ACT 2019 Leadership Opportunities

We do great work and have a great community of volunteers, yet ACT remains a well-kept secret among the broader alumni community and the nonprofits we serve. The Marketing function has taken different forms in recent years, and we believe that a focused marketing effort has tremendous potential for impact.

The Head of Marketing may be ideal for you if:

• You firmly believe that marketing is vital to the success of an organization. You love working to deepen your understanding of the target market and figuring out how to motivate, excite and inspire people to take action.
• You can easily switch between a high-level, strategic mind-set and the drive to roll up your sleeves and get things done. Besides research, analysis and planning, this role includes writing, editing, photography and videography; it’s an opportunity to exercise both your logical and creative sides.
• You grasp the essence of ACT and you can apply this insight in an exciting, compelling and convincing way to attract highly engaged alumni volunteers and clients as well as community support.

As Head of Marketing, you will:

• Use traditional market research tools and techniques to understand the shifting interests and motives of GSB alumni in relation to volunteering.
• Use that insight to produce a steady stream of high-quality content that will inspire and engage our alumni.
• Develop and produce a semiannual email newsletter for ACT volunteers.
• Develop and produce a semiannual email communication for past and prospective ACT clients.
• Craft messaging around semiannual volunteer recruitment drives, and assess impact of these recruitment efforts by analyzing website traffic using Google Analytics.
• Utilize a variety of GSB web features to share stories of ACT’s impact on our websites (ACT for Volunteers and ACT for Nonprofits).
• Be innovative. In addition to the duties listed above, there are many ways to bring ACT to life: videos, infographics, testimonials, print ads… there’s room for experimentation and we encourage it!

You will regularly collaborate on marketing initiatives with:

• Management Board Heads of Volunteer Development and Client Development as you support their outreach efforts with content.

The fine print:

The commitment for this position is approximately 10-12 hours per month on average, which includes our monthly board meetings. You’ll have months when you devote less time, and periods when you’re working a key deliverable and may need to go a bit above this range.

Calendar tie-in:

• The ACT volunteer newsletter is typically sent in January and July.
• Volunteer recruitment drives begin in February and August (content can be created in advance).
• An ACT client email is typically sent in May and October.
• You’ll prepare a slide for the Management Board report to the Director of Alumni Relations in the spring.

The success of the ACT program depends in large part on our ability to find projects that GSB alumni will find challenging, rewarding and fun to work on. We have found that encouraging key high-impact nonprofits to apply for ACT consulting projects is effective in bringing exciting and meaningful project opportunities to alumni. The client develop team member role will work with the Management Board’s Head of Client Development to recruit compelling Bay Area nonprofits that will appeal to GSB alumni and encourage them to volunteer as a pro bono consultant through ACT.

This role may be ideal for you if:

• You are interested in learning what is it that makes a nonprofit client compelling to Stanford GSB alumni so that they want to volunteer for the project.
• You enjoy this type of business development: researching Bay Area nonprofits to find those who will both appeal to GSB alumni volunteers and be positioned to well utilize a team of volunteer consultants.
• You would like to reach out to nonprofits directly to tell them about ACT and encourage them to apply for a project (note this is optional, based on individual interest, or could be left to the MB).

As part of the Client Development team, you will:

• Learn about ACT’s client criteria and what nonprofit attributes make for a successful ACT engagement.
• Work with the Head of Client Development to create a target list of “marquee” nonprofits that are compelling to volunteers.
• Research the listed nonprofits to see if there is an existing connection to Stanford or ACT (e.g., Stanford alumni on the board or staff).
• Reach out to the target nonprofits through any identified connections to educate them on ACT, assess level of interest, and encourage them to apply (Optional).

You will regularly collaborate with:

• The Management Board’s Head of Client Development.

The fine print:

The commitment for this position is approximately 5 hours per month for 2-3 months or longer if interested. You’ll coordinate regularly with the Head of Client Development to discuss progress and divide workload.

The success of the ACT program depends in large part on our ability to find projects that GSB alumni will find challenging, rewarding and fun to work on. Part art and part science, project screening is an enormously important function performed by volunteers with a combination of project experience, critical thinking and creative problem-solving ability, emotional intelligence and insight.

Being a member of the Project Screening Team may be ideal for you if…

• You’re passionate about ACT and the GSB.
• You want to be part of finding projects that provide opportunities to bring out the very best in GSB alumni.
• You’re a great listener and strategic thinker, and savvy about reading between the lines to understand the full picture.
• You excel at breaking complex issues down into easy-to-understand elements.
• You communicate clearly, from the questions you’ll ask of prospective clients to the written project descriptions you’ll produce.
• You know just how to get your fellow GSB alumni - of all ages and class years - excited about the opportunities and challenges in the projects you screen and select.

Role Description

• As project screener, you will serve as an ACT ambassador in the nonprofit community.
• You’ll be responsible for screening projects in a specific region.
• For each of the two semiannual project rounds you will screen approximately 3-6 applications, including reviewing written applications and meeting face-to-face with representatives of nonprofits. The goal is to identify 2-5projects that (a) will appeal to our volunteers and (b) have a high likelihood of leaving both our volunteers and clients with a strong sense of satisfaction.
• In addition to screening applications, you’ll think continually, strategically and proactively about nonprofits in your community that would be a great fit for ACT, and flag them to Susan Austin for consideration.
• You’ll interact with executive directors and nonprofit board members in a positive, professional manner that’s consistent with the ACT and GSB brands.
• While being objective in assessing the client’s readiness for change, you’ll remain mindful of the primary goal of providing a positive experience for GSB alumni volunteers.

The fine print:

• The commitment for this position averages approximately 10 hours per month, with concentrated activity at the beginning of ACT’s two project rounds in January-March and July-September.