Manager, Events and Communications

JOB DESCRIPTION

POSITION TITLE: Manager, Events and Communications

DEPARTMENT: Corporate Communications & Stakeholder Engagement

COMPANY: Skills for Change

LOCATION: 791 St. Clair Ave West, Toronto ON

REPORTS TO: VP, Corporate Communications & Stakeholder Engagement

CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent (non-unionized)

HOURS: 35 hours per week (Monday - Friday with occasional evening and/ or weekend hours)

SALARY: Commensurate with Experience

START DATE: Immediately

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Open until filled


COMPANY:

Located on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, Skills for Change is working towards advancing the Sustainable Development Goals for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Named Charity Village’s Best Non-Profit Employer - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and winner of the 2021 Canada Volunteer Awards for innovation, our organization is committed to reducing poverty, improve mental health, eliminating gender-based violence, building community, eradicating systemic racism, and settling and creating sustainable communities for all immigrants, refugees, and underserved communities. Start your career with SfC and join our 41-year history of creating innovative programming to build welcoming and equitable communities.


GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY:

Founded in 1982, Skills for Change is a leading non-profit organization serving immigrants and refugees in Canada. Our mission is to build welcoming and equitable communities. Skills for Change is known for pioneering programs that respond to shifting immigration and workplace trends and lead to employment. We create skills development opportunities for immigrants and refugees to access and fully participate in the workplace and wider community. Our Agency has played a major role in uplifting immigrant and equity-seeking communities for 40 years. As one of the leading holistic service providers in our sector, Skills for Change offers more than 25 programs and services, and annually serves 16,000 people who are newcomers, immigrants, and equity-seeking groups in services around employment, integration, mental health, leadership, entrepreneurship, and more.

Skills for Change is working to:

  • Reduce poverty through decent jobs,

  • Settle newcomers to build a life in Canada,

  • Improve Mental Health and Wellbeing,

  • Build skills to promote increased labour market freedom,

  • Advocate for environmentally sustainable and healthy communities,

  • Combat social and professional isolation through mentorship and networking,

  • Help underserved seniors to make friends and be digitally safe,

  • Empower entire communities to work towards eradicating systemic racism,

  • Provide youth with equal access to opportunities,

  • Promote gender equality.


PROGRAM NATURE AND SCOPE:

Skills for Change believes that our collective impact in creating meaningful change for immigrants and refugees can happen through opportunities to engage in actionable conversations. As we enter our 41st year of programming, Skills for Change hosts over 100 events annually for our clients, including to support their employment journey and to celebrate and build awareness for our cause. We are seeking a dynamic events manager who is skilled in creating opportunities for community to come together, relationship building and revenue generation to be our next Manager of Events and Communications. Reporting to the VP, Corporate Communications & Stakeholder Engagement, and a key member of the management team, Manager of Events and Communications will create net new engaging event concepts to build upon SfC’s signature events series and to support our settlement, employment, sustainability and trades programs, develop and execute large and small scale events and workshops, including creating revenue generation strategies, in support of SfC’s mandate – providing opportunities for immigrants and refugees in Canada across economic integration and training, mental health, entrepreneurship, gender-based violence elimination, settlement, research, convening and celebrating their exceptional contributions to Canadian society.


THE CANDIDATE HAS:

  • Believes in the power of social programs to help people build a better life.

  • Believes in the power of creating community.

  • A passion for advocating immigrant issues and their access to economic prosperity.

  • Flexible, responsive, and open to new ways of thinking and problem-solving and a willingness to learn.

  • Believes that collaboration is the name of the game to get things done.

  • Has the drive to lead teams to build actionable conversations

  • Innovative and creative thinking competencies to generate maximum exposure for SfC’s programs through events.

  • Experience developing and managing budgets with knowledge and understanding of financial management and reporting.

  • People management experience, hiring, training, developing and managing performance.

  • Experience in program design, writing funding proposals and policy development.

