northwest. We envision a world in which all LGBTQ+ people live safely and openly as our whole selves in the communities we call home.
Pride Foundation is the only community foundation by and for LGBTQ+ people and communities serving the Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Founded in 1985 during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Pride Foundation is the result of generations of leaders who brought simple but revolutionary values to our movement: the courage to truly see one another, the compassion to recognize our shared humanity, and the conviction to show up every day to protect one another. Pride Foundation has an operating budget of more than $6 million with 16 full time employees working from across the region we serve. Pride Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors with 17 members from across the five-state region with diverse professional and lived experiences.
As an organization and as individuals, we are committed to anti-racism, and strive to center racial equity and justice throughout our organization and all aspects of our programmatic work. Together, we are intentionally and actively building an internal culture that reflects this commitment, and an organization where our team members can thrive. All team members are a part of this work and are active participants in building our culture.
The Communications Manager works closely with the DCEC to develop organization-wide communications and marketing strategies that incorporate the needs of all the departments. The CM is critical in developing and implementing the communications needs of the organization, from our branding and messaging, to our website, to printed outreach materials and swag, to digital and social media.
This role is also integral in creating content and helping elevate key stories that help a broad range of constituencies understand and engage in Pride Foundation’s work. The CM will interface with all of the departments in the organization to identify, support, and implement communications needs.
Communications Strategy & Planning (30%)
- Support the DCEC in developing a comprehensive communications and marketing strategy that integrates department-specific communications needs from across the organization.
- Develop, coordinate, and manage the annual schedule for all organization-wide digital communications.
- Lead the design, production, printing, and dissemination of print and swag materials used across the organization in collaboration with all departments, and support teams as needed to create department-specific materials.
- Maintain and regularly update a comprehensive style guide to implement Pride Foundation’s brand with consistency, clarity, and creativity, and instigate refreshes as needed.
- Project manage the creation of the Annual Report, in close collaboration with the Community Engagement team, including managing external contractors.
- Build and maintain relationships with current and new media outlets, and field press inquiries and facilitate press interviews and opportunities, preparing background research as needed.
- Oversee communications processes and internal systems such as digial security, vendor lists, contracts, constituent lists, policies, process documentation, etc.
Content Creation, Messaging, & Storytelling (30%)
- Work with the DCEC to determine annual communications priorities, strategies for elevating our work, and key messaging frameworks.
- Develop, evaluate, and evolve a broad organizational message map to ensure not only consistency in how we describe our work, but to elicit a stronger understanding of the meaning, purpose, and values driving it.
- Collaborate with organizational teams to elevate key stories of impact from programmatic recipients for bulk communications, annual report, community engagement communications, speeches, etc.
- Create content or provide editing support, and implement digital and print organization-wide communications (e.g. newsletters, announcements, press releases, talking points, speeches).
- Create and implement practices that ensure organizational communications and storytelling efforts are ethical, equitable, and serve as a tool to further our mission.
Digital & Social Media (30%)
- Update and maintain website content to reflect key organizational messages, utilize impactful storytelling, and raise awareness of and exposure to Pride Foundation’s work through implementation of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices. Work with external web developer to maintain optimal security and healthy systems.
- Create and implement social media strategy that highlights key organizational messages, and interface with each department to identify and elevate digital communications opportunities opportunities.
- Support departmental teams to utilize social media platforms effectively and consistently and monitor accounts for key activity and reach/impact.
- Manage bulk email system (MailChimp) to ensure consistency, manage lists, and optimize use and impact.
- Support execution of virtual events and communications associated with all organizational events.
Organizational Culture and Racial Justice (10%)
- Understand and integrate racial justice into individual and team workplans, and broader strategic planning efforts.
- Commit to personal growth, learning, and transformation, taking initiative to expand your understanding of racial justice and related principles, issues, and practice and how they apply to your and our work.
- Meaningfully participate in caucus groups, organizational learning sessions, and other opportunities to shape our organizational culture.
- Work to acknowledge, address, and eliminate individual, institutional, and structural racism and its intersections with other forms of oppression in your and our work.
