Communications Director

Communications Director - Friends of the Earth

We are progressive environmental advocates who pull no punches and sometimes speak uncomfortable truths. This approach over four decades has yielded victories protecting our planet and its people. As part of Friends of the Earth International, we are a federation of grassroots groups working in 76 countries on today’s most urgent environmental and social issues. To accomplish our mission, Friends of the Earth is working at the nexus of environmental protection, economic policy, and social justice to fundamentally transform the way our country and the world value people and the environment. By focusing on reforming economic drivers such as tax or trade policy that are often used to empower corporations and governments to harm the environment, we have been able to make changes in the policies. Friends of the Earth U.S. (FOE) is fighting to champion the environment and create a more healthy and just world.

A bold, effective communications strategy is integral to telling our story and moving our programs forward. We’re building a communications team that understands campaign communications and strategically leverages a variety of channels of communication, from traditional to social media.

In this role you will report to the Managing Director, be part of our senior management team, and manage a staff of four. You will be responsible for creating the strategic and tactical direction of an integrated, national campaign program which will include media relations, online and social media approaches, publications development and fundraising communications.

Working at the forefront of the environmental sector you will:

• Advance FOE’s campaign work and the FOE brand.
• Influence public opinion and increase the public’s awareness and appreciation of environmental issues.
• Achieve public policy and advocacy goals at the local, state, regional, and federal levels.
• Develop and execute effective, efficient plans to maximize the value of media placement resources.
• Facilitate shared understanding internally and support and advise campaigners on maximizing synergies and media effectiveness.
• Manage consultants and staff to implement new media and media placement efforts.
• Measure and report results to staff, consultants, and program funders.

As you learn about our policies and programs, you will find, develop, and share the stories of our work, cultivating the relationships you need to place stories and to anticipate trends in environmental policy media coverage. Working with our program managers, you will learn the intricacies of our work and prioritize how and when to promote stories. Your ability to communicate complex subjects to multiple audiences will be vital to your success, as will your ability to effectively blend new and traditional media as you drive FOE toward digital preeminence in the environmental sector.  

Our Expectations for Your First Year

In this role, you will:

• Working with the communications team, program directors and campaigners, you will direct and develop the media strategy for our campaign communications plans that advance key objectives. These plans will include clear, achievable goals, target audiences, messages, tactics and timelines.
• Manage and advance FOE’s online media presence, including corporate and campaign websites, blogging, email alerts, advocacy campaigns and other online/new media outreach efforts.
• Staff and manage the Communications department to facilitate its role in reviewing and providing input on strategy, and ultimately approving plans for implementation; developing approaches to balancing immediate campaign communications needs with long term communications strategy and aligning messages across project areas.
• Coordinate communications activities in conjunction with the development department and project teams to promote FOE’s brand, advocacy and services to media, members, and external audiences.
• Develop annual work plans and budgets that address both public opinion-shaping and advocacy priorities; reflect priorities between advocacy needs at the local, state, regional and federal levels; support all programmatic activities including earned media, paid media, online/new media, grassroots, and public opinion polling efforts; and support organizational goals to increase our membership and political base.
• Lead FOE’s creative and advertising placement teams to develop advertising concepts that meet specific strategic goals across a variety of advertising platforms (print, television, radio, outdoor, and on-line) and ensure media dollars are spent efficiently with the focus on delivery to identify targeted audiences.
• Monitor and measure the effectiveness of communications-related activities. 

Requirements and Attributes

This position requires the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Journalism, Communications or Public Relations.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in running media campaigns including extensive writing experience.
• Staff management experience.
• Strong strategic planning and project management skills with the ability to work in a deadline-driven environment. Strategic thinker; manage multiple projects; ability to set priorities and be accountable for results.
• Experience using aggressive approaches across multiple media platforms to relay a message and ability to assess their effectiveness.
• Demonstrate strong leadership, oral and written communication, and advocacy skills.
• Establish and maintain positive, collaborative relationships with both FOE staff and stakeholders.
• Exercise sound judgment in planning, implementing, and evaluating programs in accordance with FOE’s strategic goals.

Attributes

Inventive: You look beyond the status quo for ways to publicize a cause. You are always looking for new ways to do things and do not see obstacles. You have a hunger and passion to succeed, and are driven by a need to deliver exceptional results. You will work outside the comfort zone of others and consider yourself an opportunist. Success in this role goes far beyond issuing press releases or getting attention in national media. Success requires taking full strategic advantage of your resources to build support for our priorities and foster trust throughout our constituencies. You are a “builder” and you recognize and seek out opportunities. You are able to create messages that tell the story. You are a self-starter with an entrepreneurial style.

Curious: You are intellectually curious. You enjoy learning, like to understand issues and don’t just take the easy path.         You have a curious mind that constantly challenges why things are done in a certain way, follows through with smart and creative solutions and provides alternatives. You are open to new and different experiences. You ask questions, listen and learn. You are aware of best practices of other organizations and external market conditions.

Mission-driven: You are externally focused and committed to providing the highest level of service while remaining aligned with the mission of the organization. You understand the big picture and easily translate our objectives into program impact. You get what matters to the donors and what serves the mission.

Open/Collaborative: You are happy to listen to others and share your opinions. You understand that it takes a team effort to meet organizational objectives. You are collaborative, possessing an ability to build strong, trusting relationships; you are able to work across departments to get the results and support you need while maintaining these relationships. You demonstrate the ability to understand the needs of an organization.

What’s Attractive to the Right Candidate?

• You will enjoy a stimulating workplace with a substantial mission – you won’t be bored.
• Our campaigns demonstrate our belief that the fight for justice and the movement to protect the health of the planet are part of the same struggle. We are happiest when we are finding new ways to “stir up trouble” and changing the perception of an issue to the public, media, and policy makers.
• Our President genuinely cares about the people who work here, what we are doing, and the impact we are having globally.
• We offer a generous employee benefits program that includes: medical, dental, and life insurance plans; short-term and long-term disability coverage; 403(b) retirement plan; 10 days’ vacation during your first year; and other benefits.

To Apply for the Communications Director position:

You are welcome to apply online, or email a Word version of your resume to Dorsey Davidge at resumes@staffingadvisors.comwith “FOE-Communications Director/2013-1620” in the Subject line of the email. 

We welcome candidates from backgrounds including (but not limited to): Communications Strategy, Media Management, Communications Director, Social Media.