COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR(Permanent, full-time)

POSITION TITLE: COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
POSITION CLASSIFICATION: DIRECTOR, EXEMPT
REPORTS TO: BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECT REPORT(S): TBD

Location: Hybrid, with a significant proportion of time working onsite in our downtown
Vancouver office (subject to COVID-19 precautions)Schedule: 40 hours per week, some flexibility in scheduling
Compensation: $70-80,000/year, generous paid leave, extended health benefits
available on commencement

About us: SWAN Vancouver is a non-profit organization with offices located on
the stolen ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh
Nations; our work takes us to and through the unceded territories of many other
Nations. Through frontline services and systemic advocacy, SWAN promotes the
rights, health, and safety of im/migrant women who are engaged in indoor sex
work. Centering safety, rights, self-determination, equity, and integrity, SWAN is
an anti-racist, intersectional feminist organization that prioritizes the voices, lived
realities, and needs of the im/migrant women we serve. All of the women
accessing SWAN’s services are racialized, and our service and work are strongly
influenced by multiple and varied intersections they experience in their lives,
including race, class, age, socioeconomic and immigration status, language, and
ability.

The opportunity: SWAN is looking for a Communications Director who is
passionate about SWAN’s mission and skilled in communications and
fundraising in an advocacy and service provision context. SWAN has recently
gone through a period of significant growth; you, the ideal candidate, are excited
to deepen relationships with SWAN’s supporters and lead SWAN’s growing
team in holding organizational relationships with intention and purpose. You are
a collaborative and thoughtful leader who communicates clearly and honestly,
engages people in planning and decision-making processes, and brings your commitment to intersectional feminism and anti-racism into every aspect of your work.

The Communications Director is a new leadership position at SWAN, leading
communications and fundraising (both individual and institutional) efforts within
a small non-profit team (currently 8-10 staff). SWAN has shifted to a
collaborative 3-director leadership team model: Program Director, Operations
Director, and Communications Director, who jointly report to the Board of
Directors.

To succeed in this role, the Communications Director must be a strong
communicator and relationship builder and have a collaborative approach to
leadership. SWAN seeks a team member with the ability to work effectively with
people from various abilities, life situations, and cultural backgrounds. Language
skills in Cantonese, Mandarin, and/or other languages spoken by im/migrant
women who are engaged in indoor sex work in Metro Vancouver are a strong
asset, as is experience leading communications in a bilingual or multilingual
environment.

The successful candidate will serve as a passionate, visionary leader whose
primary role is to build and steward SWAN’s connections with our supporters,
community partners, and the general public through effective communications,
fundraising, and strategic coordination.

SWAN recognizes that people from communities who experience
marginalization (e.g., on the basis of gender, ethnicity, citizenship/immigration
status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, involvement in sex work) may
be less likely to apply for leadership positions. We strongly encourage you to
apply if you have a passion for SWAN’s mission and meet the required
qualifications and competencies.

We welcome applications from people for whom this would be their first director-level
role. Applicants with lived experience in sex work, immigration and/or the migrant work
sector will be given preference.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:
Communications and Brand Management
• Oversee SWAN’s communication’s strategy, including all internal and
external communications (e.g., emails, newsletters, blog posts, website
content, social media posts); collaborate with staff to ensure effective
implementation.

• Provide strategic oversight and management of SWAN’s public-facing brand,
including online and social media presence, messaging, and marketing.
• Oversee and/or create graphic design.
• Coordinate, train, and support SWAN spokespeople; act as a SWAN
spokesperson as appropriate.
• Collaborate with the Operations Director and other team members as
appropriate regarding digital security policies and practices.
Fundraising
• Collaborate with the Programs Director and Operations Director on fundraising
strategy and implementation, with a focus on grassroots and major donor
fundraising, fundraising infrastructure, and communications.
• Develop and implement both grassroots and major donor acquisition and
stewardship strategies, with support from staff.

Portfolio Management
• Assess, develop and manage communications and fundraising to achieve
the goals outlined in SWAN’s Strategic Plan.
• Lead budgeting and financial management for communications and
fundraising areas, as part of SWAN’s overall budgeting process.
• Provide effective management, guidance, mentoring, and professional
development opportunities to direct report(s) to empower a dedicated
team to perform well in their time with SWAN and support their career
goals.

