Director of Community Engagement

NASCO is an alliance of group-equity housing cooperatives helping to build a world where every community benefits from resident-controlled housing by educating and organizing youth and emerging leaders to create and care for co-ops in the U.S. and Canada.  We have nearly 40 member cooperatives representing over 4,000 cooperators.

The Director of Community Engagement will cultivate a robust membership base, share and amplify stories from a just cooperative movement, support member involvement in the direction of the organization, and sustain our network by coordinating grant applications and grassroots fundraising campaigns. 

NASCO operates using a non-hierarchical management structure, and this position would participate in management decisions after a probationary period of three months. All staff members are expected to actively participate in the management of the organization. NASCO staff are IWW union members and our Board of Directors recognizes our unionization.

Please share this posting widely! Questions may be directed to info@nasco.coop.

In cooperation,

Team NASCO

 

Position Description

The Director of Community Engagement connects people to the cooperative movement. This position will inform, excite, and empower cooperative members and other stakeholders to connect their co-op experiences and ambitions to the larger mission of NASCO. They will connect NASCO and NASCO members to social justice and anti-oppression work both within and outside of the cooperative movement. The Director of Community Engagement will manage public media platforms (website, email, social media, print) to connect with co-op members and movement partners. They will plan and execute fundraising campaigns. The Director of Community Engagement is also responsible for coordinating member services and communications to NASCO’s members. 

NASCO staff operate under a collective management structure. The DCE will participate in shared management duties as part of the management team, including: hiring, staff evaluation, planning and budgeting, fundraising, board and committee support, and organizational leadership.

All NASCO staff are expected to apply an anti-oppression lens throughout their work with the goal of building politicized leadership among historically marginalized people within NASCO and its membership.

 

Duties of All NASCO Staff

The following are duties of all NASCO Staff:

• As a team, collectively hold executive responsibility for NASCO and NASCO Properties, overseeing the successful functioning of all aspects of the organizations including but not limited to strategic planning, hiring and evaluation of staff, operational and financial management.

• Participate in the delivery and evaluation of NASCO programming, which may include conducting co-op training and health assessments, responding to general inquiries, and travel to member and/or client co-ops.*

• Maintain and cultivate relationships with housing co-ops, including establishing membership agreements, serving as a liaison between member co-ops and NASCO, and promoting NASCO membership to eligible housing co-ops.

• Participate in NASCO governance, including supporting and reporting to the NASCO Board and committees.

 

*In the normal course of business, staff members are not expected to travel more than 12 weekends per year and no more than two in a single month.

 

Duties of Director of Community Engagement

Communications

• Coordinate the Creation and distribution of the NASCO Annual Report

• Create and publish general outreach materials about NASCO's programming and member services

• Maintain and update NASCO's website, including site design and content creation

• Create and send out a monthly newsletter

• Develop and implement social media strategies to engage members

• Design, procure, and coordinate sales of NASCO merchandise

• Develop marketing plans for NASCO events and campaigns

• Design and format graphics and publications for web and print, including but not limited to the Annual Report, the Annual Member Survey Report, educational materials, and event promotions

• Ensure brand and message quality and consistency across all media, programs, and channels of the NASCO Family of Organizations

• Generate and train staff and board on program and campaign talking points

• Monitor movement news and media, keeping staff, board, and membership abreast of the latest developments related to our work

• Seek out and nurture strategic relationships with publications, journalists, and other media partners to advance co-op member stories in increasingly mainstream conversations

• Manage the upkeep of our member communications system, events page, job board, resource page, etc. 

 

Fundraising

• Recruit and retain Individual Members with support from the Director of Leadership Development

• Coordinate individual donor campaigns—including fundraising for Black Equity Scholarships and the Low Income Scholarship Fund for NASCO Institute—with support from the Director of Leadership Development

• Coordinate grant opportunities and applications with support of the Director of Leadership Development.

• Work with the Development Officer to engage board members and staff to assist with fundraising campaigns and foster a culture of philanthropy

• Lead training for staff and board on outreach to potential donors

• Support the Director of Leadership Development and Director of Education in the solicitation of sponsorships for major conferences and events

• Lead research and prospecting to identify new potential funders

• Develop and maintain effective systems for tracking donors, prospects, and other organizational contacts

• Lead the development of long-term fundraising plans with support from the Director of Leadership Development, to be refined in consultation with staff and board

 

Membership

• Maintain a membership database with relevant details about members and their membership history

• Work with the Director of Property Services to serve as coordinator for annual staff visits and health assessments to Non-NP-member cooperatives (with support from the Director of Education if needed)

• Manage the membership renewal process, including preparation for dues invoicing, doing outreach to members, and tracking dues payment (with support from the Director of Leadership Development if needed)

• Develop a strategy for NASCO to engage, recruit, and retain member cooperatives

• Manage an ongoing process of mapping membership, analyzing gaps and recruiting new members