  • Proven negotiation skills and ability to communicate in cross-cultural environments


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Strategically evaluate the effectiveness of events and communications initiatives against organizational goals, providing leadership in the enhancement of processes to meet and exceed objectives.

  • Foster collaboration with program teams to ensure events and communications strategies are fully integrated with program and fundraising goals, enhancing the visibility and impact of the organization's initiatives.

  • Provide strategic oversight of the event planning and communications calendar, ensuring alignment with the organization’s strategic plan and key messaging.

  • Lead the development of innovative event formats and communication campaigns that engage diverse audiences and stakeholders, including digital and hybrid event solutions.

  • Collaborate with program directors to align event themes and content with the organization's advocacy and programmatic priorities, ensuring a coherent narrative.

  • Initiate and lead regular strategy sessions with key stakeholders, including program teams and external partners, to ensure a cohesive approach to events and communication efforts.

  • Drive the development and implementation of best practices in event management and communications, leading to improved efficiency and effectiveness across the organization.

  • Champion a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging feedback and analytics to guide strategic planning and execution of event and communication activities.

  • Mentor and develop team members, providing guidance in strategic thinking and effective communication to strengthen the organization's brand and impact through events.

  • Successfully lead all Agency-wide events and campaigns that generate awareness and build funds for the organization.

  • Manage stakeholder engagement and communications for production, content development, logistics and coordination (speakers, sponsors, suppliers) for Agency-wide events

  • Develop communications to promote events, including working with the Marketing team on social media engagement, develop press releases and media advisories, and manage all special invites.

  • Manage event sponsor benefit delivery (Standard Events, Signature Events and Season Sponsors)

  • Day to day supplier management and negotiations.

  • Responsible for developing and reconciling event budgets

  • Oversight on database management and maintenance

  • Oversight on tracking, measurement, and analysis of marketing metrics for events

  • Plan and manage the production and execution of all signature events such as our Diversity@Work Conference, Pioneers for Change gala and Women in Skilled Trades national program. 

  • Ensure a superior event experience for attendees, sponsors, donors, and key stakeholders

  • Be the primary liaison for event partners including but not limited to performers, vendors, volunteers, artists, etc.

  • Lead the recruitment, training, and management of event volunteers

  • Other duties as assigned


People Management

  • Supervisor a team, including coaching, training, mentoring, and development

  • Recruit, train, support, develop, promote, guide and manage employee performance.


QUALIFICATIONS

  • 7+ years of event management and event marketing experience, preferably in a non-profit organization

  • Bachelor’s degree or College Diploma in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Event Management or related field is mandatory.

  • Experience planning and executing in-person, virtual, and hybrid events

  • Experience in identifying, developing and managing innovative partnerships, strategic alliances and relationships both in the private and public sectors such as university, industry, nonprofit, etc.

  • Experience developing and executing event marketing campaigns via owned and social media channels

  • Strong written and verbal communication and problem-solving skills; ability to communicate with confidence with executive level stakeholders

  • Experience contributing to content development, preferably content that is educational or in the thought leadership category

  • Ability to operate in a digital-first environment using digital tools including database management software, virtual event registration software, and WordPress content management software

  • Experience working with volunteer leadership in the delivery of an event

  • Experience working in a fast-paced environment that is fluid and constantly changing

  • Strong people management and supervisory skills

  • A clear vulnerable sector check is required.



PLEASE SEND YOUR APPLICATION TO: hr@skillsforchange.org


Do you want to be part of a team helping build welcoming and equitable communities for Immigrants, Refugees and Low-income individuals in Canada? How about a team that works every day to create a more transparent, just and inclusive future?


As part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion racial justice and reconciliation, Skills for Change encourages applications from those who identify as Black, Indigenous, LGBTQS+, Racialized and other under-represented communities. Skills for Change offers accommodation for applicants with disabilities in each stage of the hiring process. If you are contacted regarding a job opportunity, please advise if you require accommodation. This document is available in an alternate format on request. We thank all applicants for their interest in this position however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.