Communications & Marketing Manager

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nThe Communications & Marketing Manager leads IndyHumane’s communications, marketing,\nstorytelling, digital content, media relations, and brand strategy. This position is responsible for\ndeveloping and implementing an integrated communications and marketing approach that increases\norganizational awareness, strengthens community engagement, supports fundraising priorities, and\nadvances IndyHumane’s mission.\nThis position joins IndyHumane at a defining moment in the organization’s history. As IndyHumane\nprepares for future growth and lays the groundwork for an upcoming capital campaign, the\nCommunications & Marketing Manager will play a critical role in shaping how the organization tells its\nstory, builds its reputation, and connects with Indianapolis and the broader community.\nThe Communications & Marketing Manager currently operates as an individual contributor while\nworking with external partners, vendors, freelancers, and organizational stakeholders. As the organization\ngrows, this position is expected to help develop the structure, strategy, processes, and capabilities\nnecessary to build and lead a high-performing Communications & Marketing team.\nThe ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution and is equally comfortable\ndeveloping a communications strategy, writing compelling content, managing social media, working with\nthe media, analyzing campaign performance, and collaborating across departments to uncover and tell\nmeaningful stories.\nEssential Job Functions\nCommunications & Marketing Strategy\n• Develop and implement an integrated communications and marketing strategy that advances\nIndyHumane’s mission, organizational priorities, fundraising initiatives, and strategic goals\n• Translate organizational programs, priorities, outcomes, and impact into compelling communications\nand campaigns that inspire audiences to engage, advocate, adopt, volunteer, donate, and support\nIndyHumane\n• Develop annual communications and marketing plans, goals, priorities, budgets, timelines, and\nperformance measures\n• Partner with the Chief Development Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Development Team, and\norganizational leadership to align communications with fundraising campaigns, events, donor\nengagement, programs, and strategic initiatives\n• Identify opportunities to increase organizational visibility, community awareness, engagement, and\nsupport\n• Monitor communications and marketing trends, audience behavior, organizational performance, and\ncommunity needs to inform strategy\n• Establish consistent processes, standards, and workflows for organizational communications and\nmarketing activities\n• Evaluate communications and marketing performance and recommend adjustments based on analytics,\noutcomes, and organizational priorities\nBrand Management & Organizational Voice\n• Protect, strengthen, and consistently apply IndyHumane’s brand, voice, messaging, and visual identity\nacross organizational communications\n• Develop and maintain brand and messaging standards that support consistent communication across\ndepartments and channels\n• Ensure public-facing materials accurately reflect IndyHumane’s mission, values, programs, priorities,\nand organizational identity\n• Provide guidance to departments and organizational leaders regarding brand standards, messaging,\ncommunications, and public-facing materials\n• Review and approve communications and marketing materials as appropriate to maintain consistency,\naccuracy, and professionalism\n• Identify opportunities to strengthen IndyHumane’s reputation and position within the Indianapolis and\nCentral Indiana communities\nStorytelling & Content Development\n• Develop creative and consistent strategies for identifying stories throughout the organization\n• Build strong relationships across departments and remain connected to the people, animals, programs,\noutcomes, and moments that represent IndyHumane’s work\n• Develop simple and effective systems, channels, meetings, and processes that allow employees and\ndepartments to share stories, photos, milestones, animal updates, and program outcomes\n• Transform organizational stories into compelling content that demonstrates impact and connects\naudiences with the animals, people, programs, and communities behind the organization’s work\n• Write, edit, and produce content for social media, email, website, fundraising campaigns, newsletters,\nmedia materials, organizational publications, presentations, and other communications\n• Maintain high standards for accuracy, storytelling quality, brand consistency, grammar, tone, and\norganizational voice\n• Collaborate with Development and program teams to identify stories that support donor engagement,\nfundraising, stewardship, and community awareness\nDigital Marketing & Social Media\n• Manage day-to-day organizational social media activities, including writing, creating, scheduling,\nposting, monitoring, and evaluating