Communications Fellow , William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development and population, performing arts, and philanthropy, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation’s assets are approximately $7.2 billion. In 2011, the Foundation distributed grants and gifts totaling approximately $353 million.

About the Communications Department

The Communications Department assists senior staff and program staff in shaping the Foundation’s strategic direction. Its services help staff analyze communications-based programs; assess potential grants and grantees and/or their communications plans; and communicate effectively by assisting with presentations, message development, publications, and Web content. The department also helps Foundation grantees develop messages and strategies for communicating effectively with their constituents.

The department is responsible for a range of external communications functions as well, including creating content for and maintaining the Foundation website; handling media relations; and producing the annual report, brochures, and other printed or electronic materials.

The department is also responsible for producing a quarterly “Board Book,” the set of materials used by the Foundation’s Board of Directors in their meetings.

For more information about the Foundation and its programs and grantees, please visit www.hewlett.org.

About the Position

The Communications Fellow is responsible for developing content for the Foundation’s varied internal and external communication initiatives using multiple media that include print, Web, and social networking channels. In collaboration with the Director of Communications and Foundation staff, the Fellow clearly promotes and conveys the Foundation’s objectives and enhances its effectiveness through communication. This is a one-year, term-limited position.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Explore how the Foundation uses and shares diverse data with its external audiences:

• Consult with Foundation staff on approaches to communicating its goals, strategies, and impact.
• Meet regularly with Program Officers and Program Directors to learn about emerging issues in their fields and how to represent them in public communications.
• Evaluate how the Foundation communicates grant information on its external website: the level and amount of information provided and the way it is coded, categorized, and displayed.
• Explore and pursue opportunities to work together with colleagues at peer foundations, gain an understanding of how they determine what to share externally, and learn best practices in communications strategies.

Design and evaluate presentations for various audiences:

• Research and develop ways to engage a variety of audiences through online channels and determine the appropriate use of social and new media for the Foundation.
• Apply graphical tools to communicate essential but complex data in a clear, stimulating way for the Board and external audiences.
• Work with the programs to develop presentations and reports on strategies, logic models, theories of change, and impact evaluations. Products may include slide shows, logic model designs, videos, podcasts, and Flickr groups.
• Organize the structure and content of the Foundation’s website and explore ways to engage our audiences to find out what they would like to know about foundations in general and the Hewlett Foundation in particular.
• Write, monitor, coordinate, and curate the Foundation’s blog.
• Collect and curate content from grantees and maintain grantee profiles in a searchable database.
• Lead a process for creating presentations to the Board.

Create a voice for the Foundation’s communications:

• Survey our various audiences about what is important to them and how to create the most effective communications approaches.
• Develop a strategy for the application of communications tools, including newsletters/news/press releases, annual reports, website, and social media.

Develop and manage systems to measure the efficacy of the Foundation’s communication strategies:

• Set up a dashboard of progress to track the Foundation’s informational needs and the performance of various communication channels such as the annual report, blog, website, newsletter/news/press releases, and social media.
• Create a listening dashboard to monitor social media conversations about the Foundation.

Develop and maintain communications tools, resources, and assets:

• Create and maintain a database of photographs, graphics, and other design elements.
• Manage distribution and contact lists for the Communications team.
• Handle the process for licensing the Foundation’s Web content.

Required Skills and Knowledge

• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of five years of related experience.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively with people.
• Demonstrated experience with Web publishing tools and managing website content.
• Experience with various forms of social media.
• Ability to understand statistical data and methods of displaying this data in engaging, intuitive ways.
• Ability to gather and synthesize information for a variety of disciplines, producing compelling media for diverse audiences.

Physical Demands/Work Environment

The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to spend extended periods of time on the computer.

How to Apply

Please send our Human Resources Department a resume and cover letter explaining how your skills fit this position:

Email: employment@hewlett.org (Subject Line: [Your Name] – Communications Fellow)

Fax: 650.234.1985

Mail:
Human Resources
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
2121 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.