Communications & Storytelling for Social Impact (Volunteer)

Communications & Storytelling for Social Impact (Volunteer)

PromiseVoice | Communications, Storytelling, Marketing & Audience Engagement

Organization: Mentor A Promise (MAP)

Division: PromiseVoice

Location: Fully Remote — United States

Type: Volunteer Communications & Storytelling Role

Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Minimum Commitment: 6 months

Reports To: PromiseVoice Leadership

Works Closely With: Social Media, Marketing, Newsletter, Blogs & Editorial, Media Relations, Design, PromisePublic, PromisePrograms, PromiseRise, PromiseStudios, and other MAP teams

About Mentor A Promise

Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a New York City–based nonprofit serving children and youth ages 5–18 experiencing housing instability through mentorship, education, literacy, social-emotional learning, creative expression, career development, advocacy, and community-centered opportunity.

Behind every program, initiative, partnership, and milestone is a story.

PromiseVoice helps those stories reach the people who need to hear them.

About PromiseVoice

PromiseVoice is MAP's integrated communications, marketing, media, editorial, and audience-engagement division.

The division brings together communications, marketing, social media, newsletters, blogs, editorial content, media relations, internal and external communications, and digital storytelling.

Rather than treating these areas as separate functions, PromiseVoice works collaboratively to create communications that are coordinated, purposeful, and distinctly human.

Role Overview

MAP is seeking a creative and thoughtful Communications & Storytelling for Social Impact volunteer to help communicate our mission, programs, people, ideas, and impact.

This is a highly collaborative role.

You may help develop a story for a newsletter, work with the social media team to adapt it for digital audiences, collaborate with marketing around a campaign, contribute to a blog feature, support organizational communications, or help identify stories that can travel across multiple PromiseVoice channels.

The work follows:

Purpose → Audience → Story → Message → Channel → Collaboration → Engagement → Learning

The goal is not simply to create more content.

It is to create communications worth someone's attention.

Key Responsibilities

Communications & Storytelling

Develop clear, engaging, mission-aligned communications about MAP's programs, people, initiatives, opportunities, and impact.

Help transform organizational information into stories that audiences can understand and connect with.

Ask:

Who is this for?

What should they understand?

Why does it matter?

What is the story?

What should happen next?

Social Media Collaboration

Work closely with MAP's social media team to identify stories, messages, quotes, program moments, and organizational developments that can become meaningful digital content.

Help adapt longer stories into concise social content while preserving context and accuracy.

A strong story should not lose its meaning simply because the platform requires fewer words.

Marketing Collaboration

Partner with the marketing team on campaigns, audience messaging, program promotion, volunteer recruitment, events, special initiatives, and other communications priorities.

Help connect storytelling with larger campaign objectives.

Marketing should begin with a clear objective—not simply deciding what to post.

Newsletter Collaboration

Contribute stories, interviews, features, organizational updates, and other editorial content for MAP newsletters, including The Beacon and future publications.

Help identify the story behind the update.

A program happened—but why did it matter?

A partnership launched—but what might it make possible?

A volunteer contributed—but what brought them to the mission?

Blogs & Editorial Collaboration

Work with MAP's blogs and editorial teams to research, develop, write, or contribute to articles and features.

Potential topics may include education, mentorship, housing instability, youth development, literacy, career readiness, accessibility, community, creativity, opportunity, and social impact.

Help build a growing library of thoughtful content rather than publishing simply to maintain a schedule.

Every article should answer:

Why should this exist?

Cross-Channel Storytelling

Help identify opportunities for one strong story to thoughtfully travel across multiple channels.

For example:

Story Idea → Interview → Blog Feature → Newsletter Story → Social Content → Campaign Asset → Audience Engagement

This does not mean copying identical content everywhere.

Each channel has a different audience, purpose, and format.

The story should adapt without losing its integrity.

Interviews & Story Discovery

Conduct approved interviews with volunteers, leaders, professionals, partners, and other contributors.

Ask thoughtful questions.

Listen carefully.

Look beyond predetermined narratives.

The strongest story may not be the one you expected to find.

Organizational Communications

Support internal and external communications as needed, including announcements, program updates, volunteer communications, website content, campaign messaging, community updates, and special initiatives.

Help make organizational language clearer, warmer, and more accessible.

