JOB SUMMARY

The Chief Communications Officer (CCO) is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) senior leadership team and is responsible for the planning and execution of communications strategies that maximize ACLU-VA’s statewide impact and its ability to achieve its mission, goals, and objectives. The CCO is responsible for building and boosting the public brand of the affiliate, ensuring strategic consistency, and growing public awareness of ACLU-VA as an organization. The ACLU-VA communications program includes media relations, event management, web presence, social media, multimedia materials, and community outreach. The CCO works closely with other members of the organization’s staff under an integrated advocacy model that includes public education, litigation, lobbying, and grassroots organizing. As a member of the senior leadership team, the CCO participates in setting and supporting organizational goals and priorities, culture, and strategic planning. The CCO develops and manages the organization’s communications budget, and partners with development on donor engagement strategies and communications that assist in raising funds to carry out the ACLU-VA mission. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership & Management

• Build and direct a strong, well-designed, well-defined strategic communications and brand program that promote civil liberties and civil rights and the impact of the organization across the Commonwealth and empowers members, supporters, and the public to help ACLU-VA achieve its mission and strategic policy objectives.
• Build a strong, skilled communications team. Make hiring recommendations and follow organizational process for recruiting, interviewing, and hiring new staff. Train, develop, and actively supervise and evaluate the work of the members of the communications team, including developing work plans, managing personnel situations, facilitating a positive team culture, and holding staff accountable.
• Strategically map staff career development opportunities and encourage professional development plans to help staff meet career goals.
• Actively train staff and board members and other community leaders to be effective ACLU-VA messengers, serving as an internal coach on effective public speaking, press interactions, writing, social media, and other communications strategies.
• Lead communications research efforts such as public polling or surveying key constituencies to inform messaging and communications goals.
• Develop metrics for measuring the effectiveness of the communications programs of the affiliate and oversee the preparation of regular reports.
• Develop and manage the annual budget for all communications efforts.
• Help build and foster community relations through providing communications expertise to priority coalitions with partner organizations and grow relationships with community members.
• As part of the senior leadership team, work to envision and build a healthy organizational culture.

Strategic Communications

• Build the brand of ACLU-VA, boosting public awareness of the organization and its work and ensuring style and message consistency across various target audiences, issue areas, and time for cohesive public understanding of who the organization is and what it does.
• Serve as a spokesperson for the ACLU-VA.
• Provide strategic integrated communications support for ACLU programs and campaigns and ensure that all functional teams are aligned including legal, advocacy organizing, development, and communications teams to build a groundswell of public support for the ACLU-VA brand.
• Provide strategic donor communications plans to support the efforts of the Development team to grow the member and donor base.
• Collaborate with the Communications Director on media outreach strategies that result in accurate, fair, and equitable coverage of our issues and work.
• Oversee development and implementation of a strategic and targeted calendar of public speaking engagements that maximizes opportunities to build public awareness of and support for the ACLU-VA brand and its strategic objectives and programmatic goals across diverse communities and audiences statewide.
• Oversee multimedia public education campaigns designed to extend the impact of the ACLU-VA’s legislative, legal, and policy advocacy.
• Serve as final approver of all external-facing communications in accordance with the ACLU-VA Communications Policy.
• Oversee the implementation and periodic review of the communications policy.
• Oversee the preparation and implementation of crisis communications plans when needed for public facing audiences.

SALARY RANGE: The salary range for this position is $67,900 to $139,847, with a midpoint of $103,873.50.  To preserve the opportunity for advancement, we do not typically hire above the mid-point of the range.   In addition, we offer excellent benefits including paid time off, generous paid holidays, a 401k plan with employer contribution, flexible spending account, paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, 50% employer-paid dependent medical coverage, life insurance, annual sick leave, short-term and long-term disability insurance, professional development allowances, and extended leave to include parental leave after one year of employment. 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• A commitment to the mission and goals of the ACLU, and to racial justice and civil rights issues, and an understanding that these issues are central to the overall protection of civil liberties.
• Working knowledge and broad understanding of civil liberties and civil rights issues, integrated advocacy, and strategic communications.
• Significant professional, managerial and leadership experience in strategic communications and media relations including:

- Experience managing organizational brands.

- Experience crafting strategic and creative communications approaches and plans. 

- Experience serving as a spokesperson for campaigns or organizations.

- Experience writing, editing, and producing effective communications materials for publication in print and online.

- Experience effectively managing, supervising, and developing individual staff and building and developing teams.

• Ability to provide clear direction, set priorities, meet deadlines, and hold staff accountable to deadlines on concurrent projects in a fast-paced, occasionally stressful environment.
• Ability to work collaboratively toward strategic project and program solutions across functional teams.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with diverse communities and people.
• Willingness and availability to work beyond the normal workday, on weekends, and/or more than 40 hours a week as necessary.
• Willingness and ability to travel throughout Virginia, and occasionally to other states for conferences and training.
• Proficiency with office technology and information systems. 
• A commitment to diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion, to refrain from unlawful discrimination and to comply fully with all applicable laws; a personal approach that values the individual and respects differences of race, ethnicity and national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability and socio-economic circumstance, and the ability to work with diverse individuals within the organization and broader community.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Excellent writing, speaking and analytical skills.
• Strong self-motivation with a creative and resilient mindset focused on creating solutions to identified problems.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to plan, coach others on planning, and provide meaningful constructive feedback on the planning and execution of programs.
• Ability to identify and segment multiple audiences, determine the best distribution channels for each audience, and transform key messaging points depending on the intended audience in order to ensure the highest impact level.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and the ability to have constructive conversations about difficult issues.
• Skill and comfort in proactively building relationships with diverse audiences.

DESIRABLE SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Experience working at an organization with an integrated advocacy model where legal, policy, organizing and communications tactics are used collaboratively and cohesively to achieve results.
• Experience in the non-profit sector.
• Access to reliable transportation.
• Ability to speak and/or write in Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Arabic, or other language spoken by a language minority in Virginia.

EQUIPMENT USED

• Computer, phone, copier, scanner

DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this job description restricts the Executive Director's right to assign other duties or responsibilities to this job at any time.

The ACLU of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, bi- or multi-lingual (including Indigenous languages) speakers, multi-cultural individuals, members of the LGBTQ community, those who have been formerly incarcerated or are currently under supervision, and other people from underrepresented and historically marginalized groups. We seek to build a diverse team and an inclusive organizational culture. All qualified applicants who share our vision and who have a desire to contribute to our mission are encouraged to apply.