Leadership
• Work collaboratively as part of the leadership team to ensure the health
and effectiveness of the organization and its people, to develop and
implement strategy, and ensure that the organization is effectively
governed.
• Lead by example in using consensus building as a tool to empower staff in
making and enacting decisions and being accountable to each other, our
supporters, SWAN’s community partners and most importantly the women
we serve. Provide supervision to staff as needed.
• Oversee risk management strategies in the areas of organizational
reputation, compliance with Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) and Canada
Revenue Agency tax receipting requirements, communications/fundraising
infrastructure security, and donor relations and privacy.

QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES:
We strongly encourage you to apply if you have a passion for SWAN’s mission and
meet the below requirements:
• You share a strong passion and alignment in values with the work SWAN does
and what SWAN stands for
• 4+ years of organizational communications experience, at least 1 year at a
management / director level preferred
• 2+ years of experience in non-profit or community-focused work
• 2+ years of fundraising experience (especially leading individual giving, digital
fundraising, and/or fundraising for an advocacy organization)
• A strong professional aptitude for technology, including Microsoft Office Suite;
small office technology; Customer/Client/Constituent Relationship Management
systems (we currently use SUMAC); WordPress; MailChimp or other similar
newsletter/digital communications platforms; and Canva or similar basic graphic
design.
• The ability to provide effective feedback regarding organizational communications,
including graphic design, messaging, and public education, including related to
time-sensitive and/or politically sensitive issues.
• The ability to synthesize complex issues and effectively communicate them to
diverse audiences.
• The ability to communicate clearly and build relationships of trust both inside and
outside the organization, including with people with different identities and life
experiences from you, and with different policy views.
• The ability to represent SWAN to other organizations, advocates, policymakers,
the media, and other stakeholders.
• The ability to coach, coordinate, manage, and train colleagues as appropriate.
• Emotional intelligence and understanding of how power and marginalization
function in organizations, and the ability to lead and communicate with composure
when faced with difficult interactions.
• A highly collaborative approach as well as the ability to work independently.
• The ability to take responsibility for the position responsibilities identified above,
including identifying where you will require additional training or external
assistance in order to succeed.

The following are considered additional assets (we do not expect any one candidate
to have all of these and in several cases can provide significant mentorship and/or
training):
• SWAN is particularly interested in considering applications from
Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to reflect and support the
majority of im/migrant women served by SWAN.
• Policy knowledge and/or education relevant to SWAN’s mission.
• Experience with frontline community-serving work, particularly for
racialized or otherwise marginalized people and communities.
• Experience (paid or volunteer) working with integrity in coalitions or social
movements which are aligned with SWAN’s values.
• Experience leading or coordinating communications and/or public
education efforts in a bilingual or multilingual environment.
• Experience working (particularly managing people) in a bilingual environment.
• Experience with media relations and/or journalism.
• Experience acting as an organizational spokesperson, comfort with public
speaking.
• Experience with fundraising software and knowledge of digital security best
practices.
• Experience managing project and/or departmental budgets.
• Proven experience at integrating the principles of social justice, decolonizing
practices, trauma-informed practice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in both
theory and practice.
• Experience with succession planning and/or change management.
• Experience with non-profit governance and/or creating inclusive, welcoming
spaces for volunteers and women who access SWAN’s services.
• Experience (paid or volunteer) in an organization that undertakes politically
sensitive advocacy work.

APPLICATION PROCESS:
The application deadline is November 13, 2022 at 11:59pm. Interested individuals are
encouraged to submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@swanvancouver.ca. Please
send PDFs with your full name first in the file name,
e.g. WaiChenResume, HsuAmandaCoverLetter.

The hiring team may adapt the recruitment process as needed in order to understand
candidates’ potential to succeed in this role. Currently, we anticipate that this
selection process will include:

• Shortlisting, likely involving a short phone screening call
• A time-limited practical round (modest honorarium offered)
• An interview, which will be via video call
• Reference checks (please be prepared to provide the names and contact info
for three references who can speak to your experience and potential for this
role)

We hope to make an offer to the successful candidate by mid-December. We hope
that the successful candidate will be available to start by mid-January but can be
flexible for the right person (for example, if the candidate would need to relocate from
another community).

The hiring team intends to contact all candidates who submit a complete application
with updates on their progress through our selection process. We ask that candidates
do not call the office. We thank all candidates for their interest and time in applying to
the position.