• Hold informational and onboarding conversations with groups that approach NASCO about joining

• Respond to inquiries regarding NASCO membership to ensure any member concerns are promptly, accurately and efficiently addressed

• Identify opportunities for collaboration or peer learning between members and serve as a matchmaker/network weaver

• Work to ensure that the NASCO board and staff team maintain strong relationships with NASCO member co-ops and a well-developed understanding of member co-ops’ needs

• Conduct and implement member surveys and other data-gathering and evaluation projects

• Maintain systems such as CiviCRM for tracking member information and engagement

• Learn the national landscape of cooperative organizations, attend conferences and other events, and make new connections on behalf of NASCO

• Engage alumni of NASCO member co-ops, helping them stay connected to NASCO’s work and to the cooperative movement

 

Governance

• Coordinate annual elections for the NASCO Board (with support from the Director of Development Services if needed)

• Liaise with NASCO's External Affairs Committee, attend monthly meetings, support its work, and provide regular reporting on relevant staff work

 

Required Experience/skills

• A clear commitment to the mission of NASCO, including a commitment to anti-oppression

• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills

• Proficiency in email communication

• Willingness to travel in order to attend Board of Director meetings or training for members

• Commitment to building a sustainable and socially just cooperative movement

• Experience developing a grassroots fundraising program

• Experience with graphic design

• Ability to build strong relationships with movement partners

• Effective use of social media to support community engagement

• Effective communication with a broad range of people in a variety of media, especially young people, people of color, working-class people, women, all gender and sexuality identities, people with disabilities, and anyone who faces systemic economic oppression. 

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Adobe CS, and G Suite

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

• Ability to prioritize tasks and work independently as well as with a team

 

Preferred Experience/skills

• Knowledge of flat management structures and/or collectives. 

• Experience working with and reporting to volunteer boards

• Familiarity with group equity and/or student and/or affordable housing cooperatives

• Use of database software for web publishing and client/member/donor management (especially Drupal or CiviCRM)

• Knowledge of non-profit and membership association structures and governance practices

 

Expectations of all NASCO Staff

All staff members of NASCO shall act in an ethical and considerate manner while conducting work activities and while interacting with board members, officers, employees and members of NASCO-member co-ops and other entities that conduct regular business with NASCO. Staff members recognize that their behavior at any time may reflect on the reputation of the organization and impact the relationships and partnerships of NASCO.

 

Location, salary, and benefits

The Director of Community Engagement is a remote position with a preference for candidates located in the following states: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas, or Oregon.

Salary is $49,270 annually, paid on a monthly basis.

This position is not exempt from Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements. Forty hours of work per week are expected, with some nights and weekends.

Benefits include:

• Fifteen days of vacation each in the first year and second year, twenty days in each year following.

• Ten paid floating holidays plus the work days between Christmas and New Year's (NASCO has set days we are closed, but staff may choose to work those days and use holidays when they choose)

• Sick time as needed

• Health and dental insurance with premiums fully covered by NASCO

• Partial reimbursement for childcare (currently set at $375 per month).

• Generous parental leave (12 weeks fully paid by NASCO, plus the option to extend with vacation time, saved holidays, or unpaid days).

NASCO is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, transgender/genderqueer/non-binary people, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

 

Hiring Process

We anticipate an early October start date for this position.

To apply, please submit your cover letter, resume, portfolio and application by September 8, 2023 to info@nasco.coop. Applicants selected for interviews will be contacted by September 18, and interviews will be held remotely from September 18-22.

Questions may be directed to info@nasco.coop

 

Portfolio

A large piece of the Director of Community Engagement position requires expertise in communications. Please submit a portfolio of your communications work including newsletters, graphics, documents, website content/design, and/or social media artifacts that you have created. These can be forwarded as links, PDF attachments, or screenshots.

 

Application for Director of Community Engagement

Please respond to the following questions:

1. Why do you want to work for NASCO? What aspects of this role are you most drawn to? 

2. What is your experience with cooperatives?

3. Describe your experience working with volunteer boards and your familiarity with non-profit governance.

4. What experience do you have with email marketing services? What customer relationship management (CRM) systems have you used?

5. Can you give us an example of a successful communications project or campaign you led or contributed to? What made it successful?

6. Describe your experience in fundraising and tell us about the largest individual ask you have made. Did you get the gift? Why or why not?

7. Describe your familiarity with grant writing and/or developing partnerships with major funders. What values would inform your approach with this work? 

8. In our work for NASCO, each member of our staff is involved in directly providing training, consulting, and technical assistance to co-ops. Which experiences and skills would you leverage to conduct meaningful trainings for NASCO's members?

9. Describe your experience managing multiple long-term projects or campaigns from start to finish. How do you ensure timeliness and accountability? 

10. What experience do you have with group process and decision-making? Consensus-based decision making?