Community Engagement Manager

Organization: Catawba Lands Conservancy (CLC) and Carolina Thread Trail (CTT) is a nonprofit organization that permanently conserves and manages land and advances trails in the Southern Piedmont of North Carolina. The organization is dedicated to conserving land and connecting lives to nature. CLC protects large parcels of natural land that contribute to clean water, provide habitat for wildlife, support local farms and provide public access to nature, conserving almost 18,000 acres to date. CTT is a growing regional network of trails, greenways, and blueways that connect 2.5 million people in 15 counties across North and South Carolina. CLC and CTT also actively engage the public in their mission through community partnerships, volunteer workdays, outdoor programs and special events.

Core Values:

• We embrace and pursue possibility.
• We are learners and teachers.
• We respect and value others.
• We are dedicated to mission.

Position Description: The Community Engagement Manager plays a key role in advancing our organization’s mission by actively building and strengthening relationships between our organization and the community. This position manages volunteers and contributes to the planning and execution of engagement events. The work involves close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including regional community partners, volunteers, board members and staff. The Community Engagement Manager reports to the Director of Development & Marketing.

Responsibilities:

Volunteer Management

• Proactively recruit, train, and retain volunteers through outreach and partnerships and events.
• Manage scheduling, logistics, and promotion for public and private volunteer workdays.
• Coordinate a variety of volunteer opportunities, including trail maintenance, invasive species removal, litter cleanups, tabling events, special events and administrative support.
• Manage and grow the Trail Steward Program, in which volunteers independently maintain CLC-managed trails.
• Develop community partnerships to expand volunteer base and coordinate other efforts, such as creek cleans and debris removal projects.
• Collaborate with staff to identify other volunteer needs and opportunities.
• Implement volunteer appreciation initiatives.

Community Engagement

• Develop, implement and execute strategies that increase public awareness and support for the organization’s mission.
• Coordinate public program logistics, establish timelines and delegate tasks, and lead as needed.
• Identify, pursue and lead the planning and execution of tabling and community events, including selecting opportunities, coordinating logistics and recruiting volunteers, and representing the organization.
• Develop and cultivate partnerships that deepen community involvement to expand volunteer base.

Event Coordination

• Act as lead coordinator for the annual Trail Forum, overseeing planning, logistics, budgeting, vendor relations and day-of event management.
• Support the Development Team on special events through logistical and day-of help.

Other

• Maintain and update the customer relationship management (CRM) database to track and analyze engagement metrics, volunteer hours, engagement activities and outcomes to evaluate program effectiveness.
• Develop and refine policies, procedures and safety protocols that support high quality volunteer experiences.

Qualifications, Skills, and Traits:

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in land conservation, natural resources management or volunteer management.
• Experience supervising volunteers.
• Demonstrated success in community outreach, volunteer recruitment and building partnerships to advance an organizational mission.
• Ability to work outdoors in varying conditions.
• Passion for land conservation, trails and connecting people to nature.
• Experience working collaboratively across teams and departments.
• Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Experience with natural surface trail maintenance techniques, preferred.
• Familiarity with ESRI (GIS), Landscape (land conservation data), and Bloomerang (volunteer database), preferred.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy: Catawba Lands Conservancy and Carolina Thread Trail provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

This position is full-time (40 hours a week) with occasional evening and weekend hours. Benefits include medical insurance, paid time off, paid holidays and Simple IRA with matched contribution. Flexible schedule and some remote work available.

Candidate must be fluent in English.