Program and Volunteer Manager - GiGi's Playhouse Knoxville

GiGi’s Playhouse Knoxville is excited to soon be opening our doors and begin providing life-changing programming to the Knoxville community. This position is for the organization’s first-ever Program and Volunteer Manager – an important role for a passionate, mission-driven individual who can lead our volunteer team and develop a robust program calendar to serve participants and families. This is a truly exciting opportunity to start with GiGi’s Playhouse Knoxville from day one, developing programs and relationships that will make an impact for years to come.   

THIS JOB IS LOCATED IN KNOXVILLE, TN.   

Program and Volunteer Manager 

Founded in 2003, GiGi's Playhouse Inc.’s mission is to change the way the world views Down syndrome and send a global message of acceptance for all.  We profoundly change lives through national campaigns, educational programs, and by empowering individuals with Down syndrome, their families, and the community.  All programs are free and are therapeutic or educational in nature. Each one of our programs is designed to work on specific skill development, including speech and language, literacy, socialization, and fine and gross motor skills. GiGi’s Playhouse has opened over 60 locations across North America and is growing by several locations annually.  

Job Description: 

GiGi’s Playhouse offers innovative programs for children and adults with Down syndrome, designed to develop confidence and the development of a broad variety of skills – educational, therapeutic and career development.   Programs are 99% volunteer run.  The Program and Volunteer Manager works in-person in the Playhouse and facilitates the implementation of all programs, ensures they operate effectively, supports volunteer recruitment, orientation, scheduling, training, and recognition of volunteers within the Playhouse. This includes making sure programs are properly staffed with skilled and trained volunteers and follow structured curriculums.  Interacting well with people at all levels of the organization is necessary - daily communication with staff, volunteers and participants with varied diagnoses and their families will be needed in this role to be successful.  A flexible schedule is a must, as you may be needed to oversee or cover programs when needed, including some evenings and weekends. All staff members are the face of GiGi’s Playhouse and play an essential role representing GiGi’s to families, volunteers, donors, and community members.  

Reports To: Executive Director 

Essential Job Functions: 

Program Strategy and Planning 

• In partnership with Program Committee and/or Executive Director, define long term (6-12 months) program plan, including program sessions, themes, rolling out new programs, etc. 

• Work with Playhouse families (surveys, focus groups, etc.) to understand additional demand for new program types, better program times, themes, etc. to ensure the Playhouse is meeting the needs of families while remaining consistent with the GiGi’s mission. 

Program Oversight and Continuous Improvement 

• Ensure all programs at the Playhouse meet the stated objectives and branding messages delivered by the GiGi’s Playhouse national office 

• Maintain a project log for ongoing improvement of current programs and activities to help inform better solutions 

• Partner with National Program team to leverage and continually improve centralized strategies and tools for program execution and volunteer management 

• Demonstrate sufficient understanding of program objectives and execution models to be able to fill in on occasion to help support program needs. 

Program Impact, Participation and Volunteer Hours 

• Becomes an expert at Salesforce (relational database tool) to document and track volunteer activity and program data, including reporting on trends. 

• Continually seek opportunities to track program impact and document it in Salesforce, while minimizing program interference and volunteer paperwork. 

Program Marketing 

• Updates online calendar with all programs and events, at least 6 weeks in advance 

• Continually captures success stories, quotes, and quality pictures during programs for use in marketing efforts. 

• Informs and inspires families, volunteers, donors, and other constituents via social media, website, blog, and email newsletter campaigns by sharing pictures, news, events, volunteer needs and stories in partnership with manager. 

Volunteer Management 

• Collects volunteer needs and is responsible for scheduling volunteers into open volunteer roles. 

• Represents GiGi’s Playhouse at Volunteer Recruitment events within the community. 

• Responds to volunteer inquiries and questions via phone and email in a timely and professional manner.  Oversees the generic Volunteer email address for the Playhouse. 

• Hosts and leads group Volunteer Orientation sessions, according to the GiGi’s Playhouse model, a minimum of once per month. Performs follow up from Volunteer Orientation within 3-5 days. Conducts one-on-one Volunteer Orientation sessions for volunteers who are not able to attend the monthly group session. 

• Informs Program Leaders when a new volunteer has been placed. 

• Maintains volunteer information in GiGi’s Playhouse database, including entering volunteer demographics, availability, and interests. 

• Coordinates and schedules volunteer trainings and provides on-going training as needed. 

• Maintains open communication with manager to confirm that programs and events are delivered with the necessary qualified volunteer base. 

• Coordinates Volunteer Recognition events for Playhouse Volunteers, a minimum of two times per year. 

• Coordinates with staff for social media, newsletter, website, and blog entries relating to volunteer impact, recognition, and stories. 

Competencies  

• Teamwork: Balances team and individual responsibilities; exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; puts success of team above own interests; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; supports everyone's efforts to succeed. 

• Problem Solving: Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics. 

• Written and oral communication: Ability to express ideas and thoughts verbally; expresses ideas and thoughts in written form; exhibits good listening and comprehension; keeps others adequately informed; selects and uses appropriate communication methods. 

• Adaptability: Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events. 

• Innovation: Displays original thinking and creativity; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas; presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention. 

• Planning/Organizing: Prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; plans for additional resources; sets goals and objectives; organizes or schedules other people and their tasks; develops realistic action plans. 

• Quality: Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; monitors own work to ensure quality. 

• Customer Service: Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments. 

• Technical Skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills related to technical tools. 

Qualifications  

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

• Education and/or Experience: Five years related experience and/or training in a field working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; or equivalent combination of education and experience.  Marketing experience a plus. 

• Computer Skills: To perform this job successfully, an individual should have knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), plus proficiency in social media platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. Ability to work proficiently in a database program (Salesforce) to manage interactions and transactions with all individuals who interface with this location, including volunteer skills and hours, program participation, etc. 

• Work Environment: This role requires extensive engagement with playhouse families and the community. It is an in-person role that will have occasional visits to community organizations (e.g., to build relationships with organizations that can partner for volunteer recruitment). 

GiGi’s Playhouse Core Values:  GiGi’s challenges all staff and volunteers to embody the following core values: 

• Enthusiastic: Bringing positive, high energy to your work.  

• Best of All: We are always looking to improve every day, with all that we do. Challenge yourself every day to embrace a Generation G life.  

• Get It Done: Making things happen and blasting through barriers when needed.  Figure it out together.  

• Believe: Believe in ourselves, believe in our mission, believe in each other, and believe in the history that brought us here.  

• Locally Concerned, Enterprise Minded: We collaborate, share best practices, and leverage the collective learnings from across the GiGi’s network.