Associate Director, Campaign Communications and Content Strategy James Madison U

General Information:

The Office of Advancement Marketing at James Madison University (JMU) is accepting applications for an Associate Director to play a leadership role in developing strategic content to support fundraising and engagement initiatives with JMU. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of developing persuasive philanthropic and promotional materials; compelling, meaningful storytelling in support of fundraising and stewardship; advanced editorial skills; and experience collaborating and managing projects.

This position works closely with fundraising, engagement, and other advancement staff as well as with campus partners and communications and marketing in support of fundraising and campaign priorities and strategies. This position reports to the Senior Director of Advancement Marketing and is in-person and onsite.

Duties and Responsibilities:

#1: Builds advancement content strategy and ecosystem comprising storytelling and campaign messaging for Advancement Marketing team and partners to leverage in support of UA programs and goals in engagement, fundraising, impact and stewardship. Advises and collaborates with AM team and other UA content developers on cross-channel and cross-UMB collaborations to optimize content reach and audience conversion.

#2: Researches, develops and project manages campaign messaging, narrative, cases, white papers and talking points for JMU giving priorities for major gift cultivation and solicitation. Assists the senior director in maintaining relationships with priority champions across campus, advancement leaders, development liaisons and calling officers in the development of campaign and fundraising collateral. Gathers and leverages audience and donor intelligence to help develop strong value propositions, compelling messaging and effective reach strategies in support of philanthropy that can be transformative for people and programs at JMU. Assists periodically with gift proposals.

#3: Develops editorial story content in support of fundraising, advancement constituent engagement, impact and stewardship. Researches, writes, edits, guides and /or inspires compelling editorial story content for web, magazine, email and other channels in support of advancement and university goals. Edits and proofreads content created by other staff; ensures that story content aligns with the universitys brand profile and editorial style; oversees AM editorial quality assurance. Consults with Senior Associate Director on digital storytelling to assist in building an overall advancement content constellation.

#4: Responsible for AM editorial management and oversight

Manages editorial staff, students and/or freelancers and guides, inspires and/or delegates editorial storytelling. Ensures that editorial expectations are clearly communicated; that student work is productive for Advancement Marketing; that students have portfolio development opportunities when possible; and that freelancers have effective instruction and guidance.

#5: Implements an audience- and donor-centric approach to content. Conducts research and consults with UA partners in search of creative and strategic solutions for audience identification and analysis to increase content focus, authenticity and effectiveness.

#6: Collaborates with Advancement Marketing team on overall marketing and creative strategy, audience development, core operations, special projects, and event programming, story and script development for Giving Day, Stewardship Luncheon, OAR Alumni Awards, Bluestone Reunions, Madison Trust, WFM Summit / Rally and other events. Utilizes JMU business management and IT systems and tools (Cascade, Marketing Cloud, Affinaquest, iModules, Basecamp, Teams and more) to collaborate and carry out responsibilities.

Qualifications:

Required:

• Bachelors degree in writing, communications, English, public relations, marketing or related field
• Three years professional experience in higher education communications, marketing, advancement, nonprofit work or combination
• Three years professional writing experience and exceptional written communication skills across multiple genres with outstanding attention to accuracy and detail
• Experience researching and developing strategic communications in support of philanthropy
• Experience identifying and developing compelling, authentic and meaningful communications and stories
• Demonstrated commitment to audience-centric and effective communications with experience clarifying audiences, aligning voices and developing compelling messaging that resonates
• Experience conducting research and applying metrics for measurable outcomes
• Experience collaborating with teams and managing projects, especially related to content creation
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with JMU partners at all levels and engage with the greater JMU community of alumni, parents, donors and friends
• Experience collaborating with teams, managing projects and meeting deadlines
• Ability to work independently plus willingness to collaborate, innovate and pitch in for all-hands-on-deck initiatives
• Transferable experience with enterprise clients and ability to learn JMU systems, tools and processes
• Occasional weekend and evening work and the possibility of travel

Preferred:

• Masters degree
• Digital marketing experience
• Supervisory experience

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