Position: ASSOCIATE, DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Grade: 2

Salary Range: $47,298 – 53,211

*Senior Associate salary range – $56,167 – 59,123

About Us: Delta Institute

Delta Institute collaborates with communities to solve complex environmental challenges throughout the Midwest. We address Midwestern environmental, economic, and climate challenges today, so that our home and region are more resilient, equitable, and innovative tomorrow.

Delta exists because environmental, economic, and climate issues hit communities—urban and rural—through disinvestment, systemic inequity, and policy decisions. We collaborate at the community level to solve our home region’s new and legacy issues, by focusing on the self-defined goals and needs of our partners.

Our work takes us to population centers like Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit; to mid-sized cities such as Gary and South Bend, Indiana; to Great Lakes coastal towns like Michigan City, Indiana and Muskegon, Michigan; and to rural communities and watersheds with tens of thousands of acres of farmland and waterways across our region. It’s quite likely that you—or someone you know—lives, works, or passes through a community that Delta has helped since our founding in 1998.

Functional Hive – Development and Communications

Delta’s Development and Communications platform is undergoing expansion focused on growing unrestricted and project-additive revenue from individual, foundation, and corporate sources through the creation of a robust individual giving strategy, grant platform expansion, and event planning. We have undertaken substantial communications realignment and expansion over the past two years, telling our story from a strategic- and impact-focused perspective.

Further, Delta’s innate culture of innovation and growth provides a blue-sky opportunity to pursue fresh avenues of support, and the excitement that our “sky’s the limit” approach offers staff collaborators—allowing this position the opportunity to identify new ways of doing and thinking as we explore Delta’s leadership in the nonprofit sector.

Core Skillset

An Associate performs specific program, administrative or organizational development-related tasks.  Associates are directed in their work on a day-to-day basis and may manage grants, contracts or projects with some direction from leadership.  Other core skillset attributes are:

• Provide moderate support and technical assistance to Delta staff
• Work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders
• Complete both operational and programmatic tasks and initiatives
• Timely and accurate completion of all deliverables
• Have intermediate analytical and problem solving skills
• Have strong written and verbal communication skills
• Have working knowledge of environmental and economic issues, especially those in the Midwest

Associate, Development and Communications Position Specifics

What you’ll be doing:

• Spending most of your time on communications and marketing tasks, with some collaborative work on fundraising (as assigned)
• External communication and coordination with partners and clients
• Responsible for the following communications platforms: Bespoke E-blasts and Monthly Newsletter
• Manage and author engaging, fun, and informative social media posts across Delta’s channels on a consistent posting basis
• Website updates, inclusive of: SEO/AdWords maintenance, Project Pages, and Blog/Event/News posts
• Responsible for graphics creation that are engaging, fun, and informative
• Create project communications plan and templates
• Collect quantitative and qualitative data and translate information into meaningful, high quality programmatic deliverables, as assigned
• Create presentations and reports while providing branding review as assigned
• Responsible for conference tracking/submission management
• Responsible for project communications calendaring
• Help develop and format speeches, talking points, collateral, and presentations for programmatic team
• Responsible for basic events administration
• Understand and think holistically about Delta and its projects
• Work collaboratively with the Programs and Development and Communications teams

What you’ll have:

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in communications or related field or equivalent experience
• At least 2-4 years of professional experience
• A reasonable portfolio of work to share as part of the application process
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills and the ability to synthesize complex information and concisely translate it to a variety of stakeholders and audiences
• Detail oriented approach with good organizational skills, be a self-starter, motivated and enjoy working in a team environment
• Proactive communication style, both internally and externally, especially with respect to timeline and budget
• Proficient in Microsoft Office programs and comfort with Google Drive required
• Proficiency with Adobe Acrobat Suite; Design systems like InDesign, Canva or comparable is a plus
• Proficiency with WordPress and the Divi Builder is a plus
• Proficiency with email marketing systems, such as eTapestry, MailChimp, Constant Contact, and comparable is a plus
• Ability to organize, analyze, and visualize data
• Be able to work in a fast-paced environment, manage multiple tasks and deadlines, and manage work in sometimes ambiguous situations

Core competencies are the values and defined behaviors that we believe are central to the ability of every employee to do the work of the Delta Institute. These core competencies are a combination of knowledge, skills and behaviors that are the mark of a good Delta employee. Core competencies are a distinguishing characteristic of Delta employees for our clients, customers and stakeholders. They are a visible demonstration of our shared values and are evident in how we work together. Individuals can be at different levels of ability on a specific core competency which is why we measure ability each year and provide feedback and development suggestions.

All Delta employees have these core competencies:

• Adaptive
• Cooperative
• Equitable
• Passionate
• Pragmatic
• Transparent
• Tenacious

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Continually required to sit
• Continually required to utilize hand and finger dexterity
• Continually required to climb, balance, bend, stoop, kneel or crawl
• Continually required to talk or hear
• While performing the duties of this job, the noise level in the work environment is usually moderate
• The employee must occasionally lift and /or move up to 10 pounds

Delta offers its employees a competitive salary with a robust benefits package that includes generous paid time off, 401k, and medical, dental & vision insurance. Delta is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please email application packet (one PDF) that includes the following:

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• 2 examples of prior communications work, such as graphics, designed materials, newsletters, and/or other types of writing samples

All as one PDF to: careers@delta-institute.org
Subject line: Associate, Development & Communications  
Application submission due date: December 5, 2023 
No phone calls, please.