Director of Communications

Philanthropy New York is a nonprofit membership association of more than 265 foundations and corporate giving programs based in the New York metropolitan region. Philanthropy New York supports and strengthens the work of the philanthropic sector by providing professional development and learning, networking and opportunities for funders to collaborate. For more information on our work and a preview of our program calendar, please visit www.philanthropynewyork.org.

Position

The Director of Communications leads external communications efforts to strengthen Philanthropy New York’s engagement with its members, crafts messaging that amplifies and aligns with PNY’s vision, mission and values, and builds the organization’s communications capacity. As a member of the Philanthropy New York management team, the Director of Communications is responsible for stewarding organizational culture, collaborating on annual planning and organizational learning and evaluation processes, supporting the development and implementation of racial equity commitments into the core work of the organization, and aligning relationships across teams.

As Philanthropy New York evolves to embed its values within the organization’s culture, all staff contribute to organizational development efforts and spend some portion of their time contributing to organizational development, learning and decision making processes.

This is a full-time role which requires some early morning and later evening hours supporting programs and meetings. This role is a hybrid position, requiring 2-3 days (Tuesday - Thursday) in office.

Key Responsibilities

Communications Strategy

• Working with the Executive Vice President, develop and lead implementation of an overarching organizational communications plan that engages members, amplifies learning and catalyzes action.
• Provide guidance to the Senior Leadership Team on building a compelling brand identity and voice for Philanthropy New York that is rooted in our organizational values and our vision for a more equitable, sustainable and democratic future. Work across the organization to integrate this voice and messaging into all communications.

External Messaging

• Partner with the Senior Leadership Team on PNY’s external messaging and narratives, including messages from the CEO to the membership and editorial oversight of member-produced content.
• Lead the engagement strategy and editorial direction, design, production, and distribution of all PNY electronic and print communications from concept to completion, including program marketing and collateral, social media content, weekly e-newsletter, video content, and membership collateral.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate targeted digital marketing strategies for PNY’s programs, with a focus on email campaigns and LinkedIn engagement.
• Serve as a thought partner to the VP of Learning to envision and articulate key program messages and take-aways.
• Ensure that all aspects of PNY’s communications use an anti-racist lens and are built with an intersectional equity lens.

Oversight of Integrated Digital Communications Platforms

• With support and direction from the Senior Vice President, lead content and user experience strategy for PNY’s website and ensure that the site facilitates member engagement, provides high‐quality and up‐to‐date content, and is intuitively organized; supervise the Communications Manager and other staff in content management.
• Partner closely with colleagues across departments to build the organization’s capacity to use data to inform digital engagement strategies.
• Support Communications Manager and Member Services Coordinator to ensure the organization has a strong data infrastructure in place between Drupal, Salesforce, and MailChimp.
• Serve as an organizational representative to the United Philanthropy Forum’s Knowledge Management Collaborative, managing relationships with philanthropy-serving partners, keeping PNY staff and leadership informed of new website developments, and sharing and implementing best practices for using our integrated technology platform.

Organizational Leadership & Management

• Supervise the Communications Manager, providing direction, supervision, coaching and professional development to ensure retention and growth within the organization.
• Promote organizational values and use PNY’s values as a lens for decision-making and action.
• Create a culture with colleagues to think beyond specific tasks to the overall organizational mission and context.
• Support the development and implementation of racial equity commitments into the core work of the organization.
• Collaboratively create an annual operations plan aligned with the organization’s strategic plan and monitor progress and learnings each year.
• Annually prepare and manage a budget for departmental and organizational work.
• Build strong relationships with the organization’s members and support membership retention and recruitment efforts.

Skills and Knowledge

• A minimum of 7-10 years of years of professional experience in a communications, public relations or marketing role.
• Ability to apply communications tactics to advance an organization’s mission.
• Exceptional written communication skills with adaptable style for different audiences and a keen eye for proofreading and editing.
• Excellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to listen, engage, and persuade internal and external stakeholders at all levels from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to apply critical race equity analysis to written communications and imagery and proven ability to guide consultants to produce materials that reflect a racial equity lens
• Strong comfort with and fluency in technology platforms including Microsoft Office, CRM database, print/web publishing, and social media; Salesforce database, Drupal and Adobe Creative Suite experience preferred.
• Masterful multi‐tasker with attention to detail and a proven track record of simultaneously organizing, prioritizing, and managing complex projects with distributed ownership on time and on budget.
• Demonstrated skills in building strong supervisory relationships, including setting clear expectations, coaching and training toward performance, and giving and receiving feedback.
• Demonstrated understanding of structural racism and of the ways that white supremacy culture operates in institutions. Knowledge of and commitment to personal growth and development on issues of racial equity and diversity and to supporting others in growth around issues of racial equity.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret information from diverse sources and draw meaningful conclusions that inform the organization’s strategies.
• Strong member service orientation with the ability to maintain diplomacy, and negotiate successfully at all levels of management
• Experience with or strong interest in organized philanthropy

• PNY offers a competitive benefits package: Group Insurance Benefits: PNY pays 90% premiums for group health insurance, fully paid premiums for group dental and vision insurance, long-term disability, and life insurance for employees. For employees with qualified dependents, PNY pays 75% of premiums for group health insurance and full premiums for dental and vision insurance.
• PNY Retirement Contribution: PNY contributes 10% of salary (regardless of whether an employee makes their own contributions to the plan) and matches employee contributions up to an additional 3%.
• Paid Time Off (PTO): 24 days of PTO in the first three years of employment and 28 days from that point on. PTO program that can be used for any purpose.
• Other Time Off: 13 paid holidays, office closed between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and 6 Fridays off between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year.
• Professional Development Budget: An annual allocation for employees to continue work-related growth opportunities
• Home Work Space Budget: Additional funding when an employee first joins PNY to create a comfortable, safe, and efficient home workspace.