content across platforms\n• Develop and maintain an editorial calendar and coordinated content strategy across social media, email,\nwebsite, and other digital channels\n• Create engaging digital content designed to increase awareness, engagement, website traffic,\nparticipation, and support\n• Monitor social media channels and online conversations and respond or coordinate responses as\nappropriate\n• Manage digital campaigns supporting fundraising, adoption, volunteerism, events, community\nprograms, advocacy, and organizational initiatives\n• Monitor platform performance, audience engagement, reach, traffic, conversions, and other relevant\nmetrics\n• Use analytics and performance data to continually improve digital content and campaign effectiveness\n• Stay informed regarding changes in social media platforms, digital communications practices, audience\nbehavior, and emerging technologies\nWebsite & Email Marketing\n• Oversee organizational website content to ensure information remains accurate, current, engaging,\naccessible, and aligned with organizational priorities\n• Coordinate website updates, landing pages, campaign content, program information, and organizational\nannouncements\n• Develop and execute email communications and marketing campaigns in collaboration with\nDevelopment and other departments\n• Maintain consistent messaging and branding across website and email communications\n• Monitor website and email analytics, including traffic, engagement, click-through rates, conversions,\nand other performance measures\n• Use performance data to improve content, audience engagement, and digital strategy\nMedia Relations & Public Relations\n• Lead IndyHumane’s media relations and public-relations activities\n• Develop and maintain productive relationships with local and regional media representatives\n• Proactively identify opportunities for earned media coverage that increases awareness of IndyHumane’s\nprograms, impact, expertise, events, animals, and community work\n• Draft and distribute press releases, media advisories, pitches, statements, talking points, background\nmaterials, and other media communications\n• Coordinate media interviews, requests, appearances, and organizational responses\n• Serve as an organizational spokesperson when appropriate and authorized\n• Prepare executives, leaders, employees, and subject-matter experts for media interviews and public\nappearances\n• Monitor media coverage and maintain records of organizational media placements and outcomes\n• Support organizational communication during sensitive, urgent, or high-profile situations in\ncoordination with executive leadership\nFundraising & Campaign Communications\n• Partner closely with the Chief Development Officer and Development Team to support fundraising\ncommunications, donor engagement, campaigns, sponsorships, events, and stewardship activities\n• Develop communications strategies and materials that support annual fundraising priorities and future\ncapital campaign efforts\n• Translate organizational funding needs, programs, outcomes, and strategic priorities into compelling\ndonor-facing stories and communications\n• Support development of campaign messaging, cases for support, donor communications, event\nmaterials, sponsorship materials, and fundraising content\n• Coordinate communications calendars with Development activities to ensure consistent and strategic\naudience engagement\n• Collaborate with Development staff to identify and develop stories demonstrating donor impact\n• Support communications and marketing needs for fundraising events and donor-engagement activities\nTeam & Vendor Development\n• Work with third-party partners, agencies, freelancers, vendors, and collaborators to advance\ncommunications and marketing priorities\n• Manage external communications and marketing relationships, projects, deliverables, timelines, budgets,\nand performance as assigned\n• Evaluate organizational communications and marketing capacity and identify future staffing, resource,\nand capability needs\n• Develop processes, workflows, standards, documentation, and systems that support future growth of the\nCommunications & Marketing function\n• Assist in determining future team structure, roles, responsibilities, and capabilities as organizational\nneeds evolve\n• Participate in hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, and development of future Communications &\nMarketing employees when positions are established\n• Provide leadership, direction, coaching, and performance management to future direct reports in\naccordance with organizational policies\nCollaboration & Organizational Support\n• Build strong working relationships with departments throughout IndyHumane to understand programs,\npriorities, challenges, outcomes, and communications needs\n• Collaborate with Development, Operations, Medical, Community Outreach, Volunteer, Human\nResources, Finance, and organizational leadership on communications and marketing initiatives\n• Attend leadership meetings, Development meetings, all-staff