Careers with a Cause

Imagine going to work knowing that what you do each day positively influences the lives of people and communities. As the nation's leading nonprofit organization committed to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the YMCA of San Francisco offers more than just a job-we offer you a career with a future and the chance to make a lasting difference in your community. At the Y, you can discover your passion and a lifelong career helping to solve some of the nation's most pressing social issues.

About the YMCA of San Francisco

The YMCA of San Francisco (YSF) opened its doors in 1853 and, in 1875, became the first YMCA to serve Chinese immigrants. Today, YSF is committed to serving the diverse communities of the Bay Area through fourteen (14) branches serving three (3) counties: San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo.

Our Mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations in pursuit of our Vision to be a place where you can be, belong and become. Our dedication to these principles has led us to engage with 20,000 kids annually in programs run out of 200 Bay Area locations that focus on after-school engagement, early childhood education, truancy prevention, summer learning, civic engagement, sports, camps, workforce development, outdoor exploration, mental health counseling and support for families. In parallel, YSF serves over 20,000 facility members and families in twelve branches that promote healthy living for people of all ages in diverse populations through many successful programs, including group exercise, aquatics, sports, diabetes prevention and senior wellbeing. The two Urban Services Branches serve as YSF’s most significant non-facility locations and are devoted entirely to social services and mental health, while other branches combine membership and social programs.

Our Mission has led us to partner with a variety of local, state and federal government agencies that together provide about 48% of our annual budget of over $100M. We are the designated Community Action Agency for the City of San Francisco, the first YMCA in the country to receive such a designation. This role comes with an annual grant of federal funding to support anti-poverty programs.

Membership fees provide 18% of revenue, with fee-for-service programs providing 23% and 8% coming from annual philanthropic donations. In FY22-23, YSF awarded $5M in financial assistance over and above its grant-funded programs. 73% of YSF’s revenues are used for pay and benefits covering 667 full time and 993 part time staff.

YSF is a leader in its engagement with the national and global YMCA movement, actively engaged in promoting the wider cause.

About the Position

Under the supervision of the Chief Operating Officer the Vice President of Marketing and Communications, provides high level vision, strategy, and operational support for the Marketing and Communications department.

The YMCA of San Francisco has been developing a new 2030 Vision and plan for growth, engagement, and impact in our community. Along with this new vision and mission statement, we plan to evolve the ways in which we engage stakeholders through the many tools at our disposal. The team has a priority focus on brand awareness, driving membership / programmatic earned revenue, and philanthropic revenue. The Vice President of Marketing and Communications will partner closely with the COO to drive team design and execution to support these outcomes, meet or exceed the goals in the respective spaces, and ensure we are set up to deliver on the 2030 vision from an overall communications perspective.

Major projects this role will help to drive in the upcoming year include a redesign and new build of the Y website, opening of a new Y in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, early stage planning for a major fundraising campaign, an updated awareness/advertising campaign, and aggressive membership and philanthropy goals.

This role will lead the Marketing and Communications team and assist in the evolving design of the team and workflows in the post-COVID era. They will also have direct engagement with the Board’s Marketing and Member Experience Committee and occasionally engage and advise branch executive directors and branch advisory boards on marketing and communications strategy.

As such, local travel to YMCA of San Francisco branches and programs will be necessary as well as building individual relationships with YMCA staff and stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience
• 15 years of deep experience planning and executing vision, strategy, and workflows for Marketing and/or Communications departments
• Experience navigating complicated multi-department or multi-business unit operations as well as designing and simultaneously managing advertising and communications strategies for multiple programs or products
• Experience advising and collaborating with senior leadership teams and ideally boards of directors or specific board committees relevant to past work
• Must be available Monday through Friday during business hours as well as on call along with the Chief Operating Officer for any unforeseen crisis communications needs/response
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office products, particularly Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Experience with donor database or customer relationship management programs – Salesforce preferred

All employees working with the YMCA are considered to have supervisory or disciplinary action relationship over minors. Job offers are conditional and contingent upon background clearance. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and CA Fair Chance Act, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records

We offer the following benefits: