Marketing and Communications Manager
Overview:
Founded in 2002, Friends For Life introduced the no-kill shelter model to Houston, saving animals regardless of their breed, age, origin, or condition. Houston-grown, we are here to help our neighbors care for the pets they love and are guided by a simple principle: Every Animal Matters.
We’re not finished until every animal has a safe home. Until then, we continue to innovate, improve, and find effective ways to save lives and strengthen the connection between people and animals in our community.
Friends For Life is seeking a creative, organized, and detail-oriented Marketing and Communications Manager to help tell our story, promote our programs and animals, support fundraising efforts, and engage our community.
This position is responsible for managing day-to-day marketing and communications across social media, email, website, digital campaigns, events, and other public-facing channels. The ideal candidate is a strong writer and storyteller who can balance planned campaigns with the changing needs of a busy animal shelter.
This role reports to the Development Director and works closely with the development, animal care, adoptions, foster, volunteer, and other program teams.
Responsibilities:
Social Media & Digital Content
- Manage Friends For Life’s social media presence, including planning, creating, scheduling, and publishing ongoing content.
- Develop engaging social media content highlighting adoptable animals, foster needs, organizational programs, events, fundraising campaigns, community partnerships, and impact stories.
- Maintain a social media content calendar while remaining flexible enough to respond to urgent animal needs, organizational updates, and timely opportunities.
- Write captions and develop creative concepts that reflect Friends For Life’s voice, mission, and values.
- Create and adapt content for different platforms and audiences, including photos, graphics, short-form video, and other digital content.
- Monitor engagement and content performance and use those insights to help guide future content.
Content, Copywriting & Storytelling
- Write, edit, and publish compelling content for social media, email campaigns, the website, fundraising initiatives, events, print materials, and other organizational communications.
- Develop stories that communicate Friends For Life’s impact and help community members connect with the animals, people, programs, and mission behind the organization.
- Create adoption and foster marketing content that accurately and thoughtfully represents individual animals, including their personalities, needs, histories, and progress.
- Collaborate with animal care, foster, adoption, behavior, and other teams to gather accurate information and translate it into engaging public-facing content.
- Help communicate sensitive medical, behavioral, or organizational information clearly and responsibly while maintaining transparency and appropriate messaging.
Graphic Design & Creative Production
- Create graphics and marketing materials for social media, fundraising campaigns, events, programs, adoption promotions, email campaigns, website content, signage, and other organizational needs.
- Maintain consistency with Friends For Life’s visual identity across digital and print materials.
- Resize, edit, and adapt creative assets for use across multiple platforms and campaigns.
- Coordinate with outside designers, printers, vendors, photographers, or other creative partners when needed.
Email, SMS & Campaign Communications
- Develop and execute email marketing campaigns supporting fundraising, events, adoptions, programs, organizational news, and community engagement.
- Write and coordinate SMS/text messaging for fundraising campaigns, events, urgent needs, and other appropriate communications.
- Create campaign messaging and creative assets across multiple channels, including social media, email, SMS, website, and print or digital collateral.
- Coordinate campaign schedules and messaging to ensure communications are timely, consistent, and aligned across platforms.
- Review campaign performance, audience engagement, and other available metrics to help inform future communications.
Fundraising & Development Communications
- Partner with the development team to develop messaging, creative concepts, and promotional materials for fundraising campaigns and donor initiatives.
- Support giving days, matching campaigns, online fundraisers, special appeals, major events, and other fundraising efforts through coordinated marketing and communications.
- Create fundraising content across email, social media, website, SMS, and print or digital materials.
- Help translate fundraising priorities and organizational needs into compelling public-facing campaigns.
- Support donor and sponsor recognition through appropriate digital and event communications.
Event Marketing & Communications
- Develop and execute promotional strategies for fundraising events, adoption events, community events, and other Friends For Life initiatives.
- Create and coordinate event communications across social media, email, website, media outreach, community partnerships, and other channels.
- Develop event-related materials such as graphics, registration pages, digital content, signage, sponsor recognition, programs, and promotional collateral.
- Work with staff, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and community partners to gather information and ensure event communications remain accurate and up to date.
- Provide marketing and communications support during major events as needed.
- Create post-event communications highlighting event impact, results, sponsors, donors, volunteers, and community participation.
Website & Digital Platforms
- Manage and maintain Friends For Life’s website, ensuring public-facing content is accurate, engaging, accessible, and up to date.
- Create and update website pages for fundraising campaigns, events, programs, organizational information, and other marketing needs.
- Work with internal staff and outside resources as needed to troubleshoot website issues and improve functionality and usability.
- Apply basic SEO, accessibility, and digital best practices when creating and updating website content.
- Periodically review website traffic, user behavior, and campaign performance to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Maintain website content including text, photography, graphics, video, forms, links, and other multimedia assets.
Brand & Organizational Communications
- Help maintain a consistent Friends For Life voice, message, and visual identity across public-facing communications.
- Review and edit organizational communications for clarity, accuracy, tone, and brand consistency.
- Help departments translate program information and organizational needs into clear, audience-friendly communications.
- Provide communications support and guidance for sensitive, complex, or rapidly developing situations when needed.
- Assist with media outreach, public statements, and other external communications as appropriate.
Cross-Department Coordination & Project Management
- Coordinate with departments across the organization to gather information, stories, photography, video, program updates, deadlines, and other assets needed for marketing and communications.
- Build working relationships with staff, volunteers, fosters, donors, vendors, sponsors, and community partners to support marketing efforts.
- Manage multiple marketing and communications projects simultaneously while balancing planned work with changing organizational priorities.
- Track deadlines and coordinate campaign deliverables to help ensure projects are completed accurately and on time.
- Identify opportunities to improve communication processes, content planning, and collaboration across departments.
- Assist with other marketing, communications, and organizational needs as they arise.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, journalism, public relations, or a related field preferred, or equivalent professional experience.
- Minimum of 3 years of experience in marketing, communications, digital media, content creation, or a related role; nonprofit experience is preferred.
- Exceptional writing, editing, and storytelling skills with the ability to adapt messaging for different audiences and platforms.
- Demonstrated experience managing organizational social media accounts and creating digital content.
- Experience planning and executing marketing campaigns across multiple channels.
- Experience with email marketing platforms and digital communications.
- Experience creating graphics and marketing materials using tools such as Canva or Adobe Creative Suite.
- Proficiency with website content management systems, preferably WordPress.
- Working knowledge of SEO, website analytics, accessibility, and digital marketing best practices.
- Experience supporting fundraising campaigns, online giving initiatives, or nonprofit events is preferred.
- Strong organizational, project management, and time management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
- Ability to gather information from multiple sources, identify important details, and communicate information clearly and accurately.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
- Creative, detail-oriented, adaptable, and proactive with strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace applications.
- Passion for animal welfare and a strong commitment to the mission and values of Friends For Life.
Working Conditions:
This position requires flexibility and the willingness to work occasional evenings, weekends, and holidays in support of events, campaigns, and organizational needs.
Animal shelter work can be unpredictable, and priorities may shift quickly based on animal needs, events, fundraising campaigns, or other operational circumstances.
Shelter work also requires flexibility and a willingness to assist outside of your primary area of responsibility when operational needs arise.
If you are a creative communicator who enjoys storytelling, digital marketing, collaboration, and using your skills to make a meaningful impact for animals and the people who love them, we invite you to apply for the Marketing and Communications Manager position at Friends For Life.
Together, we can make a difference in the lives of animals in need.
Pay: $30,000–$32,000 per year
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $32,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Employee discount
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
