Director, Impact Initiatives

Jumpstart envisions the day when every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. A national early education organization with operations in 14 states plus Washington, DC, Jumpstart drives outcomes for young children in three critical ways. Jumpstart provides language, literacy, and social-emotional direct service programming utilizing an evidence-backed curriculum for preschool children from underserved communities, workforce programming to expand the pipeline of qualified, diverse talent pursuing careers in early education, and policy advocacy to support the early childhood field and promote high-quality early learning for all. By leveraging nearly 30 years of experience serving over 157,900 children with the support of more than 62,500 college students  and community volunteers, Jumpstart executes these three objectives to improve the quality of the early education workforce and increase opportunity for young children to succeed across America. Learn more at www.jstart.org  and join us in transforming the lives of young children!

Position Overview

The Director of Impact Initiatives is a strategic thinker who has the ability to reimagine what’s possible by evolving existing marquee initiatives, developing pilot programs to bring Jumpstart’s impact to evolving market contexts and communities, navigating new trends, and engaging key donors and partners in the next generation of Jumpstart’s work.

Working in close partnership with a highly-integrated marketing and communications team, the director will design and deliver next-generation funding streams, partnerships, and brand elevation that support the organization’s mission today and build a funding and engagement plan beyond 2025 with a central focus on a year round approach to designing and implementing Jumpstart’s annual global literacy campaign, Read for the Record, that engages over 2 million participants each year.

This role reports to the Senior Director of Marketing, Communications and Brand and manages one direct report. As with all positions of Jumpstart this role is responsible for embedding our DEI values in all aspects of the work.

Specific Responsibilities

Scaling Jumpstart’s Impact & Developing Pilots

• Design and develop plan to grow and diversify revenue streams around Read for the Record—working closely with publishing partners and collaboratively with Development and MarCom teams (as well as across the organization’s Education and Research and Programs teams) to deepen engagement with Read for the Record participants and other core constituent groups, i.e. Alumni
• Provide strategic direction and oversight for annual Read for the Record campaign, including overall project management, key performance metrics, reporting, and day-to-day implementation
• Align increased revenue with number of annual participants with goal of minimum of $2M over the next 3 to 5 years.
• Manage key campaign relationships, including relationship with annual publishing partners and select RFTR partners, ensuring effective collaboration and identifying strategic growth opportunities
• Manage annual campaign publisher proposal process, ensuring organizational alignment and key stakeholder buy-in throughout
• Manage a budget of ~$500K for Read for the Record
• Provide strategic direction for Read for the Record and Jumpstart virtual and in person events.

Driving Public Awareness

• Work collaboratively with Marketing and Communications and Development teams as well as external vendors on messaging and campaigns that maximize public awareness and inspire action
• Communicate effectively with key stakeholders regarding Read for the Record and other Jumpstart initiatives
• Represent Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign across the early childhood and publishing fields, including at conferences, presentations, etc.

Operations and Logistics

• Maintain Read for the Record campaign inventory, working in close collaboration with Dev-Ops to streamline processes
• •Ensure accurate data and record-keeping in systems (such as Salesforce, shared drives, etc) to support campaign analysis and inform future planning
• Oversee campaign book shipping and fulfillment processes (including fulfillment center vendor management) through collaboration with Dev-Ops to ensure successful campaign operations

People Management, Evaluation, and Learning

• Manage, mentor, and support one direct report that will manage Read for the Record and Jumpstart virtual and in person events as well as Influencer (Literacy Champion) engagement
• Sets up direct report to do their best work, develop professionally, and navigate challenges through regular 1:1s, goal setting and performance reviews, and day-to-day support in order to retain direct reports and support them in retaining their teams
• Collaborate with cross-functional team to analyze and report on real-time performance, including sales, logistics, media, and marketing analytics.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Communications and Dev-Ops teams to define, report, and interpret analytic results for all channels. Leverage analytical insights to drive effective decisions.
• Actively seek to develop innovative strategies to grow and/or streamline campaign
• Monitor competitive landscape, campaign participation, and continue to assess and define key campaign priorities through collaboration with Development and Marketing and Communications teams

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree plus 5+ years of related professional experience (ideally in marketing, communications, campaigns, public relations, media relations, sales, or another relevant field)
• Experience managing integrated multi-channel campaigns
• Experience with digital marketing and activations
• Strong track record of achievement in mission-driven organizations managing projects that focus on the intersection of education, equity, public engagement, and fundraising
• Visionary with ability to combine strategic direction and detail-oriented project management
• Strong people and project management skills: ability to conceive, lead, organize, and execute
• Experience and comfort working with individuals from diverse backgrounds and communities
• On-going commitment and interest in social justice or diversity, equity and inclusion work
• Commitment to Jumpstart’s core values of learning, social justice, community, joy, and inclusive leadership

Preferred or Ideal

• Knowledge of the children’s book publishing industry and early literacy sector

Travel

Minimum of 20% travel

Start Date

April 2023 (desired start date, yet position open until filled)

Location

Flexible locations from one of Jumpstart’s offices in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.

Applicants must be able to work from one of these locations on a full-time basis. Telecommuting options possible through Jumpstart’s formal approval process.

Salary & Benefits

$100,000 – $106,000 – commensurate with education and experience; along with excellent benefits and a great mission-driven work environment