Communications Manager

The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center (OAEC) is an 80-acre demonstration, education and advocacy center located in western Sonoma County, California. OAEC's work focuses on cultivating ecological literacy and building the capacity of civic and social movement leaders and organizations to guide their communities toward an ecologically regenerative, economically viable, and socially just future.

OAEC is in an exciting moment of program expansion as we celebrate our 30th year of change-making, and build out our Resilient Communities Design Program, launch a large state-funded program through our WATER Institute, and scale-up our Fiscally Sponsored Projects Program. This is a tremendous opportunity for a non-profit communications professional to join OAEC’s passionate staff, building on our decades of impact to collaboratively usher in the next chapter for this organization.

JOB SUMMARY

OAEC seeks a talented and enthusiastic individual to join our experienced, highly effective and joyful staff collective. The Communications Manager contributes effective writing and technical skills towards the success of OAEC’s diverse projects and programs. The Communications Manager reports to OAEC’s Communications Director and works closely with the Executive Director, Office and Events Manager, Development Manager and other staff.

We are accepting applications until 5:00pm PST, Sunday March 23, 2025. Early application is encouraged as applicant screening will begin immediately. The preferred start date is as early in April as possible.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE JOB

Website content, optimization and maintenance:

• Write and publish content to the news blog on the website.
• Regularly review and edit our existing website and develop new content for the site.
• Work with our contracted web developer to create new pages and conduct technical website maintenance.
• Maintain current registration and compliance for the accounts, plugins, security certificates and platforms associated with our website and other communications platforms.

Newsletter, social media communications, and constituent database management:

• Write and publish email newsletters (currently using Mailchimp).
• Coordinate e-communication outreach for OAEC’s plant nursery, courses, events, fundraising appeals, job announcements, and program news.
• Post content on OAEC social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, etc); respond to tags, direct messages and comments, and help grow our audience of followers.
• Like and share our partners’ and allies’ content and events.
• Work with Office Manager on constituent database entry, ensuring consistent labeling/tagging of constituents and events by all staff. Monitor the database’s integration with the website.

Other outreach and documentation:

• Post OAEC events to regional publications and community listservs, and manage our occasional engagement with newspapers, magazine, TV and radio journalists.
• Create print materials such as flyers, letterhead & business cards.
• Ensure consistent, unified use of the OAEC style guide across all OAEC departments.
• Work with Office Manager to serve as contact for all “swag” and merchandise creation and sales.
• Organize and maintain OAEC’s photo archive; respond to internal and external photo requests; and ensure that all media that gets posted publicly has a proper photo credit and model release.
• Coordinate with staff and interns to shoot and gather photos and video of OAEC events and activities for website and social media.

Communications Strategy:

• Meet regularly with Communications Director and Development Manager to unify OAEC’s branding, storytelling, and framing of programmatic work.
• Work with the Communications Director to manage the editorial calendar.
• Attend and/or initiate regular meetings with Program staff to inform OAEC’s Communications calendar and goals.

Core staff responsibilities:

• Utilize the support of the Office Manager and OAEC’s two annual Program Interns on many of the above tasks.
• Participate in weekly Thursday OAEC staff meetings and serve on appropriate committees.
• Participate in the annual staff performance review process.
• Once trained, give occasional public and private tours of OAEC.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE JOB

(Please do not apply if you do not meet the following requirements.)

• At least 3 years experience as a communications manager (or as part of a communications team) at a mission-based non-profit organization. Strong organizational skills with meticulous attention to detail are essential.
• Backend website management experience is required. Must be comfortable with and have a strong appetite for learning and mastering rapidly changing web-based technologies, including the following:
  • Apple Mac computers
  • WordPress and Google Analytics
  • Social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram
  • Google Drive environment (Sheets, Docs, Forms, etc)
  • CRM database (we currently use Non-Profit Easy)
• Exceptional writing skills are a must and experience in copyediting and graphic design is a huge plus. This person will grow into creating beautiful and compelling written and visual content that is in tune with our complex audience(s) and effectively communicates OAEC’s mission and branding.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for working tactfully with the highly diverse community of organizations and individuals who come to OAEC.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with a sense of humor, a positive attitude, and an interest in and ability to help resolve conflicts within organizational relationships.
• Ability to organize and prioritize work, and to be self-motivated and self-managing as this role will require both independent work and work with the entire OAEC staff collective.
• Have great enthusiasm for OAEC’s broader mission and programs that work to create just and sustainable communities.

COMPENSATION, LOCATION AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

• The annual salary for the Communications Manager is $68,000 per year at 40 hours/week. Compensation rates and raises for all staff are set by the OAEC Staff Executive Council, which is elected by the staff collective.
• OAEC offers a paid health and wellness benefit, currently set at 100% of the value of a Kaiser Permanente Silver HMO Plan for each employee, as well as an employee-only contribution 401(k) option, and a cell phone plan stipend of $50/month.
• OAEC offers generous paid time off: a total of 5 weeks and 3 days per year of vacation and floating holidays combined, as well as paid sick time off.
• The Communications Manager will work 5 days per week in one of the offices at OAEC. In the future, they may have some flexibility to work occasional days remotely.
• All staff may enjoy the use of OAEC’s beautiful facilities, including our swimming pond, hot tub and sauna, and wildlands. Staff are invited to harvest from the extraordinary array of organic produce, flowers, and fruit grown in our Mother Garden and orchards.
• When working on-site, staff may participate in the organic meals prepared for retreats and residents by OAEC’s kitchen staff. Staff may take OAEC courses free of charge, and attend the various theater performances, small concerts, talks and celebrations happening on-site throughout the year. We welcome visits from family and friends.