Communications Associate

About the Afterschool Alliance

The Afterschool Alliance is a national nonprofit working to ensure that all children and youth have access to affordable, quality afterschool and summer programs. Programs help young people learn and grow while providing peace of mind for working families. Our enthusiastic and collaborative team has a strong track record of expanding funding available for local programs and raising awareness of the value of these programs. We are proud that 7 million children have fun, engaging programs after school. But we have much more to do. 22.6 million children are still missing out. Our mission is to close that gap.

Position Summary

We seek a Communications Associate who is excited to support our mission and is passionate about leveraging strong communications, data analytics, and tech tools to educate and engage our audience, all to advance social good. We’re looking for candidates with demonstrated skill in managing and cultivating multiple social media platforms, experience organizing and coordinating efforts across teams, and a passion for crafting messages that resonate with key audiences.

As part of a small communications team, the Communications Associate will have the opportunity to contribute to many aspects of our work, and will be instrumental in developing our social media presence, growing and engaging our audiences, and supporting in-person and virtual events, as well as creating email, blog, and website content. The Associate will help check materials for adherence to our brand and style guide and help execute hallmark events such as Lights On Afterschool and the Afterschool for All Challenge.

Position Details

Team

Communications

Reports To

Director of Communications

Classification

Full-time, exempt, regular employee

Schedule

40 hrs/week.

Location

Washington, D.C. Hybrid, with a consistent schedule of in-office attendance weekly.

Travel

As needed

Major Roles and Responsibilities

Strategy + Content

• Execute integrated social media campaigns around key reports and initiatives, including organic and paid media strategy, to ensure our work reaches and resonates with key audiences
• Draft, schedule, and publish engaging content across all current social media channels (X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube), as well as establish presence on emerging platforms (Bluesky)
• Design compelling graphics for social media as needed, using Canva or Adobe Creative Suite
• Build and engage key audience segments, using analytics and organizational goals to shape strategies and managing audience lifecycle, including lead generation, on-boarding, segmentation and maintenance, and pruning of contact lists.
• Manage analytics for continuous improvement; collect and report communications metrics on website, blogs, and social media to the communications team

Events and Webinars

• Contribute to the strategy, coordination, and execution of in-person and virtual events and presentations
  • For example, drafting invitations/messaging for events/talking points for events, ensuring all event materials are aligned with style guide, providing up-to-the-minute social media coverage of key events, and drafting partner/promotional toolkits
• Support production of livestream, webinar, and video content, particularly using OBS, Restream, Zoom, Canva, Da Vinci Resolve, or Adobe Premiere

Core Communications Operations

• Draft, edit, and proofread concise, accurate, and compelling written and visual content for emails, blogs, social media, and webpages and adjust for specific audiences
• Update sections of www.afterschoolalliance.org on a regular basis and make suggestions for improvements and additions (Wagtail and HTML a plus!)
• Contribute to the style guide for the organization

Qualifications

• Superb writing, editing, and proofing skills; eye for graphic presentation of data and key points
• Experience writing for social media, website, blog, and email
• Experience maintaining audience lists and working with CRMs like Salesforce
• Demonstrated storytelling and creativity skills; strong sense of how to convey the story in data and content, and how to use visuals to make key points land with audiences
• Experience putting together (or assisting with) a dynamic in-person or virtual event
• Experience reporting via analytics software, particularly Google Analytics and SproutSocial
• Ability to learn new systems and software
• Passion for communications that motivate others to act and engage
• Commitment to expanding afterschool and summer opportunities for youth

This Position Could Be a Good Fit for You If…

• You like to write, and you’re good at it. You have experience turning dense or complex research and policy writing into clear, concise, relatable communications and a strong sense of how to use visuals to make key points stand out while staying true to the data.
• You love using data to think about how to improve performance, and are comfortable leveraging and learning tech tools.
• You appreciate working in a small, collaborative team.
• You are flexible, not afraid to raise ideas or questions, and are comfortable asking for help or clarity.
• You’re willing to pitch in and help wherever needed to support the organization.
• You have an eye for detail and take pride in your ability to focus on eliminating typos and creating the clearest communications possible.
• You enjoy weaving together all of the parts required to pull off a dynamic event.
• You believe deeply in our mission.

The Afterschool Alliance reserves the right to update position description and responsibilities as needed.

The Afterschool Alliance is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The Afterschool Alliance is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate and will take affirmative action measures to ensure against discrimination in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.