Associate Director, Public Relations

ABOUT CRADLES TO CRAYONS:

Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. We supply clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Our vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive.

Two in 5 kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top 10 reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity—just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. Cradles to Crayons keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of our mission and is the only large-scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than four million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, and nationally.

Cradles to Crayons takes a two-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity:

1. In-person Engagement— through tens of thousands of children and adults volunteering at our Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from our communities for our Service Partners to distribute to the children they serve.
2. Advocacy and Awareness —Cradles to Crayons is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach.

Cradles to Crayons’ strong financial health and ongoing effectiveness and reliability have helped it earn a Four-Star rating from Charity Navigator since 2009. C2C has a budget of $20M for FY26 and a total staff of approximately 100.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

This position has a base location of Massachusetts. This role is primarily remote but is expected to be in-person in our Massachusetts Giving Factory at least twice a month.

Reporting to the Director of Marketing and Communications, the Associate Director Public Relations is responsible for managing, coordinating, and leading C2C’s media and PR efforts in collaboration with Leadership and function areas to meet organizational goals. This position will build comprehensive PR and media plans; strengthen internal and external positioning, strategies and relationships; manage external PR agencies to elevate Cradles to Crayons’ mission, work, leadership, and initiatives to End Clothing Insecurity; provide media training, prep, and support for all media opportunities; work with and coordinate collaborative PR efforts with C2C’s Partners; and expand awareness of C2C’s expertise around childhood and family poverty, clothing needs and distribution, connecting communities, and leading the #EndClothingInsecurity movement across all our work.

All Cradles to Crayons team members contribute to a culture of shared mission by participating in one volunteer shift per month.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Model and lead a positive “One Cradles to Crayons” culture, underpinned by Cradles to Crayons’ Cultural Values and related behaviors
• Help establish and implement best practices, processes, and workflows to support project teams/plans/management
• Support with the planning, development, and implementation of public relations activities that promote and enhance the organization's mission and brand, with particular focus on Clothing Insecurity support and need across the U.S. and C2C’s various in-person and online distribution and engagement initiatives serving Chicagoland, Greater Philadelphia, Massachusetts
• Manage and coordinate all external PR agency teams implementation; support contracts and budgets
• Create and support centralized and customized message development and delivery of mission, initiatives, events, and stories for stakeholders across all C2C communication mediums
• Help identify thought leadership opportunities for C2C leadership and other internal experts for op-eds, Letters to the Editor, podcasts, blogs, etc.
• Partner with cross-functional colleagues, Service Partners, donors, and other key stakeholders to maintain a list of expert voices trained and available for media opportunities
• Manage timelines and deliverables and find new ways to bring the most helpful, integrated, and inclusive communications to our stakeholders
• Identify publicity opportunities for C2C thought leaders, including public-facing conferences, convenings, and more
• Manage rapid response statements and PR and media strategy for time-sensitive media opportunities related to children, poverty, basic needs, legislation, and other relevant timely news topics
• Develop and maintain relationships with press and media contacts, Partner communications teams, and external third party agencies
• Oversee reporting and collection of data and metrics on plans and campaigns to track KPIs, measure impact, assess effectiveness, uncover insights, and inform strategy and propose solutions
• Other duties as assigned by the Director of Marketing and Communications

Required Experience/Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Passion for Cradles to Crayons’ mission
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are critical
• 5-7 years relevant PR, media, or agency experience
• Exemplary organizational and project management skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously required
• Proven ability to meet deadlines
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and collaborative environment
• Can-do attitude
• Proficiency with Office365 Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and database management
• Training and/or teaching experience a plus
• Non-profit experience a plus

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

The estimated salary range for this position is $80,000-$86,000 based on geographic labor market.

Cradles to Crayons is committed to pay equity and uses geographic benchmarks to ensure fair compensation. The compensation offered to the successful candidate may vary from the posted range based on geographic location, work experience, education, and/or skill level, among other things.

This is a benefits-eligible position. Cradles to Crayons offers a generous benefits package, which includes, but is not limited to:

• Health benefits including medical, dental, vision and a Health Reimbursement Arrangement.
• A monthly cell phone and internet usage stipend
• Employer-sponsored short-and long-term disability and basic life insurance.
• Retirement plan matching.
• Annual professional development stipend.

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH:

Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Working Conditions:

This is an office / work from home remote virtual environment with occasional visits to C2C Giving Factories. There are no hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions.

Accommodation:

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is possible that requirements may be modified to reasonably accommodate disabled individuals. However, no accommodations will be made by Cradles to Crayons which may pose serious health or safety risks to the employee or others, or which impose undue hardships on the organization.