- Actively participate in evolving the organizational culture at Pride Foundation to be mission-focused, inclusive, values-aligned, and community-centered.
- Grow and apply the skills and practices needed to create an inclusive organizational culture including (but not limited to): clear and kind communication, giving and receiving feedback, mutual accountability, and self-care and boundaries.
- Contribute to developing a culture of philanthropy at Pride Foundation by incorporating friend and community-centric fundraising as appropriate throughout work.
The ideal candidate will bring a mix of the below skills, experiences, and competencies. Pride Foundation believes that skills are gained from a variety of avenues, including through lived experience, paid work, volunteer, or unpaid experiences, and both traditional and non-traditional education and work.
- Commitment to Pride Foundation’s mission and to building a racially just, equitable, and inclusive culture through all levels of the organization.
- Understanding and experience working on issues related to intersectional social justice, including racial, LGBTQ+, gender, disability, economic, and/or reproductive justice.
- Strong and versatile communication and storytelling skills, including writing, speaking, and synthesizing information to a wide variety of audiences and for fundraising and other purposes.
- Experience managing brand identities and building organizational messaging.
- Strong experience building communications strategies that reach a wide variety of audiences and are grounded in values.
- Extensive experience with bulk email platforms like MailChimp, including increasing effectiveness and impact.
- Experience building social media strategy and strong skills across social media platform use and best practices.
- Experience maintaining websites, as well as optimizing use, effectiveness, and clarity.
- Basic knowledge of design principles and skill in creating simple graphics for communications.
- Strong project management skills, and the ability to move multi-faceted and complex projects forward.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate, lead a team, and work across departments.
- Ability to work effectively in a virtual, remote environment and build strong relationships with colleagues, donors, and partners across geographies.
- Outstanding organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple deadlines and priorities.
- Passion, a strong work ethic, and self-motivated drive.
While not required, these are additional skills and experiences we are looking for in candidates:
- Experience working with public foundations, especially social justice funders.
- Experience working with communities in the geographical region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, and/or across rural, small town, and urban areas.
- Experience working on strategic communications with and for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and communities disproportionately targeted by injustice, including non-binary and Two Spirit communities, indigenous communities and tribal nations, immigrant communities, rural communities, and others.
Location and Position Details
This is a full time, exempt position. This position is remote, though candidates should live in or be willing to relocate to one of the five Northwest states Pride Foundation serves. Pride Foundation is place-based and our residence in the region we serve is a critical part of how we lean into our values. Staff members in the greater Puget Sound region have the option to work out of our headquarters office in Seattle. Pride Foundation has a 4-day, 32-hour work week. Flexibility to work some evenings, weekends, and occasionally travel are necessary.
Salary and Benefits
Pride Foundation utilizes an equitable and competitive compensation program and salary structure that includes regular Cost of Living Adjustments and raises. For this position, the salary range is $71,000-$76,000, depending on experience. This salary is non-negotiable beyond this range to counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity for salaries.
Excellent employer-paid benefits including: medical (includes coverage of gender-confirming health services and procedures), dental, and vision coverage, plus disability insurance, employer retirement account contribution, and option to invest in an individual retirement account. Additionally, we offer 4 weeks paid vacation, 16 wellness/sick days, 3 personal days/floating holidays, 11 paid holidays, and paid family and medical leave.
Pride Foundation is a proud equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive work environment and to building a team that reflects the rich diversity of our community. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, people with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions and identities who are underrepresented in the field of philanthropy are encouraged to apply.
Send letter of interest and resume to: [email protected]. If you have access needs around applying, please reach out to us so that we can accommodate them.
In your letter of interest, please make it a point to address the skills and experiences you bring to this role, as outlined above. We also ask you to specifically address:
- What inspires you to want to work at Pride Foundation?
- Why are you interested in this role?
- How do your lived and professional experiences speak to the skills and experience needed for this role?
Priority will be given to candidates who submit their applications by October 29, 2023. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, though applications submitted after the deadline will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The position will be filled as soon as the appropriate candidate is found, as the position is available immediately.
For more information about Pride Foundation, please visit our website: www.pridefoundation.org.