Reporting to the Manager, Marketing & Sales and working strategically with leaders across the organization, the Communications Specialist is a passionate and persuasive ambassador for our community. A strategic storyteller who’s highly organized and deeply relational, you have a proven track record of engaging hearts and minds – both in-person and through published works.
In this role you won't just tell our story; you'll actively engage our community and identify opportunities to shine a spotlight on the people, projects and events that shape us. And at the end of the day, you know how to turn those connections into meaningful action through engagement, donations, partnerships, and support.
The right candidate for this role has experience in nonprofit communications and is comfortable taking the initiative to form connections on both the corporate and community level, including through member and donor communications, media relations, special events support, and other initiatives.
Storytelling & Brand Stewardship
- Proactively connects with internal and external stakeholders to uncover and capture impact stories.
- Writes, edits and publishes clear, persuasive, and brand-aligned communications copy that is designed to convert across digital and traditional touchpoints.
- Schedules and conducts interviews and basic photography/videography
- Publishes compelling content for the website, newsletters, social media, public media, donor reports, and more, following best practices according to each platform.
- Advises leadership and develops content for speeches and presentations, executive statements, and strategic announcements.
- Mines data and market trends to identify opportunities for new or enhanced key messages to support the organization’s reputation and advance our mission.
Communications Strategy
- Plans and manages a comprehensive annual communications calendar, accounting for all internal and external stakeholders.
- Collaborates with all marketing team members to ensure content is aligned with and supports other in-market messages and campaigns.
- Measures impact by building trackable metrics into campaigns, and proactively uses analytics including meta, Salesforce, GA4, social listening aggregators, and more.
- Uses data to inform strategic campaign enhancements, pivots and new opportunities.
- Together with other Marketing and Member Experience team members, manages our email lists to ensure optimal engagement practices.
Media Relations
- Proactively builds relationships with key media contacts and influencers, and maintains targeted media lists.
- Acts as a primary point of contact for media inquiries.
- Actively pitches the Y to gain positive publicity, including writing and dispatching media releases; managing follow-up inquiries, coordinating interviews, and tracking story uptake.
Event Publicity & Support
- Proactively identifies right-fit community events for Y Winnipeg to attend and/or support.
- Supports event planning and execution, including identifying and procuring display materials, liaising with event officials, and communicating with staff and volunteers.
- Leads the communication planning and execution to support key public- and internal-facing events, including organizational milestones, days/weeks of observance, fundraising, team recognition, and more
Requirements and Qualifications
- Degree or diploma in communications, public relations, marketing or related field (equivalent work experience will also be considered)
- Demonstrated success in utilizing various best practices and approaches to nonprofit direct marketing campaigns, including direct mail, e-appeals, social media campaigns, etc.
- Experienced storyteller with the ability to identify and build rapport with brand ambassadors and target audiences.
- Exceptional project and time management skills, including the ability to work within condensed timeframes and to effectively prioritize work and exercise excellent judgment.
- Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities, proposals and tasks.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to research, provide options for consideration and evaluate the results.
- Ability to network, build effective relationships and work constructively across functional teams both internally and externally.
Working Conditions
- Full-time position (80 hours bi-weekly) primarily based on-site in an office setting, requiring extended periods of sitting or standing, frequent computer use, and manual dexterity; occasional evenings, weekends, holidays, and overtime may be required.
- Collaborative and service-oriented environment with regular interaction with diverse individuals; including families, members, donors, employees, and volunteers, requiring professionalism, cultural awareness, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
- Role may require delivering presentations and periodic travel between locations, including occasional regional or overnight travel, to support operations and staff engagement