meetings, organizational events, and\nprofessional-development opportunities as required\n• Serve as a communications resource and strategic partner to organizational leaders and departments\n• Represent IndyHumane professionally when interacting with media, donors, volunteers, community\npartners, vendors, and members of the public\n• Maintain confidentiality regarding donor, personnel, financial, strategic, and organizational information\n• Support organizational priorities and respond appropriately to emerging communications needs\n• Perform additional duties, projects, and assignments as needed\nRequired Qualifications\nEducation & Experience\n• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Journalism, Nonprofit\nManagement, or a related field preferred\n• An equivalent combination of relevant education, training, and professional experience may be\nconsidered\n• Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible professional experience in communications,\nmarketing, public relations, journalism, digital marketing, or a related field required\n• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing communications or marketing strategies\nrequired\n• Demonstrated experience creating digital content and managing organizational social media platforms\nrequired\n• Experience with email marketing, website content management, and digital analytics required\n• Experience developing media relationships, responding to media requests, or securing earned media\nrequired\n• Demonstrated professional writing, editing, proofreading, and storytelling experience required\n• Experience coordinating multiple communications projects, campaigns, deadlines, and stakeholders\nrequired\n• Experience managing, mentoring, supervising, or helping build a communications or marketing function\npreferred\nKnowledge, Skills & Abilities\n• Exceptional written, verbal, editing, proofreading, storytelling, and interpersonal communication skills\n• Strong understanding of communications, marketing, public relations, digital media, social media, and\nbrand-management principles\n• Ability to translate complex organizational information, programs, data, and outcomes into clear and\ncompelling stories\n• Strong strategic-thinking and planning abilities combined with a willingness and ability to execute dayto-day communications work\n• Ability to develop communications strategies, annual plans, campaign goals, budgets, timelines, and\nperformance measures\n• Strong understanding of social media content development, audience engagement, platform\nmanagement, and digital communications practices\n• Ability to develop and maintain productive relationships with journalists, media representatives,\ncommunity partners, vendors, and organizational stakeholders\n• Strong project-management, organizational, and time-management skills\n• Ability to manage multiple campaigns, deadlines, priorities, and stakeholder needs simultaneously\n• Ability to analyze communications and marketing data and use findings to improve strategy and\nperformance\n• Strong judgment, professionalism, discretion, and ability to appropriately manage sensitive or highprofile communications\n• Ability to work independently, demonstrate initiative, and proactively identify communications\nopportunities and organizational needs\n• Ability to collaborate effectively across departments and organizational levels\n• Ability to provide strategic guidance while remaining comfortable with hands-on content creation and\nexecution\n• Ability to adapt quickly to emerging priorities, news events, organizational developments, and changing\ndigital platforms\n• Commitment to the mission, vision, values, and work of IndyHumane\nTechnical Skills\n• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams\n• Experience managing major social media platforms for a business, nonprofit, brand, or organization\n• Experience with social media scheduling, publishing, monitoring, and analytics tools\n• Experience with email marketing platforms and audience segmentation\n• Experience working with website content-management systems\n• Experience using digital analytics and reporting tools to evaluate communications performance\n• Experience creating or coordinating digital graphics, photography, video, or multimedia content\n• Familiarity with graphic-design and content-creation platforms such as Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud\npreferred\n• Experience with donor-management, CRM, project-management, or other organizational software\npreferred\n• Ability to learn and effectively utilize new communications, marketing, analytics, and organizational\ntechnology\nPreferred Qualifications\n• Seven (7) or more years of progressively responsible communications, marketing, public-relations, or\nrelated professional experience\n• Experience leading, supervising, mentoring, or building a communications or marketing team or\nfunction\n• Experience working in a nonprofit, foundation, association, animal welfare, healthcare, human services,\nor other mission-driven organizati