Café Promotions Lead

Hourly Fractional Independent Contractor (1099).

This is a local engagement. The contractor must be within reasonable commuting distance of San Rafael, CA and available to spend time on-site as the work requires.

To be considered, applicants must submit a cover letter and resume by the end of business on August 24, 2026.

About the Opportunity

We are a well-known, established, mission-driven nonprofit with an on-site café that provides meaningful, customer-facing training for autistic students and adults toward the objective of independent living. The café is one of several cornerstones of our organization that includes theater, animation, building, and education.

We are looking for a creative, hands-on person who can promote the café, its products, events, promotions, and mission — and, most importantly, turn that awareness into greater participation in the café and increased sales.

This is not a traditional marketing-consulting assignment. We are not looking for a lengthy strategy document that someone else will have to implement. We are looking for someone who can think creatively, propose practical ideas, and then implement them.

Think roughly 10% planning and 90% execution.

What You’ll Do

You’ll propose to our team a clear, practical, directional plan for increasing awareness, engagement, customer traffic, and revenue. We want to understand the pillars of the promotion, why you think they will work, and when you will roll them out.

From there, the emphasis is on action.

• Promote café events, special offerings, new products, seasonal activities, and limited-time promotions.
• Create timely content that gives people a reason to visit the café — whether that’s a weekend special, a musician performing, a new menu item, or something happening in the community.
• Develop and post engaging photos, short videos, graphics, and written content across appropriate online and social channels.
• Increase the café’s followers and, more importantly, develop them into an audience that pays attention and responds.
• Identify creative ways to strengthen sales of products or offerings that need additional visibility.
• Increase customer activity during slower hours when the café would benefit from a more vibrant environment.
• Try ideas, measure what happens, learn from the results, and adjust quickly.

Success Factors

The measures of success will be:

• A vibrant café environment in which our autistic students can build real-world skills.
• Increased café revenue.
• Stronger sales of selected products and offerings.
• Greater customer traffic, particularly during targeted hours.
• A growing and engaged audience that follows the café and responds to its activities.

Who We’re Looking For

The right person must be eager and talented, with a proven track record in promotion, social media, and content creation.

Experience is good. Making things happen is better.

• Believes in the mission and would be proud to help an important nonprofit serving the autism community.
• Is creative, energetic, practical, and self-directed.
• Gets attention without needing a large budget.
• Can personally create and publish effective photos, short-form video, graphics, and written content.
• Understands how the major social and digital channels can be used to reach and motivate people.
• Can use basic performance information to determine what is working and what needs to change.
• Can maintain a simple promotional and content calendar so ideas turn into action on time.
• Spends time in the café identifying stories, events, people, products, and moments worth sharing.

Engagement

This will be an hourly, fractional, independent-contractor (1099) engagement. No benefits will be provided. The exact amount of time, schedule, scope, and hourly rate will be developed with the right person.

In this role you will engage with the Café management team to understand our vision, to recognize opportunities, and to take ownership of results.

The engagement will be collaborative: you bring promotional creativity, digital know-how, and execution; we bring knowledge of the café, its mission, and its community.

Our students get life-building benefits. You get the opportunity to build something that matters.

Your successful work here at Autistry could also provide you with a strong reference account that may lead to additional business opportunities for you in the deep, high-visibility nonprofit market.

How to Apply

To be considered, submit a résumé/CV and cover letter by EOB Monday, August 24, 2026.