Communication is successful when people understand—not when the organization sounds impressive.

Research & Accuracy

Research subjects appropriately and verify factual information before publication.

Distinguish among:

Fact → Evidence → Interpretation → Story → Organizational Claim

MAP should never make a stronger claim than the evidence supports.

Ethical Storytelling

Approach stories involving children, families, housing instability, disability, or other personal experiences with exceptional care.

Housing instability should never become content simply because hardship attracts attention.

Young people are people before they are stories.

Never pressure someone to disclose personal experiences or assume that a compelling experience automatically belongs in organizational communications.

Privacy, dignity, consent, safeguarding, and human agency come before the story.

Creative Collaboration

Collaborate with writers, editors, social media contributors, marketers, designers, photographers, filmmakers, illustrators, and other creative professionals when appropriate.

Great communications rarely come from one discipline working alone.

Writers may see the narrative.

Designers may see the visual language.

Social media teams may understand the conversation.

Marketing may understand the audience.

Program teams understand the work.

The strongest communication brings those perspectives together.

What You May Work On

Projects may include newsletter stories, blog articles, social media campaigns, interviews, profiles, program features, organizational announcements, website content, volunteer stories, campaign messaging, community communications, educational content, impact storytelling, event communications, and special PromiseVoice initiatives.

Assignments will vary based on organizational priorities, volunteer interests, skills, and available projects.

Qualifications

Strong candidates may have experience or interest in communications, journalism, public relations, marketing, digital media, storytelling, blogging, newsletters, creative writing, nonprofit communications, or related fields.

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Strong written communication and storytelling skills
• Curiosity and willingness to ask thoughtful questions
• Ability to understand different audiences
• Strong editing and proofreading skills
• Ability to collaborate across creative disciplines
• Attention to factual accuracy
• Ability to translate complex information into accessible language
• Comfort receiving and incorporating feedback
• Strong organization and follow-through
• Respect for privacy and ethical storytelling
• Reliability and consistent communication
• Alignment with MAP's mission and values
• Residence in the United States

Experienced professionals and emerging communicators seeking meaningful portfolio experience are both encouraged to apply.

What Success Looks Like

MAP's communications feel connected rather than fragmented.

Social media, marketing, newsletters, blogs, and organizational communications reinforce one another while serving their individual purposes.

Strong stories move thoughtfully across channels.

Messages have clear audiences and objectives.

Organizational language becomes more human.

Teams collaborate earlier rather than bringing communications in at the end.

Stories preserve the dignity of the people within them.

Facts are verified.

Audiences understand not simply what MAP is doing—but why it matters.

What You'll Gain

This role offers hands-on experience across multiple areas of modern communications rather than limiting volunteers to a single channel.

You may develop experience in storytelling, social media, marketing, newsletters, blogging, editorial development, interviewing, campaign communications, audience engagement, digital content, and nonprofit communications.

You'll also collaborate with a multidisciplinary communications team while developing portfolio-quality work connected to a social-impact mission.

Why This Role Matters

A story does not have to live in one place.

It can begin in a conversation.

Become an article.

Travel through a newsletter.

Find another audience through social media.

Strengthen a campaign.

Introduce someone to an organization.

And eventually inspire someone to participate.

But that only works when people communicate with one another before communicating with the world.

That is what this role helps make possible.

Volunteer Commitment

This is an unpaid volunteer position requiring approximately 5–10 hours per week with a minimum six-month commitment.

Consistent participation, communication, collaboration, and reliable follow-through are essential. Volunteers should provide at least two weeks' notice when ending their service whenever possible.

How to Apply

Please apply directly through Idealist and submit:

• A current résumé
• A brief cover letter explaining your interest in communications, storytelling, and Mentor A Promise
• 2–3 relevant writing, communications, marketing, social media, or storytelling samples, or a portfolio link when available

Published professional work is welcomed but not required. Strong academic, personal, volunteer, digital, or portfolio work may also demonstrate potential.

At this time, MAP volunteer opportunities are limited to individuals based in the United States due to legal, safeguarding, data-privacy, compliance, and programmatic requirements.

Find the story. Understand the audience. Collaborate across the team. Choose the right channel. Protect the people behind the message. Create something worth someone's attention—and use communication to help that attention become connection, understanding, and action.