CAREERS

Communications & Social Impact Manager 

 

Job Posting: November 2024

Location: Madison, Wisconsin or Central America

Deadline: December 6th, 2024

 

Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is an award winning, historic,  nonprofit social impact fund based in Madison, Wisconsin that invests in microfinance and social services to improve the lives of low-income business owners in eight countries in Central and South America. WCCN will be implementing a two-year strategic plan starting in 2025, focused on fundraising, with the hopes of doubling its size and impact in the next five years. This position will be critical to helping us understand and evaluate our current impact and communicating it in a way that resonates with relevant stakeholders. 

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WCCN offers the exciting opportunity to help shape the future of its communications and social impact strategy. Not only will the position be tasked with better understanding and communicating WCCN’s current impact, it will also help determine and shape the impact we wish to have moving forward. As such, the work of the Communications and Social Impact Manager is divided between research, developing strategy and communications. The position will benefit from the help of an experienced graphic designer as well as the Executive Director and Board of Directors. If desired, the Communications and Social Impact Manager can contract interns to help with some of the work as well. 

 

WCCN is open to the candidate being located in Madison, Wisconsin, where WCCN has an office, or potentially in Central America where the majority of WCCN’s microfinance partners are located. Candidate must be willing to travel regionally and internationally for their work and to represent WCCN at conferences and events. The Communications & Social Impact Manager will be responsible for developing a holistic communications strategy and plan for both internal and external communications and working with staff and other stakeholders to implement that plan. This position will help the ED and Director of Lending develop content for WCCN’s marketing and communications by interviewing the CEOs and managers of our partner institutions in Latin America, and from time to time traveling to Latin America to interview our end borrowers. Central to the role is Impact Measurement and Management (IMM): collecting, aggregating, and reporting on WCCN’s social impact in collaboration with WCCN staff and consultants. 

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External Communications

 

Develop Communications and Marketing Strategy 

 

Print/Web 

• Annual Report 

• Social Impact Report

• Quarterly Newsletter 

• Website 

• Investment Brochure and Application

• Other materials 

 

Social Media 

• Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn

• WCCN Presence on Other Sites such as Guidestar, etc.

• May manage interns to help with social media and other communications 

• Record/Edit short videos for YouTube/Social Media 

 

Other

• Quarterly reports to investors, and possible annual investor calls. 

• Reading and analyzing academic articles and peer institution reports on impact and trends, social media, etc. to ensure WCCN’s materials are relevant in the development space, and to get ideas for WCCN materials

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Content Development 

• Interview managers and borrowers of microfinance partners in Latin America

• Interview investors, donors, current and past board members, and other WCCN community members

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Reporting 

• Simple Reporting to ED and Accountant on monthly basis 

• Simple Quarterly Reporting to WCCN Board 

• Quarterly and Annual Reporting to Investors 

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Promotion 

• Presentations to groups about WCCN and its impact  

• Meetings with institutional and individual investors/donors (may require travel) 

• Investigate leads for large investment/grant opportunities

• Travel to national and international conferences on behalf of WCCN to seek out investment for our mission 

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Marketing Trips 

• Travel to interview partners and borrowers 

• Collect borrower stories, photos, videos and other content 

 

Internal Communications

 

Liaise with Board of Directors 

• Schedule committee and full-board meetings

• Ensure board members have materials and other tools they need to fundraise and recruit new board members 

 

Social Impact Measurement & Reporting

 

Measure & Report on Social Impact 

• Travel to Latin America and visit with partners to help understand our impact, both quantitative and qualitative 

• Opportunity to work with other funders to help partners in Latin America better capture their impact through new measurement tools

• Refine monitoring and evaluation instrumentation to complete annual social impact measurement deep dive alongside team of consultants

• Collaborate with team to compile, clean, and analyze data

• Draft impact report

• Work with graphic designer to produce report

• Publicize report and findings in an engaging way

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Minimum Qualifications:  

 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Knowledge of and interest in social media platforms 

• Capacity to meet deadlines, work occasional nights and weekends (especially on trips to  Latin America) 

• Native or near native Spanish (able to conduct interviews with Spanish-only stakeholders),  ability to translate written English/Spanish and vice versa 

• Experience with social impact measurement or other statistical analysis 

• Demonstrated ability to be resilient in the face of adversity

• Understanding of and ability to adapt to multicultural environments

• Imperturbable and open to new experiences 

• Ability to travel internationally (may require overnight flights) and ability to be away from homebase for extended periods, and ability to lift 25 lbs. 

• Willingness and ability to work in impoverished neighborhoods in Latin America for extended periods, where there are few resources  

• Valid passport

• Ability to work under minimal supervision

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Desired Qualifications:

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• Masters degree in international relations, international development, public administration, political science, communications, marketing, or similar

• Be based in either Madison, Wisconsin or Central America

• Experience in the microfinance or economic development field. 

• Knowledge of IRIS+ metrics and SDG’s. 

 

Salary commensurate with experience. This is a full-time position with health and retirement benefits. WCCN offers a flexible work environment including remote work policies, vacation and sick time, holidays and parental leave. 

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To apply for this position, please submit a resume, cover letter, three professional work  references of people you have worked directly with, and three examples of materials you have drafted or designed for social media or other publications. Send all materials to info@wccn.org with the subject “Communications & Social Impact Manager Position” in the subject line. 

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Research reveals that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs for which they do not meet every qualification. At WCCN, we aim for a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if this looks like an exciting opportunity and you meet most qualifications in the list above, we encourage you to apply.